Ellen Chat Conversation

Ellen White did not specifically address the topic of renting church buildings to other denominations on Sundays. However, she did write about the broader practice of renting church facilities. In her writings, Ellen White mentioned that renting a church building was "an acceptable, but temporary, arrangement" (PaM 241.3). She described how Seventh-day Adventist congregations sometimes found themselves in situations where they needed to rent facilities. For example, she noted that after their church building in Oakland was sold, the members secured the use of the Congregational church, corner Eighteenth and Market Streets, for our Sabbath servicesand were "meeting in this rented church until some more permanent arrangement can be made" (PaM 241.3). Ellen White also spoke about renting other facilities for evangelistic meetings. She described an occasion where a larger hall was obtainedfor an evening meeting, noting that "a collection was taken up which more than covered the expense of the hall" (14MR 284.3). Interestingly, she mentioned that this particular hall "was a dance hall, but there was excellent ventilation" (14MR 284.3), showing a practical approach to using available facilities for gospel work. The key principle that emerges from her writings is that renting facilities was viewed as acceptable when necessary, particularly as a temporary measure while seeking more permanent arrangements. However, she did not provide specific counsel about whether Adventist congregations should rent their own church buildings to other denominations on Sundays. --- 💡 **You might also want to explore:** • What did Ellen White say about the importance of having dedicated houses of worship? • How did Ellen White view cooperation or fellowship with other denominations? • What counsel did she give about Sabbath observance and Sunday activities? --- 📚 **thousands of passages found** containing these search terms — [Explore in Full-Text Search](/advanced-search?q=Did+Ellen+comment+on+renting+the+church+on+Sunday%3F)

Ellen White did not provide specific counsel about how churches should use money obtained from renting their buildings. The one document that mentions renting churches to other denominations (3SM 322) does not address the financial aspect of such arrangements. However, Ellen White wrote extensively about the broader principle of how church members and institutions should handle all financial resources. Her consistent counsel was that all means should be dedicated to advancing God's cause and saving souls. She taught that "the members of the church should individually hold themselves and all their possessions upon the altar of God" (5T 465.1). This principle would logically extend to any income a church receives, including rental income. Ellen White emphasized that God's money should not "lie idle nor to be covetously retained or hid away, but to be used to advance His cause, to save the souls of the perishing" (5T 465.1). She warned against binding up "the Lord's money in your expensive buildings and your large enterprises, while His cause is crippled and left to beg its way, the treasury half-supplied" (5T 465.1). Regarding church building maintenance specifically, she did clarify one important distinction: "Those who have charge of our church buildings are to be supplied with the means necessary to keep these buildings in good repair, but this money is not to come from the tithe" (Echoes June 21, 1905, par. 2). This suggests that building maintenance funds should come from other sources, which could include rental income. While Ellen White did not explicitly address rental income from church buildings, her overarching principle was clear: all financial resources should be viewed as belonging to God and used strategically for mission work, supporting ministry, and advancing the gospel message. --- 💡 **You might also want to explore:** • What did Ellen White say about the proper use of tithe versus other church offerings? • How did Ellen White counsel churches to prioritize their spending when resources were limited? • What principles did she give about maintaining church buildings while supporting mission work?