I was going to give an offering to an online ministry.  I have said to myself that if this isn't what God wanted me to do, He would let me know. Well, I have checked on my balance from my account, and I just found out that my offering didn't go through.  Is this a sign that God doesn't want me to give even though I gave it two weeks ago?  I don't have much money left, and I don't know what to do.

Sincerely,
Give Or Live

Dear Give Or Live,

We here at AYP think in general people should give more, not less – but in this circumstance, we lend toward saying, “Don’t give.”  We cannot be adamant either way, but here are the Scriptures that come to mind in your circumstance:

1. You prayed about it, and it hasn’t worked out.  God says that if we pray for wisdom, He will provide (Jas 1:5).  Ultimately, the only exact knowledge we will ever get is from God’s Word (Rom 10:17, Rom 1:16).  However, it would be foolish to say that God doesn’t answer prayers and affect our lives providentially.  The fact that your gift didn’t go through isn’t definitive proof, but it would give us pause as well.
2. Online ministries are rarely Biblical.  I’m sure we will receive a flood of e-mails telling us how wrong we are on this point, but realistically, televangelists, online ministries, and the sort are made up of people who want to itch ears and tell people what they want to hear, so that they can get to their purse strings (2 Tim 4:3-4).  Beware of false teachers who come to you in sheep’s clothing (Matt 7:15).  There are many other, more specific ways that you can help others without getting mixed up with charlatans.
3. You mentioned that you don’t have much money left.  God expects us to give liberally, but He also doesn’t hold us accountable to give something we don’t have to give (2 Cor 8:12).  If you have to decide whether you will have enough money to eat or whether you will give – it is probably time to take care of the needs at home first.  On the other hand, be careful that you don’t define ‘wants’ as ‘needs’ and only give what you have left over.  All giving should be a sacrifice (Lk 21:1-4).

Ultimately, you must decide for yourself what you ought to do in this circumstance… but those are some Scriptures to consider as you make your decision.

How many times on Sunday can I take the Lord’s Supper?

Sincerely,
Really Remembering

Dear Really Remembering,

The Bible never specifically addresses how many times on Sunday that Christians can take the Lord’s Supper, but the practical answer would be once (maybe twice) because it is a group activity, not an individual one.

The command to gather and take the Lord’s Supper is a congregational one.  The whole church comes together on Sunday to take it together (Acts 20:7).  It isn’t intended to be done by individual Christians at home or apart from the church.  Paul says that we are to take the Lord’s Supper when the church is gathered together, and the Corinthian Christians were rebuked for not doing it together (1 Cor 11:20).  It is a spiritual meal taken together as we collectively remember Christ’s death and proclaim it until His return (1 Cor 11:26).

With this in mind, most congregations only offer the Lord’s Supper once (or sometimes twice if they offer it at an evening service for those who weren’t able to make it in the morning).  Therefore, practically speaking, a Christian would never have more than one or two opportunities to partake of the communion each Sunday.

Some Christians feel that they need to take it twice if it is offered twice – this is their prerogative, and the Scriptures seem to give freedom for each individual to decide whether or not to partake again.  However, a Christian only needs to take the Lord’s Supper once on Sunday to fulfill the command.

Some of my friends take missionary trips to third-world countries; when they talk about going, I don’t really know how to respond. I am not entirely certain about the Bible's stance on missionary trips as well as how to explain why I am not participating in them. Furthermore, is there a better term for those individuals who go to a country like China for three weeks and spread the Word as best they can? Pretty much, what is a standard missionary trip, and what does the Bible say about them?

Sincerely, Savvy Traveler

Dear Savvy Traveler,

Paul’s life was dedicated to the “mission field”, and yet Paul would roundly condemn what poses for “missionary work” in today’s religious communities. It is important to note that the term ‘missionary’ is never found in the Bible; it is a modern term, not a Biblical one. The word ‘missionary’ was originally used to refer to a preacher who went on a ‘mission or assignment’ to preach the gospel in foreign lands. This is completely Biblical. In this sense, Paul was an excellent missionary (but, again that is term coined by men, not the Bible). God Himself sent Paul on a mission to preach to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). Paul believed it was his solemn duty to bring the gospel to parts of the world that had not yet received it (Rom 15:20-21).

Unfortunately, when people talk about going on ‘mission trips’ today, they rarely are using the term to refer to evangelism. Today’s churches normally use the phrase ‘mission trip’ to refer to trips where people go and build houses, roads, etc. for the impoverished in third world countries.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with showing kindness to the less fortunate. God commends individual Christians for helping others who are in need (Jas 1:27). However, it is wrong for a congregation to take on the work that belongs to us as individuals. The church’s job is to evangelize and teach people, to feed their spiritual needs. Many, many churches have substituted spiritual work with physical work. This is wrong. Christ said that we will always have the poor with us, but spiritual matters are of greater importance (Matt 26:11). The religious world as a whole has stopped evangelizing and become focused on civic duties and community welfare. Many churches care more about soup kitchens and daycare programs than they do about bringing people the Word of God.

So if a church is on a mission to help people, by all means, they should go preach the Word. That is the need for which every soul really hungers and thirsts… and the need that God’s church is designed to satisfy.

When taking the communion, should you physically "break the bread"?

Sincerely, Not Enough Crumbs

Dear Not Enough Crumbs,

We must break the bread like Jesus did, by sharing it with others who are also taking the Lord’s Supper. The term ‘break the bread’ can mean two things:

1. Physically separating a loaf of bread (Acts 27:35)
2. To have a meal, share food (Acts 2:46)

When we take the Lord’s Supper, we use Christ’s example as our guide.Christ took the bread first and then the juice (Matt 26:26-27) – so we do it in the same order. Jesus used grape juice, so we use grape juice (Matt 26:29). So if Jesus physically broke the bread as part of the Lord’s Supper, we should to. The example we see is that Jesus gave thanks for the bread and then broke the bread to share it with the disciples (Matt 26:26). So when we take the Lord’s Supper, we are to do the same thing… share the bread with the other christians assembled. Without being too dogmatic on the point, the bread gets broken, by default, every time other christians take some from the loaf. The emphasis isn’t on who breaks the bread - but on us all sharing the meal together (1 Cor 10:16-17).

James 5:14 talks about praying for someone who is sick and "anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."  I frequently hear of people praying for the sick today, but I've never seen the elders of a church anoint a sick person with oil. Why don't we continue this practice today?

Sincerely, Olives On My Mind

Dear Olives On My Mind,

Anointing with oil was a medicinal practice to remove pain and speed up the healing of a sick person. Olive oil was used in the first century for everything from food to alleviating sunburns. We have to understand the statement in the context of the culture in which it was written. A first century christian would have understood James 5:14 as a call to prayer and a call to make sure the medical needs were taken care of for the ill person.

It is very similar to an earlier statement by James concerning faith and works. In Jas 2:14-17, James addresses the problem of a person that offers kind words without doing what they can to help another. An elder that prayed for a sick christian but didn’t use his authority within the church to get the needy person the necessary medical attention would have been neglecting his duties to shepherd the flock (1 Pet 5:2). Today, we don’t use olive oil to meet people’s medical needs, but the principle of doing what we can to care for them still applies.