Good afternoon, Brother Hamilton:<\/p>\n
You were very kind to answer a question for me a few years back, and your answer gave me such clarity. I’ll be ever-grateful for your guidance.<\/p>\n
I have another question with which I’m struggling. It regards funding for church-related projects. Our elders have established a pledge drive for a church school and daycare center; but, based on operating expenses for comparable schools in our area, the school project is not sustainable through the sole use of the weekly contribution authorized by Scripture. My guess is that the current drive is only the beginning of many additional appeals for money from the church members. The members aren’t in a position to give considerably over and above our already generous contributions. Is it reasonable – or even scriptural – to ask church members to sustain ambitious projects that aren’t directly related to the church in and of itself, and cannot possibly be supported by the weekly contributions?<\/p>\n
Thanks for any light you can shed on this issue.<\/p>\n\t
You ask one question, but the problem is rooted in something more fundamental. Where in the Bible do you find God asking the church to operate a school or a daycare? Where in the mission of the church could such be justified? See The Church Treasury<\/a>\u00a0for information on what the church was commanded to do with its funds.<\/p>\n It doesn’t matter if it is seen as a “good work.” Schools can be operated by individuals and such is encouraged by God. But general education is not the responsibility of the church. The care of children is the responsibility of the home and again that is something individual Christians can offer to help their brethren, but it is not a task of the church. See Individual Duty or Local Church Duty?<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0But It Is a Good Work!<\/a><\/p>\n\t Thanks, Jeffrey,<\/p>\n You’ve confirmed my suspicions. This appears to be an ambitious project that seeks “bigness in the eyes of men” vs. the biblically authorized work of the church.<\/p>\n I appreciate your candid answer.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Good afternoon, Brother Hamilton: You were very kind to answer a question for me a few years back, and your answer gave me such clarity. I’ll be ever-grateful for your guidance. I have another question with which I’m struggling. It regards funding for church-related projects. Our elders have established a pledge drive for a…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[154],"class_list":["post-51467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church-funds"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36651,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-purchase-a-wheelchair-to-help-transport-a-frail-member\/","url_meta":{"origin":51467,"position":0},"title":"Can a church purchase a wheelchair to help transport a frail member?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently one of our elderly lady members had such chronic pain that she could barely move.\u00a0Her health is deteriorating rapidly. She does not drive; one of our members has to pick her up when she feels well enough to attend worship services.\u00a0They had a difficult time transporting her out\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":10986,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-the-church-in-corinth-receive-the-gifts-of-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":51467,"position":1},"title":"How did the church in Corinth receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How did the Corinthian church receive the Holy Spirit in a miraculous way? Was it by the laying on hands by the apostles or what? Or does the Bible not say? Answer: The church in Corinth was started by the Apostle Paul (Acts 18). He initially taught there for\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":13718,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-church-the-building-or-its-members\/","url_meta":{"origin":51467,"position":2},"title":"Is the church the building or its members?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: is the church the building or\u00a0is the church made up of its members? Answer: In English, the word \"church\" can refer to either the building or the people worshiping God in a local. For example, one set of definitions is: one of the groups of Christians who have their\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":46938,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-indulge-in-food-and-drink-at-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":51467,"position":3},"title":"Is it wrong to indulge in food and drink at worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong for members of the church to indulge in food and drink while worship is happening? We have this problem, and I need an answer with Scripture, please. Thank you. Answer: I've noticed that people like to make rules instead of citing the Scriptures. It is that\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":21010,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-our-college-bible-study-group-operating-in-a-scriptural-manner\/","url_meta":{"origin":51467,"position":4},"title":"Is our college Bible study group operating in a scriptural manner?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I recently was baptized into the church of Christ. I have been attending services at a local church of Christ for over three years, but being raised in a Catholic environment I wanted to learn more before being baptized. Within the past year I joined the Christian Student Center\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":85064,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-only-members-of-the-church-of-christ-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":51467,"position":5},"title":"Will Only Members of the Church of Christ Be Saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeff Cavender via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 1, March 31, 1989 While talking to some friends, I stated that I attended worship services at a local church of Christ when one of them asked, \"Is that the group that believes that only the members of the church of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51467","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=51467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n