Fund Raising (Was: Ken's "woman")

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Brother Brown wrote:
>     RB> always bad or always good, but rather WE NEED TO USE WISDOM TO
>     RB> DECIDE THESE CASES BASED ON BIBLICAL PRECEDENT.
>
> I have capitalized the last independent clause in the last sentence
> you quoted from my post, because you seem to think you are refuting
> what I said, yet you are agreeing with it.  :-/

Yes, I do agree with the statement that we need to decide 
these cases based ** on Biblical precedent **.  That is the 
point.  So what is the Biblical precedent for Church fund 
raising?  What did the Apostles do about raising funds and 
what did they do with the money?

There are several instances in the book of Acts which concern 
the receiving of offerings from the congregation:

(Acts 2:44-45 KJV)  "And all that believed were together, 
and had all things common; {45} And sold their possessions 
and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need."


The holy charity of the Christians

(Acts 4:32 KJV)  "And the multitude of them that 
believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither 
said any of them that ought of the things which he 
possessed was his own; but they had all things common."

(Acts 4:34-35 KJV)  "Neither was there any among 
them that lacked: for as many as were possessors 
of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices 
of the things that were sold, {35} And laid them down 
at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto 
every man according as he had need."

Here we see instances of fund-raising (by the selling of 
personal possessions) for the needs of those in the 
Church congregation.  Notice it does not say that these 
funds went for the operation of the Church, but was 
distributed to 'every **man** according as he had need".
Here is a Biblical precedent.  Do we follow it?  Probably 
most churches have some kind of benevolent fund.  Seems 
that it was a major area of concern to the early Christians.

Another instance we see is from the Epistles where funds 
were offered by a congregation to be used to relieve the 
needs of another congregation:

(Romans 15:26 KJV)  "For it hath pleased them of 
Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution 
for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem."

Paul also expounds on the joys of giving for the needs of 
others in both 1 Corinthians 16:2-3, 2 Corinthians 8 & 9,  
In fact, the famous verse about laying up your 'offering' on 
the first day of the week refers to an offering which was 
received for the congregation at Jerusalem:

(1 Corinthians 16:2-3 KJV)  "Upon the first day of the 
week let every one of you lay by him in store, as 
God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings 
when I come. {3} And when I come, whomsoever ye 
shall approve by your letters, them will I send to 
bring your liberality unto Jerusalem."

[Note: This was to be done privately and there were to be 
no 'gatherings' when Paul arrived; the offering was to  
already have been collected.]

Paul speaks also on several occasions of saints giving to 
Paul for his needs on the mission field.

(Philippians 4:16 KJV)  "For even in Thessalonica ye 
sent once and again unto my necessity."

So here again we see Biblical precedent.  Giving for 
the needs of other congregations who where experiencing 
real physical needs [Jerusalem was in a famine]; and 
we see giving to support missionaries.

I like this Scripture in particular:

(2 Corinthians 9:12 KJV)  "For the administration of this 
service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is 
abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;"

Biblical precedent in giving is (1) to supply the want of 
the saints, and (2) a thanksgiving unto God.

We are also directed to take care of widows.

(1 Timothy 5:9 KJV)  "Let not a widow be taken into the 
number under threescore years old, having been the 
wife of one man, ... (16)  If any man or woman that believeth 
have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church 
be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed."

These things are the Biblical precedent that we must use wisdom 
to follow.

Kathy Dimick
Falkville, Alabama
kdimick@colsa.com
kedimick@hotmail.com
http://members.tripod.com/~coffeepleaz/index.html

"For to me to live is Christ"

>     >> The "law of the excluded middle" is a principle applied to the
>     >> unknown to permit us to deal with it in an axiomatic fashion.
>     >> I do not think we can postulate that the unstated is either
>                           ===========================
>  
> 
> -- 
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