What if someone were to ask you the following questions:
Should pastors get paid a salary?
Is the one main pastor/ sermon church system that most churches operate under today, Biblical?
What is your defense to these questions?
Discussion
35 comments
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Paul addresses this. No need for debate really
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Sorry, the salary part I mean
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1 Corinthians 9:9-14
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Yes. The laborer is worth his hire. There are other forms like Paul’s ten miniztery and this do exist today. There is not form commanded other then what their mission is. We simply have examples and not that
many. There are surprisingly few commands about church structure and worshop in the Bible. Other than what the message should be. -
paul was a tentmaker
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Most entertainers do…..?
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The average pastor is likely not paid enough. Pastors should be given profit incentive to accompany their calling to minister to people.
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The question usually comes up from people who don’t give are give very little to the local church, stingy people usually think this way, the Bible tells us that the higher is worth his wage, he should be paid, most have families and they need and should be taken care of.
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Don’t muzzle the ox while its gathering your grain. Something like that
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Paul worked for his ministry so people would t talk bad about the church , but he defended his right .saying the laborer is worth his wage .
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Paul was a missionary traveling to different areas of the world. Someone who does not stay in one place and unable to hold a job due to traveling needs to be supported. They need shelter. They need food. Food would be too heavy to carry when traveling.
According 1 Cor 9:18, can someone make the case that it is better to preach the gospel without getting paid monetarily? -
The question we should ask ourselves is this if God is the one providing to everyone, everything we get comes from the Lord then how God is providing to his ministers? (Pastors and others who are in full time ministry)
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Have you actually been on staff at a functioning church? There is a lot to accomplish. You need several paid staff and lots if volunteers too. If those in fellowship give their offerings generously, it is fitting to provide for the needs of those who often work well over 40 hours a week and are always on call. BTW, most pastors give generously from the very salaries they are paid.
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Yes. Pastors should get paid.
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Very good question Luke Tackett
Check out this??
Due to the massive abuses of the Televangelists in the 1980s and the gross extravagances of the Prosperity Preachers in the present day, it has become almost impossible to have a biblical conversation about ministry, money and vocation. The New Testament however has a great deal to say on the topic.
Jesus told his disciples:
You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. (Matthew 10:8–10 ESV)
That paragraph as a whole – give without pay, don’t take any money with you, don’t take any extra supplies, the labourer deserves his food – seems to indicate that Gospel ministers mustn’t look at their calling as a “job” or as a means of getting rich, but they should expect to be supported with what they need for life and ministry.
The Apostle Paul took it that way. He said:
Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:17–18 ESV)
He also insisted that:
an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain (Titus 1:7 ESV)
The consistent testimony of the New Testament appears to be that Gospel ministers should make their living from Gospel work. Preaching is no man’s hobby. It deserves the largest share of our time and attention and therefore it ought to be the means by which a Gospel worker supports himself and his family.
But it must not be viewed as a means of gain.
A pastor should expect those who are benefiting from his ministry to supply his bodily needs and by extension those of his family, and to supply that which is needed for effective ministry. That would include books, computer, study space and the ability to host people in his home. Beyond that he should harbor no ambition or greed.
Furthermore, the counsel of the New Testament appears to be that if the people receiving the ministry will not provide those things, that should be taken as an indication of their low esteem for the Gospel and should be received by the pastor as an invitation to move on. Jesus said:
if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. (Matthew 10:13–14 ESV)
People who properly esteem the Gospel properly support Gospel ministry. If they don’t, then they don’t and the pastor should hear that as an invitation to move on.
While there may be certain exceptions to the general rule – an economic slow down in the community, demographic shifts, a season of persecution – in general if a church is too small to support a pastor properly then they should join with another congregation. Denominations should be very cautious about transferring money to churches that are struggling to pay a pastor. Pastors should be very cautious about allowing denominations to subsidize their pay or benefits.
Money talks.
It tells you whether or not the people in your church actually value Gospel ministry. If they don’t then your labours would be better spent elsewhere.
But guard your heart.
Monitor your own expectations.
You have the right to expect daily bread and seed for sowing but beyond that a pastor must be prepared to die to the world.
Even still, come Lord Jesus!
SDG
Pastor Paul Carter
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You mentioned verses in 1 Timothy ch 5
Do you think “Honor” means “payment”? Earlier in the chapter it says to Honor widows? How many churches today are paying widows in the church half the pastors salary?We are all greedy. We all want things. A pastor will definitely worry about the numbers in his church if he is getting his money for things from the church congregation. Wouldn’t it be better if more people shared the load and no one got paid? Like I said in another post, instead of preparing for a sermon once a week, they would only have to prepare for a sermon once a month.
