The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Is Faith Promise biblical

My church has been using Faith Promise since the 1980s. I have argued with some fellow congregants that it is not biblical. I'm not saying that it cannot be used to fund missionaries; it is just not supported by Scripture.

John,

Are you asking for feedback as to whether others think "Faith Promises" are biblical?

From what I have read of this new 'rage' in Evanjellical Land, which is not much, it is not biblically sound.

I'm curious, however, if you believe Faith Promises is not biblical, why would you then say it could be used to fund missionaries, who are an extension of the Church? To me, it seems inconsistent, even hypocritical and pragmatic. I'm wondering how you would justify using something unbiblical for anything?

Jeff,

Good question.

I see part of it as in a grey area whereby the Bible does not speak to methods on how to fund missionaries. On what I think is unbiblical is asking people to donate their offerings for a specific cause bypassing (indirectly or directly) church leadership in making decisions on how spend to spend the church tithes and offerings.

Ahhhhhhh, okay.

From my perspective, if "Faith Promises" is unbiblical, which I think it is, then it shouldn't be used/allowed at all. Perhaps this is a poor illustration, but let's say a church decides to start a lottery and sells tickets to the general public in order to raise money for missionaries. Gambling is forbidden in Scripture, so regardless of how much money could be potentially raised, despite it being a good cause, it would be wrong to do so.

I agree, all allocations to missionaries sent by a local church should be under the oversight of the Deacons.

A couple of side points. Is it unbiblical from a Presbyterian ecclesiastical form of government view, but would it be from a congregational form of government view? I mean though both forms supposedly have a high view of the church, they are different in what the high view pertains.

The other is the question on what is the difference between benevolences and missions. The traditional view in our church is the benevolences are items such as the General Assembly administration and ministries, the Presbytery administration and ministries, Christian schools, seminaries and orphanages, and local relief organizations. Missions only include foreign mission groups and missionaries. I think they are the same and should not be delineated.

John,

"Faith Promises" is UNBIBLICAL at its core. You can see what it is based on, for example, HERE. To me, this fad smacks of Pentecostalism and/or the Word of Faith movement.

Thus, for me your questions are dealing with moot issues. A confessionally consistent Presbyterian church should not be promoting, sanctioning, teaching, nor practicing "Faith Promises". The individual members should be counseled to avoid this fad and practice biblical stewardship.

That's my