Should a church use its money in community service to gain the attention of people to preach to, because of the current lack of seriousness in people toward the gospel? Is it the correct pattern of evangelism?<\/p>\n\t
“Jesus answered them and said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. <\/em>Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal’<\/em>” (John 6:27-28).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The funds that a church has should be considered the Lord’s money. Those funds should only be spent on things authorized by God. Thus, you would need first to prove that God authorizes churches to be involved in community services. See:<\/p>\n
\n
- The Church at Work in Benevolence<\/a><\/li>\n
- Individual Duty or Local Church Duty?<\/a><\/li>\n
- A Friendly Letter on Benevolence<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Think for a moment. Many children lack interest in mathematics. Do we increase their interest by offering a gymnastics class and discussing math while they work out? It should be clear that you don’t fix the problem by offering something unrelated. In the same way, community services attract people who want the benefits they offer. If you want people who are interested in serving God, then you have to show them how serving God will benefit them in this life and in the life to come. Thus, you find in Acts the Apostles talking about the Scriptures:<\/p>\n
\n
- “And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation!’<\/em>” (Acts 2:40).<\/li>\n
- “And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ’<\/em>” (Acts 17:2-3).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Should a church use its money in community service to gain the attention of people to preach to, because of the current lack of seriousness in people toward the gospel? Is it the correct pattern of evangelism? Answer: “Jesus answered them and said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because…<\/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":[154,152],"class_list":["post-92979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church-funds","tag-social-activities"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23005,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-sell-food-books-candy-drinks-etc-in-gods-house-to-raise-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":92979,"position":0},"title":"Is it wrong to sell food, books, candy, drinks, etc. in God’s house to raise money?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong to sell food, books, candy, drinks, etc. in God's house to raise money to go on trips or to help buy the things the church needs? Answer: Your question is actually backward. You should be asking if it is right to do those things. Since God\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":41143,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-for-a-pastor-to-collect-the-tithes-and-spend-the-money-on-things-he-personally-uses\/","url_meta":{"origin":92979,"position":1},"title":"Is it right for a pastor to collect the tithes and spend the money on things he personally uses?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Minister, We have been attending a church for the last 10 years. My entire family's tithe or offering is given to the pastor. The pastor never reveals any facts to church leaders about how much tithe was given by members and how much was used for which purpose.\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":58366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/now-concerning-the-collection-i-corinthians-161-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":92979,"position":2},"title":"Now Concerning the Collection: I Corinthians 16:1-2","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Through the years some have been heard to ridicule the idea of \"five acts of worship.\" When we understand that the Biblical concept of \"worship\" involves \"an act of homage or reverence to God\" (see W. E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vol. IV,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/01\/collection-plate-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27612,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-an-institution-was-not-involved-could-the-church-take-care-of-orphans\/","url_meta":{"origin":92979,"position":3},"title":"If an institution was not involved, could the church take care of orphans?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am familiar that the issues over orphan homes as always been the church giving the money to an institutional board so they can provide for the needs of the children.\u00a0 But would it be an issue if the church avoided the giving of funds to a board and\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":37497,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-should-happen-to-funds-when-a-congregation-closes\/","url_meta":{"origin":92979,"position":4},"title":"What should happen to funds when a congregation closes?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What should happen to funds when a congregation closes? Answer: It should be remembered that the funds that a congregation has belong to God and not the members of a congregation. This is implied when Ananias was told that any money he had was his to do with as\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":741,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-the-church-sponsor-the-growing-of-tobacco-to-raise-funds\/","url_meta":{"origin":92979,"position":5},"title":"Can the church sponsor the growing of tobacco to raise funds?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Some people depend on raising tobacco for income. Is it good for the church to use the Lord's money to sponsor this kind of agriculture? Answer: I found this question particularly intriguing because of the underlying assumptions. In order to answer the question well, I need to address several\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\/92979","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=92979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92979\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}