That’s a good question, and I hope what I say will make sense. This is the kind of thing that takes some time to assimilate, I think. The issue really boils down to authority; and when I teach on authority, I spend a lot of time in fundamental ground work, before I get to specific issues like what you are asking about. So just answering the question would make more sense after laying that groundwork, which I won't do at this present time so as not to be too lengthy.

Let me say, for clarity sake, what the issue is NOT. The issue is NOT whether a person can eat something on the grounds of church owned property. I regularly eat and drink stuff in my office at the building. I have no problem with incidental actions like that. Further, the issue is NOT whether it is good for Christians to get together in a social way or eat common meals together. I encourage Christians to get together as much as possible and interact in a social way.

The issue is this: is the local congregation authorized by the Scriptures (by God) to provide for social activities, such as making the provision for eating common meals? Note here that the key is whether the church is to PROVIDE for these things. In contrast to the church providing for it would be the individual providing for it. In other words, are the social activities works of the church as authorized by God, or are they works of the individual (the home)?

The answer to these questions seems pretty clear to me from the Bible. There is a difference between what the local church is to do AS A CHURCH (cf. 1 Cor. 14:18), and what the individual can do. For example, the individual can get married, own a business, and employ a clown to entertain his kids at a birthday party. These are not matters for the church to provide for out of her treasury. I can choose my own wife, but the church has no business doing that for me. I can run my own business, but the church is not in the private business sector. Even in matters such as caring for aging or widowed parents, the individual is to do this, and "the church must not be burdened." (1 Tim. 5:16, study the entire context to see the individual responsibility as separate from church responsibility. For more thoughts on the distinction between individual and church activity, go here.).

Now when it comes to social activities such as eating common meals, whose job is it to provide for these things? When the Corinthians were abusing the Lord’s Supper by turning it into a common meal, Paul reminded them that they had "houses in which to eat and drink" (1 Cor. 11:22). Though there was abuse here, surely the implication is that eating for social purposes is something to be provided for by the home, not the church. We need to remember that the kingdom of God is "not eating and drinking" (cf. Rom. 14:17), and we must not put a common meal on par with the Lord’s Supper in terms of communion and fellowship. Fellowship in the Bible has to do with a spiritual relationship in Christ, not social activities as individuals.

This brings me to the distinction between something that is incidental versus something that is planned and purposed. If I go to my office to study, and while I’m there I drink a pop, that is a completely incidental matter. I provided for the pop out of my own wallet; it was not some kind of purposed social function for which the church was responsible. But if the church plans, purposes, and provides for a social activity such as a common
meal, then we have turned the tables and made the church responsible for something that is a work of the home. That really is the problem I have with church-provided (or sponsored) areas for eating common meals.

The Bible authorizes a local church to be involved in three basic works: preaching the gospel to the lost (cf. 1 Thess. 1:7), building up itself by the Scriptures (Eph. 4:11-16; Acts 20:32), and providing benevolent help to saints who fall into needy circumstances (2 Cor. 8-9). These are the matters for which the treasury is maintained. The church building is really just a concrete extension of the treasury, so a congregation should be careful in how it uses those facilities, just as it should be careful in how she spends her paper funds.

The silence of the Bible authorizes nothing but silence, so the question should really be this: what Scripture authorizes a local congregation to take funds from her treasury and provide for social functions such as potlucks?

Believe me when I say that I'm not trying to be a grouch or be too restrictive in working as a congregation, nor am I trying to tell another congregation what to do. I must abide by my conscience in matters like this, as does everyone else. My goal is to go to heaven, and the Bible is clear that we must have God’s authority for us to act as a church. I can use up much more than this space to talk about the need for authority from the Bible. But here’s the thing: we can all agree that individuals can provide for these activities, and no church would divide if kept to that level.

I always try to stay open on these matters, so if you have any further thoughts or questions, I am willing to study them.