Back to Index

Back to The Good Fight

 Is it scriptural for the church to provide baby-sitting service
for such events as "mothers' day out"?

1. First, this raises the question as to what is the work of the
church. God has assigned the church the work of evangelism (1
Thess. 1:8), edification (Eph. 4:14-16) and benevolence (1 Cor.
16:1,2). The church has no authority to be involved in recreation
and/or entertainment.

2. Quotations:
"Many schemes have been laid out and plans formulated by men to
carry out the work of the Lord. If people would scheme less and
study more, plan less and obey God more, conditions spiritually
would improve. What the NT teaches is not difficult to understand,
but men are vain enough to think they can improve on it. We hear of
suppers, parties, and programs to raise money for the Lord. Just at
the time when the sectarian world has failed in its claptrap
methods of religious work and worship and is ready to give it up,
shall the church of Christ take up their schemes and lose her
greatest opportunity?  Churches are building fine meetinghouses and
equipping them like hotels. Here they meet, not for worship, but to
eat and have a social time. None of these tend to spirituality.
These things, perhaps, may hold the time servers and pleasure
lovers, but will not promote the spirituality of the church" (The
Life and Works of C.M. Pullias, pg.68).

"For the church to turn aside from its divine work to furnish
amusement and recreation is to pervert its mission. It is to
degrade its mission. Amusement and recreation should stem from the
home rather than the church. The church, like Nehemiah, has a great
work to do; and it should not come down on the plains of Ono to
amuse and entertain. As the church turns its attention to amusement
and recreation, it will be shorn of its power as Samson was when
his hair was cut. Only as the church becomes worldly, as it pillows
its head on the lap of Delilah, will it want to turn from its
wonted course to relatively unimportant matters. Imagine Paul
selecting and training a group of brethren to compete in the
Isthmian games! Of his work at Corinth he said: "For I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified" (B.C. Goodpasture, Gospel Advocate, May, 1948, p.484).

"Again I say to you, with caution and thought, that it is not the
work of the church to furnish entertainment for the members. And
yet many churches have drifted into such effort, They enlarge their
basement, put in all kinds of gymnastic apparatus, and make every
sort of an appeal to the young people of the congregation. I have
never read anything in the Bible that indicated to me that such was
a part of the work of the church. I am wholly ignorant of any
Scripture that even points in that direction" (N.B. Hardeman,
Tabernacle Sermons, 1942)

"Building recreation rooms and providing and supervising
recreational activities at the expense of the church is a departure
from the simple gospel plan as revealed in the NT. The church might
as well relieve the parents of feeding and disciplining all the
young people at church expense as to take over the job of
entertaining and supervising their recreation at church expense. Be
sure to get a clear conception of the duties of the home as
contrasted with the duties of the church in the matter of
recreation. To confuse the two  realms of activity will involve us
in absurdities (GA Commentary, 1951, p.229)



Back to Index

Back to The Good Fight