Church buildings with kitchens and fellowship halls are quite common today because the social gospel has gained acceptance in the minds of many. In fact, more and more churches of Christ are running head long in that direction with complete apostasy being the only outcome.

Unauthorized

There is absolutely no scriptural authority for a local church to draw funds from its treasury to construct a kitchen or fellowship hall. There is scriptural authority to construct a building for worship services because the command to worship requires a place and facilities. A place and facilities are necessary to obey God’s commands, but kitchens and fellowship halls are not for any purpose God assigned to the church. Social and recreational endeavors are not the work of the church, and acting where God has not spoken is a serious offense (Matt. 7:21-23; 15:9; 1 Cor. 4:6; 2 John 9).

Creates a New Office

Like the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18:27), the pioneer preachers forcefully ridiculed the denominations by stating that their church kitchens were creating a new office. “What new office?” they answered, “A church cook!” Thousands were converted by their plain and forceful teaching.

Perverts Bible Teaching

Some contend that the church building is not sacred and therefore can be used for eating and socializing. Yet, Paul ordered the eating of common food in the home and spiritual food in the church (1 Cor. 11:20-34). We understand that in 1 Cor. 11 Paul is condemning a misuse of the Lord’s Supper; however, it is interesting to note how Paul corrected the problem. He did not say, “Keep your common meals separate from the Lord’s Supper,” but rather, “If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home” (Verse 34).

Some have argued that kitchens and fellowship halls are expedient to the fellowship which God commanded. On the contrary, the word “fellowship” is never so used in the Scriptures. The fellowship enjoined by Christ is not social, but spiritual (see 1 John 1:3-7). It is a gross perversion to promote human socializing as “Christian fellowship.”

Introduces Worldliness

Entertainment projects go over big for a time, but to maintain enthusiasm, bigger and better schemes must be produced. In the final analysis, they introduce worldliness into the church. Food for the soul is replaced by food for the stomach, worship and spiritual songs by play and laughter, prayer and meditation by fun and frolic. Worldliness is where the long road leads and is the end result of it all. As someone has said, “Those who promote membership by offering ice cream, tea, and fried chicken will have members cold as the ice cream, weak as the tea, and dead as the chicken.”

Joins Church and Home

Years ago there was a problem of joining church and state, with bitter consequences. Today, many mix up the roles of church and home. As homes fail in their responsibility and churches take on that which does not scripturally belong to them, the consequences are devastating to both—loss of spirituality, a flood of worldliness in the church, and souls damned eternally.

Let us go back to the “old paths” of offering the gospel of Christ only, and free ourselves from the unlawful schemes men have devised to win and hold members. The gospel is not “a” power of God to salvation, but “the” power of God (the only one) to salvation (Rom. 1:16). God’s Word will accomplish exactly what He intended (Isa. 55:10-11). It is still quick and powerful, living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12).