“For God so loved the world that He didn’t send a committee” is a jocular indictment of committees that has been popular with newspaper political columnists and church preachers. It’s not known who first said it.
 
“A meeting-fatigued young clergyman murmured to us the other night, ‘For God so loved the world that he didn’t send a committee’” was printed in William A. Caldwell’s column in the Bergen Evening Record (Hackensack, NJ) on May 25, 1959. “It is significant that when God wished to save the world he did not send a committee to do it” was cited in print in December 1959. “It should be remembered that God so loved the world that he did not send a committee” was cited in February 1960.
 
     
25 May 1959, Bergen Evening Record (Hackensack, NJ), “Simeon Stylites” by William A. Caldwell, pg. 38, col. 7:
A meeting-fatigued young clergyman murmured to us the other night, “For God so loved the world that he didn’t send a committee.”
 
31 December 1959, Tulia (TX) Herald, “Quotable Quotes,” sec. 2, pg. 2, col. 5:
JOE W. BROWN in The Lorenzo Tribune—
(...)
It is significant that when God wished to save the world he did not send a committee to do it.
 
29 February 1960, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Dr. Webb Warns of ‘Crossfire.’” sec. 1, pg. 16, col. 1:
“It should be remembered that God so loved the world that he did not send a committee.”
(Dr. Walter Prescott Webb. historian at the University of Houston.—ed.)
 
5 December 1960, Ames (IA) Daily Tribune, “To the Editor,” pg. 4, col. 6:
I strongly feel that truth, goodness and morality cannot be legislated but merely protected by law. A pastor once said, “God so loved the world He did not send a committee.” To which we might add, God so loved His children He placed them in the care of a family, not an institution.”
Mrs. John Dunleavy
Route 3.
 
27 July 1961, Amarillo (TX) Globe-Times, “The Polk Street Professor,” pg. 8, col. 1:
The “Boys Ranch Roundup” newspaper says, “Dad’s firm hand made men out of a bunch of poor prospects.”
 
There’s surely nothin’ wrong with committees. They’re fine. But in that same little paper there’s a quote that says “God didn’t send a committee—He sent His only Son.”
   
Google Books
Canon Law,
A Handbook
By Daniel B. Stevick
New York, NY: Seabury Press
1965
Pg. 73:
“God so loved the world that he didn’t send a committee.” The witticism is not mine—-I owe it to a former colleague—but I wish it were.
 
6 September 1967, San Antonio (TX) Light, “History’s Racial Lesson: ‘Superiority’ Really Is a Short-Lived Thing” by Ruth Montgomery, pg. 16, col. 1:
WASHINGTON—And God so loved the world that he didn’t send a committee.
 
This wry commentary on the tendency of recent presidents to push burning matters to the back burner, by appointing a fact-finding committee, seems pertinent as yet another presidential commission struggles with the cause-and-cure for racial disorders.
 
15 January 1976, Centre Daily Times (State College, PA), pg. 1, col. 5:
FORTUNATELY: God so loved the world, The Episcopalian reports, that He didn’t send a committee.
   
Google News Archive
12 February 1976, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), “Shop with Sue,” pg. 2, col. 7 ad:
God so loved the world that He didn’t send a committee!
   
Google Books
Personal Finance
By Lawrence J. Gitman
Chicago, IL: Dryden Press
1984
Pg. 5:
His credo is summarized by a desk plaque: “God so loved the world that He didn’t send a committee.”
 
Google Books
14,000 Quips & Quotes:
For Speakers, Writers, Editors, Preachers, and Teachers
By E. C. McKenzie
Grand Rapids, MI : Baker Book House
1990, ©1980
Pages 81 and 93:
Sign on a church bulletin board in Benton, Wisconsin: “For God so loved the world that He didn’t send a committee.”
 
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Ty Gibson
‏@tyfgibson
For God so loved the world that He didn’t send a committee.
4:38 PM - 5 Dec 2012