Buying the note and selling the property may not violate any scriptural directives but co-signing for a loan for a friend or a stranger certainly does!

Proverbs 6:1-5 " My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler."

Proverbs 11:15 "He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; And he that hateth suretiship is sure."

Proverbs 17:18 "A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend."

Proverbs 22:26,27 "Be not one of them that strike hands or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?"

Also, are believers who have needs instructed to let their needs be known to their brethren, to their bankers, or to their Lord? Phil.4:6,7 God has guaranteed to meet all of our needs! Phil.4:19

Borrowing always brings bondage! And presumes upon the future!

Proverbs 22:7 "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender."

Co-signing for loans and lending money are two of the fastest ways to lose friends!

A far better policy, I have found by personal experience is to purpose never to LEND for non-essentials, but rather to GIVE for basic needs. Lending puts both borrower and lender in bondage! The borrower is in bondage to repay the loan and the lender is in bondage to his expectation that the loan will be repaid! But giving to meet basic needs releases both giver and receiver from any bondage! The receiver is under no obligation to return a gift and the giver is under no bondage of expectation that a gift will be returned!

Giving to meet basic needs of the poor is always a sure investment, for one who lends to the Lord will never be disappointed!
Proverbs 19:17 "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath GIVEN will he pay him again."

But another consideration is this: Since buying a "church building" never ever seemed to be an issue or a need for new covenant saints of the first century, why would it ever be a necessity in the 21st century?

To be sure, hind sight is always better then foresight, but to be forewarned with applicable scriptural principles is also to be forearmed so as to avoid disillusionment and disaster.

Trust the scriptures above may give some light on your situation.

Your servant for Jesus' sake,
Bruce Woodford
Norwich, Ontario, Canada

Often people who have chronic financial needs (I used to be one of those people) behave their ways into difficult financial situations because they lack skills, discipline, consistent income, etc.

In the early 90's, I had a number of people who helped me repeatedly, even in full view of some of my foolish decisions regarding finances. They had a significant impact on me by showing me grace and, I think, softening me for God's guidance regarding my tithing (which I believe was an instrumental beginning to learning financial responsibility).

Be open to God's leading rather than rely on "scriptural" principles. Scripture is not a book of rules but a guidebook of patterns. When we approach God and the Bible as a rule-giver and rule-book, we systemetize faith and eliminate mystery. There may very well be times when God wants his people to be fools for Christ, and sometimes, that foolishness may take shape in forms that don't fit tightly inside "scriptural principles."

If your financial difficulties and lack of consistent income resulted from a lack of skills, or discipline,...those who repeatedly helped you financially in the past were dealing with you in grace ACCORDING TO scriptural principles, not contrary to them!

A lack of skills or discipline is NOT the same situation at all to a LACK OF WILLINGNESS TO WORK! It is when a man "will not work" that he is "not to eat"!

Obviously, the generosity of your friends had a beneficial affect for good upon your life. But that is NOT the case with a lazy man who simply will not work when he is able and when there is work available that he CAN do. To continue to "cushion" such a man from experiencing the divinely designed consequences of his choices is to rebel against God and to encourage the sloth's laziness!
So God never leads people contrary to what the Holy Spirit has taught and inspired in scripture. The two are always in complete harmony because they come from the same source! So those who are "fools for Christ" may not be functioning according to "common sense" (sense that is common to all men) but they are functioning according to wisdom which is from above and according to the teaching of scripture.

Elroy, could I suggest to you that God's guidance for the giving of new covenant believers goes far beyond the "tithing" which was only required of old covenant people?

Tithing was a tenth of one's increase which was to be given for the specific purpose of supporting the Levites who were given very little land in comparison to the other tribes of Israel, and who were set apart particularly to serve the Lord as priests and ministers in the tabernacle and temple. But since, among new covenant believers, all are priests, all are ordained to bear fruit, all are ministers, all are servants of the Lord etc, there is no distinct priestly class or "clergy" to be supported and thus "tithing" is never mentioned with reference to new covenant saints!

Rather, a whole new set of principles of giving are set forth for us who have been brought into the liberty of the new covenant. See I Corinthians 16:1,2; II Corinthians 8 and 9 etc.
In these passages, the emphasis is on each believer laying by him or her in store as God has prospered them. The purpose of that store is not for their own personal "financial security" but rather for meeting needs of the poor. When one has an abundance, they are able to meet the needs of those who have little. At another point the tables may be turned so that the one who was the "giver" in the first instance may be the "receiver" at a later date.

There is no sense in the new covenant scriptures of a regular weekly collection that was to be entrusted to elders or deacons etc who then decided what to do with the giving of the saints! Rather, every believer was directed by God to give and each was responsible before God to give where, when, and in the amount that God directed them. In this way the joy of giving could be shared by all!