Expert: John Fields - 4/27/2011

Question
Is institutionalism in the churches of Christ wrong, because I don't see any passages in the bible that authorizes of building orphan homes, schools, colleges, fellowship halls, etc.

Answer
The short answer is that NO institutionalism is NOT wrong and the authority is built into the scriptures in many ways.

Is it right or wrong to help widows and orphans? It is right. Is it right or wrong to save souls? It is right. Is it right or wrong to fellowship in love? It is right. Is it right or wrong to educate Christian youth? It is right.

Sadly, I observe that the desire to not have institutions involved in doing good works is not about scripture and wanting to do what is right as much as it is about legalism (the belief that we are made right in Christ through law-keeping) and following tradition. I have also observed time and again that those who are the first to throw stones at others who are carrying out the commands of the Lord are the last to carry them out themselves individually or personally.

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

We are told that religion which takes care of widows and orphans is pure and faultless. He does not say how it should be done but THAT it should be done. Those who fault orphans homes for supposedly taking children in to care for them, supposedly wrongly, should take the kids in themselves if they really feel as strongly about it as they seem to.

Matthew 28:19-20 (19) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We are told that we are to baptize and make disciples of all nations. Actually, it was the apostles who were given this command. They were a small representative group of Christians. I would submit to you that this was directed legally at them, that they were "institutionalized" at that point. An institution is a group or entity which is put in place by a group of people to act with and on behalf of that group of people. It is not a stretch to say that the apostles in many ways met or were similar to that function. Are we wrong when we go out and do individually what God had specifically commanded of that group? It is unclear that we could derive specific "authority" from that passage to go out and preach the Gospel. But we know that it is okay and that it is expected of us. The church spreads best when the sheep are out there making more sheep. When the church was persecuted what did it do? It grew.

Someone one else may do a lot of work in teaching and/or preaching and it be recorded as a video (like World Video Bible School) or it be written down as material (like World Bible School). Are we wrong when and if we take those videos out and distribute them and the video teaches in our place? Are we wrong when we let the lessons from WBS teach and we are just there to grade them? Are those who are saved from receiving and obeying the Gospel any less saved if they are reached by the methods that some others may not approve of? Yet, World Bible School and World Video Bible School are essentially "institutions." which take a lot of support from congregations in making their monetary goals a reality. There is no specific authority for them. Does that make them wrong?

A small group of people was going around and collecting money from all of Paul's congregations of the church he had started. This was done to send money to the poor saints in Jerusalem. This did not go with our idea of church autonomy. Did that make it wrong? No, it didn't. This was a lot of money coming from a lot of different congregations being sent to the churche(s) which met in different homes in Jerusalem. Talk about mixed up autonomy. Does that change the fact that we should be autonomous while directed by our head Jesus Christ? Did evil abound because the normal rule was not followed? This was certainly NOT the case.

Finally, I want to give a clear-cut example of institutionalism being used in the Bible.

Acts 6:1-7 (1) In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4  and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

This group of men was given the oversight and responsibility of making sure that the widows were all treated fairly and were able to eat. They had become a group of people placed in charge of an important task for another group of people. They were overseeing the money, the man-power, the challenges, and any further delegation of the work to see that these ladies were able to eat. This is the very definition of an institution. Whether this is an institution which is in place for one congregation or a large number of them is immaterial. It is allowed and even preferable. Why is is preferable? One individual may take the job to teach and preach very seriously. That we should ALL take it seriously is implicit, YET, many of us don't do this. What happens when the few who are doing the work die and pass on while the many who are left are NOT doing the work? This is why an institution to help and perpetuate that most important work is a blessing and not a sin. Generally speaking, it will be here seeing the word preached and taught long after that individual we made reference to has died and gone to collect their inheritance.

The Pharisees were good at complaining when things did not go according to the way they said they should go. They had all kinds of supposedly sound reasons for what they did. Yet, they were roundly condemned by Jesus for their lack of love, compassion and forgiveness of others.

All of us must become VERY careful that as we attempt to live by the book that we don't end up having Jesus Himself THROW the book at us. There is NEVER any law against acting in love to carry out the things God has commanded us to do.