Service for Non-Institutional Congregations
The services offered at CofCPages.org have been designed for individual churches of Chirst that are not involved in activities that lack scriptual authority, including:
- Congregationally-sponsored institutions
- Worship with musical instruments
- Sponsoring church arrangements
If you feel that your congregation practices any of these, then your congregation will probably not be granted a site here.
Explanation
It is truly sad that in this age there are divisions in the brotherhood over issues that seem to be so clearly handled by scripture.
Please be aware that this page has changed recently. I, as the sole developer and maintainer of this web application, want to be sure that those reading this page understand correctly what is being said. Previous versions were not clear enough.
As the owner and developer of cofcpages.org, I, Daniel Watt, have adopted a somewhat restrictive policy for congregations who wish to use this service. I offer this as a service to congregations, and I do not personally want what I have spent my time working on to be used for practices that I myself would not participate in. Some of the key things that I will not allow to be promoted on this site are the ideas of institutionalism, the "social gospel", "sponsoring churches", etc.
Personal Reason
Please note that this is a personal reason, as the owner and programmer for this site, not necessarially exactly the views of the congregations that are hosted here. The congregations hosted here either agree with this page, or have an even more conservative interpretation and application of scripture and authority than I myself do. I do not believe the practices of so many congregations that support human insitutions through the funds collected "for the saints", congregational sponsored social activities from the same funds, and congregations that are set up in a sponsoring arrangement can be fully supported by scripture. I also believe that such practices take responsibility and effort away from the individual Christian, which has the possibility of developing a "give us your money and we will take care of the actual helping of others" mentality, which is dangerous attitude to have. I will fully admit that no congregation will be perfect - congregations are made up of human beings, and we have all fallen short. We can only strive to follow the example set forth in the Bible, and not trust our own wisdom.
The fact that I personally do not believe these practices to be in harmony with the scriptures, and allowing a congregation that uses my service to support something I do not agree with would be hypocritical and against my conscience. I would hope that this reason alone, in accordance to 1 Cor 8-11, Romans 14, and the like, would be enough to dissaude a congregation that practices things that I would not support to be reason enough. But, such divisions over issues would probably not exist if we all were doing our best to not cause brethren to stumble in the first place. Therefore, I will give my reasons from a scriptural point of view, so that you may know why I believe the way that I do.
Before I go any further, however, I would like to clear one thing up. I do not hold ill feelings towards those that practice such things. I am sad that they have chosen to practice something that causes a divsion amongst brethren, and I would hope that we all, myself included, would look for things that we consider to be liberties that we can live as peacably with all brethren as possible. I have good friends that attend such congregations, and I am open to discuss the issues in a respectful manner and listen to what they have to say. By the same token, if you disagree with something I have said, or am about to say in the rest of this page, I would love to talk to you about it. You can reach me by e-mail by filling out this form.
Scriptural Reason
Collection for the Saints
Though my experience with institutional Christians has been limited in comparison with what older Christians may have experienced, I have had direct contact with many over the last year though various online mediums and through a group connected to my college campus, so I feel I have a fairly decent understanding of where they stand. Like most Christians, when they take up a collection, they use verses such 1 Cor 16:1-3 to state why there is authority to make a collection every week:
1 Cor 16:1-3 (WEB)
1) Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise.
2) On the first day of the week, let each one of you save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.
3) When I arrive, I will send whoever you approve with letters to carry your gracious gift to Jerusalem.
This is one of the key verses that all churches of Christ use to show that we have the authority to make a collection, and I think that point is hard to argue. A key part of this verse, which I think is overlooked by many, is in verse 1 : "Now concerning the collection for the saints." If we are going to use these verses to authorize a collection, then we should also realize that the collection is specifically for the saints, not for others.
I have also heard institutional Christians argue that with passages such as 2 Cor 8-9, that our giving is for all. First, let us realize that the two letters written to the Corinthians were written in a relatively small timeframe, probably less than a year apart. In the first letter Paul told them to lay by in store, and that there was a need of that collection in Jerusalem (also see Rom 15:25-28). Back to 2 Cor 9, we see that Paul told the Corinthians that it was time for them to get their collection ready to be sent to Jerusalem. They had boasted in the past that they would contribute greatly, now Paul told them to actually do it. He had boasted to other churches about their generous spirit, and now it was time to act on that.
