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Should churches involve themselves in fundraisers?

 Submitted: 7/11/2009
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Question: Reading the Bible, what I see as God's plan for financing His church is by tithes and offering. Nowadays churches are heavily involved in one fundraiser or the other. If it is not a barbeque, then it is a dinner that some of the saints who donated food items for the dinner have to come back and buy. Almost everywhere you go you hear ministers asking for money to help offset the cost of their ministry. I always believed that if it is God's work He will fund it. The apostles, or at least some of them, were fishermen and I have never read anywhere where they sold fish to advance the gospel. Neither did Paul after them. As a matter of fact, Paul at times didn't take money from some of the churches and even when the church in Macedonia sent him money, there is no indication that he asked them for it or told them that he was in need of it; they just knew that the work of God needed to be funded and they had the resources, so they gave freely as God purposed in their hearts. Is this idea of church fundraising biblical or is a tradition of men to put money in 'their' pockets? Does it have a biblical foundation and if not what are the implications if any of such a turn from the biblical principle of buying the gospel but not selling it? To say the least, I believe that the only God-given way to finance the church is by tithes and free-will offering!
Answer: You have said it well. Like many things churches do, fundraising has no biblical basis. We would not say, however, that all fundraising is for lining the pockets of a preacher. We believe that much of it is merely to accommodate the lack of faith among many believers. Our assembly has never done fundraisers and we have never pleaded for financial gifts. We simply teach tithes and offerings as a responsibility of all believers, and we have always been well-funded as an assembly.


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