For more on this, see Is It Scriptural? When "movers and shakers" in the churches see a great need, and have a vision of how that need could be filled, they usually develop a "pet project". That’s commendable. However they may find the churches give their pet project the thumbs down. The churches are concerned with the "purity of the church" -- and consequently they are wary of "innovations" and "departures" from "the old paths". That’s equally commendable.
It’s a pity that two commendable things should collide in this way, especially when both goals could be achieved together. Here are seven things to think about. By testing your "pet project" through these seven principles, you will ensure that your project is likely to receive a blessing not a frown, a thumbs up not a thumbs down.
There should be a "thus saith the Lord" for all the church does. It is the Lord’s church after all. Ask not, "Is it a good thing?" but, "Does the Lord authorise it?" The authority of the scriptures cannot be derived from the silence of the scriptures. Scriptural authority always comes from what the scripture says --either what it states directly, or by inference drawn from what it says.
For more on this, see Is It Scriptural?
God warned Moses, when the tabernacle was in the making, "See that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain"
Christ said, "I will build my church"
The New Testament pattern is that the individual disciples in a given locality came together as local churches. It was the church that conducted worship services, preached the gospel, looked after needy saints, and so forth. For instance, there were "churches of Galatia"
When an organisation other than the Lord’s church draws funds, attendance, expertise, effort, and opportunity away from the church, Christ becomes the head of a skeleton!
[Although I speak passionately about this, I would also exhort us to caution that we do not take the principle to unreasonable lengths. Let’s say a group of motor mechanics, accountants, and bus drivers, get together and form "Bill’s Bible Bus Service" to provide transport infrastructure for a church that runs a large Sunday Bible School. Bill’s mob runs the buses. The church runs the Bible school. That’s sensible.]
The Bible makes it clear that "Christ is the head of the church"
The church has a set of purposes for which it exists. For example, "the church which is the pillar and ground of the truth"
There may be indeed a symbiosis (living and working together to mutual advantage and encouragement) between the Lord’s church and these other organisations. But when people create hybrid organisations that are partly church and partly something else, the admixture soon turns into a monster.
Innovation (the introduction of something new) and change has always been a problem in the church. The Bible says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever"
Of course, we are not talking about things like distributing the teaching of Christ by satellites and computers to electronic screens, instead of old fashioned ink on parchment scrolls sent by horseback. We are not talking about changing customs and expedients. We are talking about changing the "marks" of the church --those things (some before mentioned) which Christ gave to the church --its name, message, purpose or agenda, government, ceremonies, morality, and so forth.
Sometimes the thing that one group in the church wants, kind of sets them apart from the rest of the congregation. It encourages them to become a clique. Whilst there are groups in the church with special needs (youth, women, married couples, the elderly, widows/widowers, etc.) there is no reason why activities that support their needs should be conducted so as to become divisive, putting barriers between the group and the rest of the church.
The church is not really supposed to "divvy up" into groups that fence themselves off from each other. When we do look to the needs of a certain group, we should do so in such a way that preserves fellowship between that group and the rest of the church. We should arrange things so that we do not show partiality to one group and leave another group feeling left out. This careful approach is all part of letting "there be no divisions among you"
It is possible that various groups in the church might operate in such a way as to assume some special place in the church (beyond a special place in the hearts of other members who want to help and encourage them). In that case, the groups become like the Corinthians. It’s as though they are saying, "I am of the youth, I of the ladies, I of the oldies, I of the young marrieds, and I of the Bible class teachers..." and the church is thus divided. Groups should operate in a way that embraces the rest of the church (and the church should embrace the group).
The church is "neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus"
Most "pet projects" start relatively small and are innocent of appearance. But what will your pet project be like if and when it catches on and grows a thousandfold? An application of the saying, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" may be appropriate