Please, I need a biblical answer to this question. Here in Southern Nigeria youths of the Churches of Christ have grouped themselves and started organizing youth forums and evangelism. The youths elect their chairman and other executives annually. The youths would plan and finance the youth lectureship and other evangelical works. The youth would then use their own letterhead and issue invitations to youths and other congregations. The main aim of this youth gathering is to revive the church through evangelism and assist weak congregations. Some gospel ministers are members of this gathering. But there is an influential minister and a few brethren who preach against the activities of the youths, calling it unscriptural. The church is almost divided by this problem. Please, are the activities of the youth unscriptural? Please help me and the churches here. Thanks.
This question is not an easy one to answer for a couple of reasons. First, there is not enough comprehensive information provided to be fully aware of some details that could materially affect one’s response. Secondly, brethren who otherwise agree about most aspects of practicing pure, New Testament Christianity disagree about the extent of freedom an individual Christian or individual Christians may have to demonstrate their Christianity without the direct and constant oversight of the elders of the congregation of which they are members, or in the absence of elders, without the consent of the body of faithful, male members.
Of course, what members of the churches of Christ do or do not do in the United States is no standard and not comparable in precedent to anything found in Scripture. As a matter of information, the practice of some Christians, who do not imagine that they are doing anything anti-scriptural, includes formally grouping themselves together to accomplish a common goal. For instance, Christians sometimes voluntarily cooperate or work together to publish Gospel magazines or other literature. At least one school of preaching in the States exists through the banding together of various Gospel preachers as instructors under a board of directors, without being under the oversight of a congregational eldership. There are at least three brotherhood-wide independent youth organizations among the churches of Christ in America. Other brethren have organized themselves into a benevolent organization to respond to regional disasters in this country.
If these or similar cooperative efforts were under the oversight of the elders of local congregations, then the validity of their organizational structure would not be a matter of concern; only the quality of what they do would be the subject of scrutiny. There are numerous additional church programs that are the extension of local congregations, and in which several congregations may voluntarily cooperate, though individual congregations with their respective elders take responsibility for them.
Yet, is it necessary for everything that a Christian does in the exercise of his or her Christianity to be micromanaged by an eldership? Can an individual Christian without direct oversight of an eldership opt to give a coworker a tract or engage him in a religious conversation about, say, salvation? Can two brothers in Christ decide to cooperate with each other and pass out tracts in a neighborhood – without their effort having the express approval of their eldership – as though it were an organized program of the local congregation? Can three? What about five? Could 15?
Ideally, to prevent complaints by anyone who has doubts about the propriety of voluntary cooperation to work for the Lord without the guidance of an eldership, and to provide biblical supervision, the youth groups in America or Nigeria, the benevolent organization mentioned, the school of preaching cited, Gospel magazines and such like would do well to place themselves under elderships. Yet, at the same time, Christianity is an individual and personal responsibility, too – for which each child of God will face individual, personal accountability before the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). Irrespective of what a congregation does, Christians nevertheless have the responsibility to practice their Christianity faithfully (Revelation 3:4).
If the youth group in Nigeria is teaching error or attempting to control local congregations instead of enlisting their voluntary participation, then it should be opposed for one or both of those reasons. Otherwise, as long as it is not a religious organization to which local churches are slaves, and if two or more Christians may properly cooperate to magnify the effect of their Christian efforts (e.g., passing out tracts together), then, it is my judgment that fellow Christians ought to recognize that their preferences for or against it are merely their opinions – to which they are entitled, but which they may not bind on others. We should be careful not to disparage the good that others do because it is not the way we would do it or we are not the ones doing it (Luke 9:49-50).
The largest religious organization possessing divine authority to exist remains the local congregation of the Lord’s church. As long as all parties recognize this to be true, and individual Christians voluntarily working together do not dispute this, Christians would do better directing their attention to working for the Lord and being fruitful (John 15:1-6).
