“Back Up The Bus”

Monday, April 14, 2014

At my congregation, we have at least ten members that either ride the bus or are picked up en route to the building by other members.  Can/should the church collectively provide transportation for them?  Thanks for your help on this question.

Sincerely,
Ticket To Ride

Dear Ticket To Ride,

The church has the authority to do anything that it believes is necessary to fulfill the work God has given it.  Part of the work of the church is to teach the saved and preach to the lost.  Read “The Purpose Driven Church” for more details on what the church is authorized to do.  Just like a congregation has the authority to purchase a building to make it easy for brethren to get together and worship, it has the authority to deal with other issues that come up regarding the church assembling.  If a congregation had a legitimate need to transport members to the church building, it could pay for that out of its funds.

However, can and should are not the same things.  We are also warned not to burden the church when we can take care of things as individuals (1 Tim 5:16).  The tendency of today’s society is to place the burden on the church first and then for individuals to only deal with the leftover responsibilities.  However, this is flipped from the biblical order and it robs individual christians of opportunities to do good and grow.

A congregation could begin providing transportation if it was appropriate and needed, but it also sounds like your congregation is already comfortably handling the issue by having faithful people step up to the plate and shoulder the responsibility – what an example of brethren letting their light shine (Gal 6:10)!

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