Hi,<\/p>\n
I would like to ask about fundraising activities for groups within the church, such as youths’ meetings, men’s meetings, and ladies’ meetings. Would it be proper for the youths to have a car wash where the money would go into the youths’ group account and not the church’s account? I know the church is only supposed to receive money in the form of voluntary contributions, but what about if it is just the youth?<\/p>\n
Also, would it then be also biblical to go out on say youths’ camps, mens’ camps, ladies’ camps? Because fundraising for these groups is normally done in an effort to boost money for such activities.<\/p>\n
Thank you for your response.<\/p>\n\t
There is nothing wrong with the youth (or the men or the women) in a congregation deciding to meet together. If the purpose of the meeting is strictly for Bible study, this is something the church can support because one of its duties is to teach the Gospel. “So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places<\/em>” (Ephesians 3:10).<\/p>\n But the church has no duty in providing entertainment, even if Bible studies might be mixed in with the entertainment. There is no authority for it, so the church cannot be involved. “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father<\/em>” (Colossians 3:17). Doing something “in the name of” means doing it by the authority or approval of the one named.<\/p>\n Individual Christians have more flexibility than the church. As an individual, I can invite the youth over to my house for fun and games and I can have a Bible study with them while they are there. As an individual, I can organize a camp and invite Christians to come. The funding for the camp, since it is privately done, can be financed as I see best, so long as it is legal. So if I want to hold a bake sale or do a car wash for the group to raise money that is fine. I can also simply ask the participants to share the costs. But notice that the activity is not connected to the church or sponsored by the church; it is sponsored by individuals, either alone or as a group.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hi, I would like to ask about fundraising activities for groups within the church, such as youths’ meetings, men’s meetings, and ladies’ meetings. Would it be proper for the youths to have a car wash where the money would go into the youths’ group account and not the church’s account? I know the church…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[448,759,152],"class_list":["post-44977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church","tag-entertainment","tag-social-activities"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42605,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-things-like-youth-groups-camps-interns-fellowship-halls-etc-inherently-bad\/","url_meta":{"origin":44977,"position":0},"title":"Are things like youth groups, camps, interns, fellowship halls, etc. inherently bad?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Well, I have been reading through your site and it has made me question some things about my church. Right now I'm beginning college and I attend a church of Christ as I did when I was back home. I now have a much more solid understanding of why\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-proper-for-a-church-to-give-gifts\/","url_meta":{"origin":44977,"position":1},"title":"Is it proper for a church to give gifts?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please, I would like to ask the following questions: Is it scriptural for the church to organize a send-forth program for its outgoing preacher, elder, or faithful member who is relocating? The program typically involves citation, extolling of virtues, prayers, and presentation of gifts purchased by both the church\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68242,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-fellowship-halls-optional\/","url_meta":{"origin":44977,"position":2},"title":"Are fellowship halls optional?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning, brother Jeffrey: I have had several discussions with an elder of a church of Christ. First, the issue of fellowship halls. I sent him the article entitled \"Kitchens and Fellowship Halls, What Was the Issue?\" His response was because the early church met in homes for worship\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21770,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-for-a-church-to-have-meetings-or-parties-at-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":44977,"position":3},"title":"Is it right for a church to have meetings or parties at the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it right for the church to have devotionals, Leadership Training for Christ, retreats, summer camps for the youth, Trick or Treat at Halloween, or New Year Eve parties at the church? Answer: A church's duty foremost is to provide the opportunity of its members to gather for worship.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22322,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-small-group-meetings-in-place-of-the-sunday-evening-assembly-or-midweek-study-scriptural\/","url_meta":{"origin":44977,"position":4},"title":"Are small group meetings in place of the Sunday evening assembly or midweek study scriptural?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. I appreciate your work and respect your knowledge of the Word. I have a question concerning the small group phenomenon in the Lord's church. Is there a scriptural basis for the small group to not assemble at the appointed times (mostly Sunday evening worship and Wednesday Bible study)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86538,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-to-dismiss-a-preacher-because-he-married-a-non-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":44977,"position":5},"title":"Is it right to dismiss a preacher because he married a non-Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, First, thank you for all you do to answer these difficult questions. They have helped me a lot on my Christian journey. My question concerns something that happened very recently at my congregation; our youth group had two ministers helping and supporting all the activities (spiritual and recreational),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}