by Edward O. Bragwell, Jr.<\/p>\n
I saw a cartoon posted in a brother’s drug store with the caption saying in effect: “What do you mean you don’t have nuts and bolts? What kind of drug store is this?” Our society expects more from a drug store than just drugs. The sign may say “Drug Store<\/strong>,” but we expect much more. It is rare, indeed, to find a drug store that is just that—a drug store.<\/p>\n Churches are like that. The sign may say “Church,” but we expect more. If it offers no more than what “church” suggests, then we ask, “What kind of church is this?”<\/p>\n “What do you mean you don’t have a basketball team? What kind of church is this?” It seems never to occur to some that the church is not in the recreation business. A church that meets for worship, preaches the gospel, teaches its members, and cares for its own needy is just not with it. Never mind that the Bible gives not the slightest hint that the church may be in the recreational business. Folks still insist that the church may be in the recreational business. Folks still insist that the church provide it for the young and the old.<\/p>\n “What do you mean you don’t own a hospital or a nursing home? What kind of church is this?” It seems folks expect the church to care for their medical needs. The New Testament church was not in that kind of business. Of course, the church may pay the medical bill of a needy member, which is a legitimate charge. It may pay the electric bill or gas bill of such a one. But that is a far cry from the church going into the electric, gas, or hospital business.<\/p>\n “What do you mean you don’t have a general welfare fund? What kind of a church is this?” In a metropolitan area, calls come in from bus stations, motels, and phone booths, asking for financial help. Occasionally, as we are able, we help some from our pocket. Sometimes we refer them to various social and civic agencies that are in that kind of business. It is extremely difficult to make folks understand that, as the Lord’s church, we are not in the general handout business. As a church, we care for our own needy members. We sometimes help brethren elsewhere. We may at times assist another congregation with its needy members when they are unable to do so themselves (cf. Acts 6:1-6; 11:27-30). We, as a church, limit benevolence to Christians, not because we feel that others are undeserving, or that we are better than others — but because the Bible gives no authority for church benevolence to the world at large.<\/p>\n “What do you mean you don’t have a kitchen? What kind of church is this?” Nowadays, a church without a kitchen must be either too poor or too backwards for our times. But the Bible says, “If any man hunger, let him eat at home<\/em>” (I Corinthians 11:34; cf. vs. 22). It is not that we do not like to eat. You can look at most of us and know that! But it is a matter of respecting authority.<\/p>\n It may be rare to find a drug store that just sells drugs. It is even more rare to find a church that does just what a church should do. A drug store that sells nuts and bolts, CBs, or cameras will probably prosper, suffering no damage from its innovations. But it will still be more than just a drug store, no matter what the sign may say. Yet, a church that offers more than a church should (under the authority of the Bible) is a more serious matter. It will have to answer to God for its innovation. It, too, will be more than a church regardless of what the sign may say.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Edward O. Bragwell, Jr. I saw a cartoon posted in a brother’s drug store with the caption saying in effect: “What do you mean you don’t have nuts and bolts? What kind of drug store is this?” Our society expects more from a drug store than just drugs. The sign may say “Drug Store,”…<\/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":[27],"tags":[448],"class_list":["post-95347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":95347,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\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":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":95347,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. The typical teenage girl enters puberty around\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":32196,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-take-out-insurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":95347,"position":2},"title":"Is it a sin to take out insurance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin to take out medical insurance or legal insurance? Are we rather expected to put our faith in the Lord to take care of those things? Answer: We were taught to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread\" (Matthew 6:11), but God still commands us\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":37138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-lost-the-surprise-somewhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":95347,"position":3},"title":"We Lost the Surprise Somewhere","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I remember watching Mayberry RFD and related shows most of my childhood. Poor ignorant Gomer Pyle who worked as an auto mechanic was a notable character. But I can still recall my shock when I found out that Jim Nabors, who played Gomer, could sing --\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\/2021\/08\/Gomer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":95347,"position":4},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":95347,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). We have been questioning the idea of everyone taking it a second\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\/95347","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=95347"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95350,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95347\/revisions\/95350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}