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Paul collected money and said pastors should collect payment for their wages, however teaching a 10% tithe as part of that salary is suspect at best. His offering is based off of free will offerings, but I digress
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Yes they should get paid. I work 60-100 hours a week as a bivocational pastor.
No the one pastor model is not biblical. If anyone wants my Doctor of Ministry work on this give me your email address. -
How many of you who are answering are pastors or grew up in a pastor’s home? Or even have a family??These responses are making me crazy!
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Brother salary is a point of discipline and Integrity that is appropriately biblical. No church, institution, organization or even your family can not be in system without discipline and integrity.
Otherwise you know the whole collection will be dragged and system and discipline will be abolished and demolished. -
Yes pastors should receive a salary like any other educated professional person. And yes there should be a plurality of leadership along with the pastor. Elders should be ordained to lead the church.
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The church should operate more as a family. The pastor is the uncle nobody minds having around and giving money to, because he delights the kids with stories and helps every one of his brothers anytime they need him. The pastor of a church should do more than one sermon a week. The pastor should get paid, get a house, get groceries, get a car, and expect support of all kinds from everyone else. The pastor should be at the church and the houses of the members, in contemplative prayer and studying in Universities all day, all week long (except Saturday, perhaps, because people need a break). The pastor should also work closely with another Christian sibling who is like a CEO in that church. The pastor is the overseer of the people, but there should be functioning of the Earthly organization also – perhaps that would be the job of the deacons.
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No.
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I’d say yes and no. Practically if a pastor does full time ministry and cares for the people under his leadership it’s only fair that he has a way of living. On the other hand I have questioned the church system for some reason now. There’s no Scriptural evidence of the way that church is conducted. Yes, there was teaching but no the bishop wasn’t the “preacher man” we see today. The “pastor” was a governing authority over the Christian community in a said area. But one could also argue that the synogogues were not in the Torah so why did it become that. The main thing is that God’s people adapt. As long as the one God is honored in Christ without breaking the teachings of Scripture or the leading of the Holy Spirit God is glorified. In short unless it’s a rule set that rule isn’t broken.
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Did Paul get paid, answer is yes. Don’t muzzle the ox.
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Question one) “A worker is worth their wages”
Question 2) The Bible is clear. A church is to be an independent church composing of elders and deacons.
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One thing is the translation of the word ekklesia (the word in English translations is unique to Christianity ‘church’)- which in Greek is not uniquely Christian – but a common word used to refer to a group of people called out for a purpose, like a council meeting, or as the Israelites were called out of Egypt as an assembly (the Greek use the word ekklesia in their Old Testament to describe this gathering of Israelites around the presence of God – to move as God moved) so rather than a bunch of people centred on the presence and power of God each bringing something they are learning to share whenever they meet, we have become institutionalised, passive, we have made the word ‘church’ what we have designated it to mean (happens a lot in our use of scriptures) – and we lost the purpose of our meetings – each Christian is no longer to bring a word to the meetings, our meetings no longer look like world changing, power filled equipping times, no, now only one is qualified – the leader – the stage manned with the ones alone qualified to teach and inspire -and the very passive congregation supposed to gain their spiritual nourishment from what was dished out up front – yes by all means pay them – they have an impossible job – having made Christians depend on them, rather than Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth – they have a crowd of half believing believers, who don’t know what they are for – church has become an end in itself, rather than a place where believers learn what they are for and get equipped to change the world. If it’s money they want, give them money! I think we are asking the wrong questions!
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I am in Africa.
Our cases are special….one of the easiest ways to make money in Africa is to start a church. The head pastor and his wife control the bank account. -
absolutely……….and paid well………why would we want them to live less well than us?
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Pastors must posess certain qualities without compromise, must be male the husband of one wife, have believing children these are God given must.1st Timothy 3:1-7
Titus 1;5-9
If one does not posess each and everyone of these qualifications then he can not be a pastor, elder, overseer or shepard. If he does posses them then an affirmative yes -
They should. I am an atheist, but I used to be a Christian. My pastor was a beautiful (personality) woman. She would donate her time, a lot of it. And get nothing back. Even I did. They need something back for their effort
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simple answer is yes. whether or not a church is biblical depends on whether or not they use the bible and adhere to its teaching. too many churches have been based on one verse theology. Take one verse and build an entire doctrine that does not follow the bible. You have to teach the bible as a whole, the bible explains itself. as for which translation to use, remember that jewish believers in Yeshua (Jesus) probably aren’t using the King James version. and the old testament (tanach) is probably in hebrew.
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Yes it is biblical, if you don’t support your Pastor and give to your church, you are a free loader living of the blessing of others.
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Well they have to live don’t they, and most have families, do you think they should starve
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