CHURCH SPONSORED RECREATION AND THE WORK OF THE
CHURCH
Guest Writer: Rodney
Pitts
Over the past 20-30 years there has been a dramatic shift in the
direction of the work of most churches of Christ. Churches that once performed the simple works of preaching to
Gospel, edifying the saints, and helping their needy, now place a great deal of
emphasis on the work of providing recreational activities for the members. With this change has come announcements of
church sponsored pizza parties, cookouts, ball teams, camps, ping pong
tournaments, smiling contests, and even pie throwing contests at the church
building! Don’t believe it’s gone that
far? Well, I can produce the proof!
One of the more frightening things about
this shift is that these recreational activities have become so much the “norm”
among most churches of Christ, that any church that objects to them is immediately
branded as “anti” and in opposition to the ways of Christ. Considering these churches’ determination to
go “full speed ahead” in the area of recreation, surely the scriptural evidence
in favor of church recreation must be overwhelming, right?? Well, that is the question that we want to
address. For, if the scriptures condone
church sponsored recreation, no one can object; but, if God’s word shows it to
be an unscriptural addition, we must reject it with every ounce of our strength
(Rev. 22:18-19).
In I Corinthians 2:9-13 Paul emphasized
that when he declared the “testimony of God” to the Corinthians, he “determined
not to know anything among [them], save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (I
Cor. 2:2). Although we know that Paul
did not mean that he preached on no other subjects but Christ and the crucifixion
(i.e., Paul spoke of baptism and the Lord’s Supper - 1:13-14, 11:17ff), his
point is that all that he preached was directly related to God’s saving plan
for mankind through Jesus Christ. Why
did he restrict his message this way?
Because the Spirit restricted his message to these points! Paul, like every other person, was dependent
upon the revelation of the Spirit to know the acceptable ways of God (read I
Cor. 2:9-12). He could not preach what
he “thought” God would want, but only what the Spirit revealed. We, too, are under the same obligation (II
John 9; I Cor. 4:16). Therefore,
anything we might desire to do or preach “in the name of Christ” has to first
be found within the words of the Spirit, which were written by the Apostles and
prophets in the N.T. (see I Cor. 2:13; 14:37).
With
this in mind it is necessary to ask some questions concerning whether church
sponsored recreation is truly a part of the revelation of the Spirit. The first question that comes to mind is
whether anyone can confidently say that church recreation is directly connected
to the message of “Jesus Christ, and him crucified”? If someone answers “yes,” I wonder how any church or preacher
could possibly be pleasing to God if they did not emphasize recreation?? Are there any parts of God’s plan we can
leave out?
Second, if
recreation is directly connected to God’s plan for saving mankind, you would expect
to find: (1) the first century church being commanded to provide recreation;
(2) some guidelines given to the church in this area; and (3) at least one
example of recreation being practiced by the local church in the N.T. Yet, not one of these can be found! How can it be part of the “things of God” if
the Spirit has said nothing about it within the word (I Cor. 2:11)? I can easily find where the church was
involved in evangelism, edification, and benevolence; but, I have never found
or been shown one single scripture that even mentions church recreation. Doesn’t that sound a bit strange for a work
that is directly connected to “God’s plan of salvation”?? Brethren, think about it.
If
recreation is a vital part of the N.T. church’s work as many brethren are now
claiming, then how could it possibly be an optional work? I know of no one, however, that says a
church must provide recreation or be condemned by God. Yet, churches of Christ are obligated to do
the works of Christ (i.e., evangelism, edification, and benevolence) if they
have the ability and the opportunity. A
church cannot simply take or leave the job of evangelism, etc., and be
acceptable to God. Yet, is anyone ready
to say that any church of Christ that has the opportunity (which most all do),
and the ability (whether it be large or small), must do all the recreation for
its members that it can possibly do or be condemned of God? I have no problem saying this about the
works of evangelism, edification, and benevolence. But, will anyone say this about recreation? If not, then recreation cannot be a part of
the work of Christ for the church!
In Philippians 2:29-30
Paul told the Philippians to hold men like Epaphroditus in esteem “because for
the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply
what was lacking in your service towards me.”
In other words, Epaphroditus was to be highly esteemed because he was
willing to risk his life for the “work of Christ!” With this in mind, I would ask: Does anyone honestly believe that
Epaphroditus would have risked his life for ballgames, ping pong, and pizza
parties?!? Yet, if recreational
activities are the “work of Christ,” are we not required to risk our lives for
them? Now, I know and hope that my
brethren and I would risk our lives for evangelism, edification, and benevolence. But, I know of no one that would risk his or
her life for church bowling. Do
you? If not, how can it be the “work of
Christ”?
The assemblies of the saints are designed
by God to edify Christians through worship of Him and study of His will. In these assembles I see all aspects of the
church’s work being practiced without penalty.
What do I mean? Well, in the assembly
the work of evangelism (I Cor. 14:15-17), edification (I Cor. 14:26), and even
benevolence (I Cor. 16:1-2) are performed weekly with the blessing of God. Yet, how many would be willing to take time
within the worship service to watch a Disney movie or to play a ball game? Or, how many would even be willing to take
up a collection specifically for a Disney movie within the assembly. I know of none, or at least very few. I wonder why recreation is so different from
these other works? If recreation truly
is an authorized work of the Church that can be done in glory to God, then what
scripture allows the other “works of Christ” to be present within the assemblies,
but rejects recreation? Brethren, there
is no such scripture!
Finally, many brethren would like to justify
their church sponsored recreational activities by claiming that they constitute
biblical “fellowship” (KOINONIA). The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon and others do define
koinonia as “to share.” Yet, to simply
say that recreational meals, etc., are “fellowship” because Christians “share” in these activities is to misuse the
word and to take it out of its biblical context. Nowhere within the whole of the N.T. are recreational meals,
etc., ever described as fellowship.
Such activities might be called “association,” or “keeping company” with
one another, but not fellowship (see I Cor. 5:9,11). In every context where the word fellowship is connected with the
church, it carries a spiritual meaning and never refers to social activities
(get a concordance and look up all these verses for yourself). Also, if recreational meals, etc., were
truly biblical fellowship, would it not be fellowshipping a heathen if one such
person ate or played with Christians during one of the activities? If not, why not?
Also, if brethren can justify church sponsored
recreation on the basis that it is “sharing,” then what are these brethren
going to do with Luke 5:10? In this
verse it says that James and John were “partners (KONONOI - fellowshippers) with Simon” in their fishing business. Does this mean that since these disciples
fellowshipped (shared with) each other in a fishing business that the church
can now run a business in the name of fellowship? Isn’t it interesting that those who try so desperately to get
recreation into the word fellowship will try just as hard to reject the
church’s running of a business enterprise to make money to do its works. Yet, we have a scripture that calls a
business arrangement a “fellowship,” but not one single scripture that ever
calls recreational activities fellowship?
Think about that, brethren.
In conclusion, I would
like to say that I have nothing personally against members of the body of
Christ coming together and enjoying one another’s company. In fact, who should Christians want to be
with more? But, this is a far cry from
diverting the time, energy, and funds of the church from its God-given works of
evangelism, edification, and helping its needy to the man-made works of pizza
parties and baseball! Surely we can all
see the difference between what is truly the “work of Christ” and what are
clearly the works of men. I hope and
pray that these words have resulted in the glory of God and that brethren will
be brought closer to a more perfect unity through their consideration and
study.