Parachurch Organizations In the religious and christian world, these organizations abound and for those who are truly of Christ, they do a lot of good work but they are not all thatway and they add to the confusion in the minds of the unsaved as those who read the Bible do no see any command for such organizations to exist and they wonder what is the difference. First off, let me say that many of the men who have founded such organizations, have been given a ministry and burden by God. We do not doubt that and we agree that these men are seeking methods and ways to meet their 'calling'. There are times that the organized church cannot see the same divine guidance and hesitate to endorse their activities.  So these men are forced to seperate from the direct authority of the organized church to be in obedience to God. Second, this situation presents several problems and creates burdens that should not be there, which is the focus of this article, not the men and their calling. We do not presume to think we know better than God and that we must apply the scriptural guidelines given to us to help us confirm such men are indeed of God and not false teachers. These problems many be miniscule to some but in reality they cane have spiritual and scriptural impact for the negative and opens the door for evil to work its deceptive magic on the unsuspecting. Here is one definition of a parachurch organization: " The defining characteristic of a parachurch is that it stands outside of the organizational structure of well-established religious bodies. The autonomy of the parachurch from established religious bodies allows a much greater degree of flexibility for innovation than is possible within an established organizational hierachary. Parachurches are often the creation of an entrepreneaur or a small cadre of people who seek to achieve specific goals. (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/relbroad/parachurch.html) As you can see, there is nothing about God inthat definition andmakes the parachurchorganization sound like a secular endeavor with earthly goals and agendas. Notice the words 'a much greater degree of flexibility of innovation' yet nothing is mentioned that guides the organization to discern between good and bad innovation or following God's direction.  It is as if people want to do things their own way because they like it and ignore the ways God wants them to use. This is one of the dangers of going outside of church authority as doors are opened to methods that God may not want used or are strictly secular and should not be associated with God's ministry. Servants of God do not get to pick their own methods unless so instructed by their Master. To do so would be sin and detrimental to the work of God and compromises one's beliefs. Another danger is the issue of money.  Already, the non-believer makes the complaint about the church and its continued need for money. The late George Carlin used to make fun of the church because of this continued demand and that is NOT good.  Parachurch organizations are usually started without any scriptural or sound financial base, which is not a smart move business wise nor spiritual wise.  This new drain upon the existing spiritual resource (people who tithe) creates a drain upon the local church, hindering it from doing what God commands. It also creates a burden upon the parishoner as they have only so much money available to contribute.  After their tithe, the husband must look after his family not the parachurch organization or its workers who constantly appear in church services appealing for support.  Such requests are unfair to families and allows guilt to interfere with their growth in Christ. Too often the workers and leaders of these organizations take advantage of certain scriptures in hopes of pulling some moneyout of those who do not know any better. The purpose of God's church and its workers is NOT to hurt the family, financially or otherwise but to protect and help them become strong so they can withstand satan's attacks.  The constant demand for their hard earned dollars is just not right.  If theparachurch organization is going to employ people for theirwork thenthey need tobe prepared to pay the salaries of those employees.  They have no right to expect the congregant to take up their responsibility.  Another danger that arises with this topic is that there is no scriptural command, direction, reference or inference that such organizations are to exist. Nor is their financial strategies supported by any scriptural references. As John Stott said, 'anything can be supported by Scripture IF one is unscrupolous enough' (lectures on the church). Without scriptural support these groups take a dangerous step into possible disobedience--not in their purpose or work buit in their structure. They are creating financial expenses that should not be there and operating outside of the manner that God would like. This leads us to the field of ethics, and spiritual morality. These organizations are outside the direct authority of the church thus oversight is very limited, they do not need the organized church to survive but their actions, the unethical, the sinful, the immoral etc., reflect on all christians and the the work of Christ. Without the proper authority inplace, the temptation to justiofy and do what is wrong is immense. We know of well meaning people who have made errors in judgement simply because they placed themselves at the head of the decision making apparatus instead of following God's order of things.  These errors have ramifications and if not corrected properly then the 'ministry' becomes a stumbling block to Christ not a help. This is impotant for in the end it is Christ who suffers and many people turn away from God simply because some of these people let satan into their operations through various attidues and implementations of 'innovations'. The ideal solution for these people is for them to remain under the protection of the church, stay within God's order of things and remove the burdens they place upon the average christian who is only commanded to bring their tithes and offerings to the God (church) letting Him decide how it should be disbursed.  As it satnds, the church appears divided, in competition with itself and creates a muddled picture. This needs to be cleaned up for the church needs to be seen as organized, wisely lead and seen as following scripture (1 Cor. 12). if they are NOT following scriptures then they cannot expect those outside of the church to do the same. This means that the organized church needs to be more open to God's leading.  They need not be strict nor closed-minded for they do not run Christ's church, He does, and they need to be in tune with Him to make sure they support the right men and block the false teachers. Most importantly the burdon of the ministries should not be transferred to the general average church goer, the church would need to scrutinize their programs, their priorities and make changes to allow these God lead men to minister as God wants them. The church is only entitled to the tithes of the people and what ever offering the average church goer decides to give above his tithe. At no time is the church allowed to coerce, demand or plead for more money, that is NOT their purpose. If activities look expensive but it is decided that it is of God, then they need to look to God for the funds and not expect nor ask for handouts/freebies.  The people who provide services to the church have responsibilities that they have to meet and the church should be the leader in helping them meet those responsibilities not a hindrance. Constantly having the church's hand out looking for money is equal to begging and God is not a beggar for then He would not be God.  He leaves no doubt who met the needs so He gets the glory NOT the person who is meeting the demand.  There is room in God's kingdom for men who respond to God's call to specific ministries but their is not room for the myriads of parachurch organizations who place stress and guilt upon God's people.  It is best to work under the church so that one's reputation is protected and no questions of their activities arise. Allowing disrepute to fall upon Christ's name and work is wrong and since His name is on the church, He deserves to have a clean reputation and honorable activities done in that name.