Of? Or For? The Church
It seems that it is hard for some to tell the difference between doing work for the church and doing the work of the church. Abraham Lincoln spoke of government, "of the people, by the people, and for the people." He thought that all three of the prepositions (of, by, and for) must be used to express the three ideas. Some of our religious writers and leaders seem to think that everything done in connection with, and for, the church is the work of the church. And when they say, "of the church," they also seem to mean "by the church."
If a carpenter repairs the roof of the church's building is he doing the work of the church? or, is he doing work for the church? The work might be done by the church if the members did the work themselves. But roof repairing is not the work of the church. It is work for the church. Preparation of the Lord's supper is not work by, nor of, the church; but it is work for the church.
The work of the church is that work which the Lord has willed that the church shall do. There are three types of that work: evangelistic, charitable, and edifying denominations have made rules and laws designating practices as work of the church which the Lord has not placed in the church. Entertainment and recreation is not the work of the church of the Lord; it is not taught in his will. Social functions and clubs is not the work of the church of the Lord; it is not taught by the Lord.
The work of the church can be done only by the church. The church cannot delegate an individual or company to do its work. Some work can be done by individual Christians that is to be done by the church when the individuals cannot do it alone. (1 Tim. 5:16) One congregation cannot delegate to another its work and obligations. If it is the work of that congregation, then that congregation must do it. It is not the work of a congregation to do more than it is able. (2 Cor. 1, 12) One congregation does not do the work of another congregation for it. The church does not preach in the literal sense of the word. But the church is to support the preaching in a moral way and in financial assistance to the preacher. This is the work of the church in evangelism. (Eph. 6:18, 19; Phil. 4:14-16) When such is done the preacher is not doing the preaching for the church. The preacher is doing his own work; and the church is doing its work in supporting the preacher. There is too much talk these days about churches hiring preachers to do their preaching for them. He is not doing their preaching, he is doing his own. On the other hand, neither does the church contribute for him; he must do his own contributing. A few churches are taking it upon themselves to run the "missionary programs" while other churches are contributing to those churches which "sponsor the work." These few churches are taking more authority in the "mission work" than churches had in evangelism in New Testament times. Also the contributing churches are delegating all the exercising of oversight of the work to other churches. If one church has the obligation to oversee such work and workers, then all congregations have such an obligation. If one congregation can delegate its obligation to oversee such work to another congregation, would it not have equal right to delegate its obligation to contribute, unto the "sponsoring" congregation? The same authority can be found for the one that can be found for the other. If these contributing churches would just let these congregations who want to sponsor the work for others also do the contributing for others, this writer has the notion that the "sponsoring churches" would soon decide to call off their sponsoring; and would be willing for each congregation to do its own work of contributing and overseeing in the way that it was done in the New Testament.
Some who have written recently on the care of orphans have confused the terms "of the church" and "for the church." It is the work of the church to give to the needy. (2 Cor. 9:13) There are some limitations however; for example: it is not the work of the church to give to a man who will not work; it is not the work of the church to relieve widows whom relatives should help; it is not the work of the church to support orphans whom individuals are willing to keep and support. (1 Tim. 5:8; Jas. 1:27) But is the building, maintenance, and supervision of an orphanage the work of the church? That has been affirmed by some recent writers in religious papers. Those things might be done for the church. But who can think that it is the work of the church? Who can think that an institution for orphans is church work, or work of the church? Where is it taught in the will of Christ? It is the obligation of the church to assemble for worship. It is for that reason that funds are collected and spent to pay for a house in which to worship. But that does not make carpenter work the work of the church. Granting that the church has an obligation in some cases to help the orphan, does that make the work of a school teacher, the work of carpenters on the building, the work of matrons, the work of cooks, or the work of the superintendent the work of the church? Not any more than some alien sinner's doing work on the church's building is the work of the church. It might be considered as work for the church but not of the church. An institution like an orphanage, or hospital, or school, or publishing house, or contracting company, may do the work for the church but not the work of the church. As such, the church might pay the institution for the work done. But let not the church, or churches, think that it can own and operate any of these institutions and call it "the work of the church," or "the church at work." One church could with the same argument that is made for institutional homes become a contracting agency for building church buildings and build all over the country for other contributing churches, calling it the work of the church. The church may be at work, but not so just because one member is a good carpenter, another a good cook, another a good doctor, anther a good schoolteacher, or another a good superintendent. Let us make the distinction between the work of the church and, work for the church. It will keep us from many a blunder.