Part 4 of What You Need to Know about Parachurch Organizations
Parachurch organizations work with a lot of very talented and spiritually-gifted people, and bring in large sums of money for their ministries. That in itself is part of the problem; resources that go to parachurches often mean few resources available to local churches, It is not unheard of for an active Gideon to speak in ten or twelve churches a year, and that's ten or twelve Sundays he's not in his local church. Many Christians divert a part of their tithe, or their freewill offerings, to parachurches, rather than to their own church.
There is nothing inherently wrong with donating time and money to worthwhile Christian organizations outside the church, but it it a problem when we give preference to that organization over our local church. I was a Baptist who also happened to be a Gideon, not a Gideon who happened to attend a Baptist church. Right now, I'm a Baptist who runs two websites, not a webmaster who is a Baptist. If any one problem mandates against active involvement in a parachurch movement, it is this one.
For all of their claims to being nondenominational, or interdenominational, most, if not all, parachurches reflect the doctrinal views of their leadership. Organizations like the Billy Graham Evangelical Association or Campus Crusade, fit into the "New Evangelical" movement. The movement is best characterized by compromise, an effort to reach the world by conforming to it. Besides advocating every new Scripture translation that comes along, they make little distinction between beliefs, advocating an ecumenical approach. These attitudes are absorbed by the people who belong to the organizations, to the detriment of their own churches.
When the beliefs of their chosen parachurch group conflict with those of their church, many Christians will defer to the parachurch, and either leave their local church or become a source of division and strife. I love the Gideons ministry, and believe they do an incredible work for the Lord. In good conscience, though, I could no longer be one. They now allow their members to refer to either the King James Version of the Bible or the New King James, which has no real right to the title. Although closer in meaning than other so-called "modern" versions, it is still diluted and polluted with the Gnostic Greek texts so much in vogue with present-day translators.
If we must support parachurch organizations, as Fundamental Christians, let it be those which reflect our values. There are a multitude of good Fundamental websites, Fundamental colleges, Fundamental missionary organizations, and other Fundamental parachurches we can give our support to. The last article in this series looks at parachurch ministries for Fundamental Christians.
Read books about parachurch organizations at Christianbook.com.
Coning next: Parachurch organizations that are Christ-centered
Copyright 2008 by Gary W. Cavendish. This article may be freely used so long as due credit is given. For more articles, see the author's website at Jesus Is the Bridge. Gary W Cavendish is the author of 4 books, all Christian fiction, and numerous articles. He is a retired Federal employee, grandfather, and webmaster.
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