Again, I want to point out a key phrase here. 2 Cor 8:1 says "It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints". After reading chapters 8 and 9, one should notice that these verses refer to the same collection mentioned in 1 Cor 16, the need of the saints in Jerusalem. Yet, an institutional Christian once argued with me (and I have seen others argue this point, so it doesn't seem to be an isolated belief) that 2 Cor 9:12-13 gives us the authority to use the same collection for anyone, not just the needy saints. Let us examine those verses:
2 Cor 9:12-13 (WEB)
12) For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through many givings of thanks to God; 13) seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all;
It seems that the operative phrase here is "your contribution to them and to all." First, who is the "them" here? It is clearly the saints in Jerusalem, since in 2 Cor 8-9 and 1 Cor 16 we can see that the contribution was being made for the needy saints in Jerusalem. Now the tricky part is who is the "all" referring to? The arguments that I have seen from institutional Christians is that this all refers to any needy person, not just saints. However, reading chapters 8-9, and 1 Cor 16, where is there any mention of a collection being made for non-saints? Both passages deal with a collection for the needy saints, specifically in Jerusalem. We can see that the Corinthians were going to give (the collection hadn't been made yet) liberally (freely) out of their abundance, and that they would be rewarded (2 Cor 9:6) by the praise that would be offered to God because of this service (2 Cor 9:13). This "all" could be referring to the churches in Macedonia, which Paul referred to earlier in the same chapter. He had bragged about the Corinthians saying they would give of their abundance, and the Macedonians gave out of their poverty. By the Corinthians giving of their abundance, all Christians could praise God that the need would be met because of the generosity of their fellow Christians.
Yes, I will fully admit that this is just a best guess as to what the "all" refers to, but it is in harmony with the rest of the chapter. Saying that this "all" refers to non-saints is a dangerous presumption, since the text as a whole supplies only an example of congregational level giving to saints.
What About Individuals?
To the casual browser who has come across this site, this might seem like a strange thing to talk about. The simple issue is there is a division over what the congregation can and cannot do in regards to non-saints. One group takes the position that it is solely the individual's responsibility, while the other believes congregations can collect funds for non-saints. It is an issue of how far congregations can extend their authority over what we have direct commands, examples and inferences for in scripture.
As for the individual contributing to - assisting and caring for - non-saints, passages like James 1:27 and Mat 25:34-46, for example, that is definately something individual Christians should do. The issue here is if a congregation can do so, and for this site, congregations that have extended their authority beyond what is in scripture are permitted on this site.
Why Does This Apply?
The churches of Christ that adhere to the belief that the collection for the saints can be used for non-saints as well, commonly reffered to as institutional churches of Christ (or self titled "mainstream"), believe that it is alright to use this collection to fund human institutions like orphanages, schools, and other organizations that are not for the saints. Though we can see that as Christians we are to take care of the sick, the fatherless and widows (James 1:27), this is something that individual Christians are supposed to do, not whole congregations acting with the funds that are collected for the saints.
As far as this web site is concearned, I am not going to allow it to be used as a means of spreading information about unauthorized practices. I think a lot of Christians, institutional or otherwise, can agree that we are only authorized to sing with our voice and from the heart, not with the aid of musical instruments (Eph 5:25). I am aware that there are some "instrumental" churches of Christ out there, but almost all congregations, which do only the things that we can see that we have the authority to do, do not use instrumental music in worship since we are not authorized to do such. In the same manner, the New Testament points to using a collection to meet the needs of the saints, but never shows a common collection being taken up to support non-saints. Therefore, I, and many other Christians, see that the institutional view is the same as the instrumental view: practicing things that we have no authority for. Because of this, I will not permit congregations adhering to these views to use this service. The same goes for instrumental congregations and any other congregations that practice things that lack authority in the New Testament. This is the same reason that other groups that identify themselves as "Christian", such as Baptists or Catholics, are not going to be supported on this site.
There is also a major technical reason for this decision, though not the most important reason. Most institutional congregations like to post information to their web sites about how their institutions are doing, how the service projects are going along, information about the campus ministry, etc. Since the target audience of this site has no such need for those things, I am not going to be designing the site to accomidate them. So even if I permitted institutional congregations to join, they would be lacking features that they would probably want, and I could not offer them. Again, this service is designed to 1) provide information about local congregations (how to find them, contact information, etc.), 2) provide materials (sermons, class material, etc.) for the edification of the local congregation's site as well as any others who might find them useful, and 3) provide materials that can be used to save souls. If a congregation feels the need to provide infromation about preachers they are supporting in their "members-only" area, that is fine. But, this site was not designed for publicity for charitable deeds done by congregations, something I have seen done numerous times on sites for institutional congregations.
In Closing...
I am sorry if you have come here looking for a free web site, and do not believe you can sign up after reading all of this. There is plenty of free web hosting out there, and lots more of relatively inexpensive hosting. If for some reason you feel mad, upset, confused, or frustrated after reading this, I would encourage you to e-mail me. If you feel that I am in error, I would love to hear from you - don't just browse to another site and think that I am not worth talking to. For those that agree with me but would still like to drop me a note, thats fine too.