The church of Christ is the greatest and grandest institution in the world. Jesus Christ built it and its existence through the years attest its divine origin and purpose (Matt. 16:18; Psa. 127:1). The church is a people purchased and purified unto God (Eph. 1:14; Tit. 2:14). God has equipped this people that they might be able to do all the work which He assigned the church to perform (Eph. 4:11-16). Perfected saints can do benevolence and build up the body of Christ, says Paul. Some unbelievers declare that the church cannot do the work of ministry, but this verse plainly says it can!

While many churches of Christ vociferously affirm their confidence in the absolute sufficiency of the church of Christ to do all the work the Lord gave it to do, they deny the claim by merely sending ten dollars per month to support a human institution to do the work. They are not buying a service, but are subsidizing the organization itself. They call it pure religion! If the church is truly sufficient within its own framework to do the work of benevolence and evangelism, why should and how can both works be turned over to human boards to be done? Why should we think a human board can do a better work than the church of the Lord? If the church of Christ can underwrite financially a human institution, such as Potter Home in Bowling Green, to do the work of benevolence, why can it not likewise subsidize financially a missionary society similarly organized? This is not a question of methods - how the work shall be done; it is a question of which organization shall do the work. It is not a question as to whether the work must be done. We all agree it should be done. The question is: shall the church do it or a human board? What passage of scripture will the liberals give to authorize a church of Christ to send ten dollars to Potter Home and School? I am just as aware as they are that they are no longer interested in having Bible for what they teach. A young preacher recently left the truth and identified with this liberal movement. I asked what verse of scripture produced this change. He responded, "What verse of scripture!" He was not interested. It is altogether a matter of attitude toward God and His word.

Truth Magazine XXIV: 37, p. 600
September 18, 1980