Fake reasons for church incorporation

There are a lot of reasons that churches choose to incorporate as non-profit organizations. However, there are a number “reasons” that defenders of corporate churches use to defend their position, that are not reasons at all, merely excuses to defend their unbiblical position. If you ever hear a pastor or church-goer using any of the following excuses as reasons that their church is incorporated, you know that they are either deceived them selves, or trying to deceive you.

Excuse number one is probably one of the most common arguments, along with being one of the weakest. This is the argument that churches should register as non-profit corporations in order to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesars.” This excuse is not valid because the Church belongs to Christ, and not to the state, and by incorporating a church, the church has decided to render to Caesar what belongs to God. Corporations, even non-profit corporations such as 501(c)3 non-profit religious organizations are created and answerable to the civil government, and therefore must render to Caesar the things that are Caesars. However, the true Church does not fall under that category. Jesus made it very, very plain that he is the head of the Church. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, in part: “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Also, Ephesian 5:23 says “Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.” (Also see Colossians 1:18) The Bible is very clear on this: the Church belongs to Christ, and him alone, not the government, and as such we should remember to “render to God the things that are God’s”, and not sell it to Caesar.

This next excuse it also very common. It is the excuse based on an improper reading of Romans 13. The people that use this excuse basically argue that we are commanded to do what ever the government asks us to do. There is a number of reasons that this argument is not valid. First of all, Romans 13 does not say that we need to do what ever the government asks without question. Instead, it states that rightful government is established on God’s authority and to “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.” (Romans 13:7) To say that all civil government is good is to say that all laws are good, including laws that approve of abortion and sodomy, to name a couple. If there is a pastor or preacher who believes that all government is good and must be obeyed regardless of anything else, then they should skip teaching the Bible and just teach total submission to the civil government. As often as this argument is used, I still doubt that anyone seriously believes in it themselves. After all, we have apostle Paul who said, “I would rather obey God than man” and we have the example of many of God’s people who disobeyed the government in order to obey God.

There is a very similar myth floating around that says that churches incorporate for religious reasons. Well, there is a lot of reasons an organization or group might choose to incorporate, but none of them are religious. Some one might choose to incorporate for monetary gain or for popularity, but never because there is single shred of Biblical support for the practice. There is not any examples of the churches in the New Testament or church history that asked their pagan governments for permission or support so they could start their church. They simply did it. They did it because God commanded them to, and they would follow Him, without seeking approval of the civil rulers. Anyone who says that churches incorporate for religious reason is in error. If the Bible is not enough reason for you to believe for some reason, then check the court cases. Even the courts have ruled that churches don’t incorporate for religious reasons. A court in Wisconsin states: “We hold that the church was not required to show that it was incorporated as a religious society...” (157 Wisconsin 2d 539, 1990) Another court, this time in Alabama ruled: “A church or religious society may exist for all the purposes for which it was organized independently of any incorporation of the body under the statutes of the state...” (292 Alabama 78, 1974)

There are other excuses for why churches decide to become non-profit corporations; there are dozens of excuses as creative as they are diverse, but I have yet to see a single one that presented even the shadow a Biblical reason to do it. Do you know of a Biblical reason?