Paying Pastors, Church Buildings, and Weekly Sermons?

Ask Pastor John
Episode: 912

[waynejeez]

I am a pastor who is also a general contractor. I and all of the people I minister to live in our individual homes. I know each of them personally, and we interact in homes and by phone. Each one is responsible for individual budgets and bill paying. Since God's ways are "higher" (Isaiah 55:8-9), , I challenge myself and each of them with that which is "higher". Flesh begins to "struggle" with that, but we are all learning to respond to the Lord in our daily walk with Him. We "practice" the Lord's "presence".

[MatandEst]

really loved hearing your thoughts on this topic! where would you draw the line if at all? the contrast between a 'double honour' and the millionaire pastors living like kings? can of worms lol

[StretchJED]

John, you have correctly cited the several verses in the New testament that refer to ministers receiving pay. However, you have inappropriately and incorrectly applied those verses to the office that you call pastor. In the New testament, the church does not actually have one pastor over a congregation, but rather several elders who were in charge of shepherding and teaching. So the idea of a pastor, that is a single pastor, over a congregation is a flawed idea to begin with. Also, those pastors or elders are not traveling ministers like an apostle would be. The apostles were the ones Jesus was referring to when he said that the Workman is worthy of his hire. The apostles are the ones that Paul was referring to in the verses you have cited. And apostle, by necessity has to travel around and is not able to stay in one place so as to maintain steady employment. Even so, Paul mostly refused financial support from churches. So we must not apply verses that refer to apostles to any other office such as elders.

[lukewert]

Why was the question of church buildings not addressed in this video?

[Demonoicgamer]

I don’t think pastors who work at a church 2 hours a week shouldn’t get a massive salary, $18 a week for 2 hours of work.

[tumbleweed]

oh my goodness ... in the early church for food ... the Levites ... WE are all to preach the word how is this changed to Pastor? He warns re Nicolaitans ... trust God not man by reading your Bible ...

[EliezerEnglish-lm]

Most of what Pr John talks about and preaches nowadays probably has nothing to do with the pastor-elder of the first century (these had their own jobs to sustain their families, it was a community of elders). We need to study the differences, similarities, lifestyles, economy, social sitz im leben between the pastor of today and the pastor of the first century. I don´t think the job of pastor, just as it is today, with SS, etc was exactly like that in the first century. Today, we must admit that pastors should go to uni to receive training, which is necessary to do a good job. Pastors are and must be trained professionals, even if pastor John dislikes the idea. He himself is a highly trained professional. In the first century, it was more important to be a good governor of your family, trustworthy, faithful, blameless in christian conduct and character. Today this aspect is stated in the code of ethics, of the pro pastor, but this is a similarity. I believe the role of sheperding a flock was not linked to money at all, there was a sense of honoring and generosity that was inside the dna of the community. There was a duty to do right, to do justice to widows, and the needs were known, maybe even better than in today´s tech world. In conclusion, pastors shouldn´t feel embarrassed to recieve a pay today, if that´s what they want to do, noble task. On the other hand, we must be competent and good pastors, even if we are paid for doing so or not. If you want to separate your livelihood (being paid) from being a pastor, this is also legitimate, as Pr Paul did, wanting to keep the spiritual, spiritual, or not being a burden to anyone. But if you can combine the spiritual with the phsycial, go ahead. We are spirit and body. Some people have problems receiving a salary for spriritual work, even feeling guilty for it. God heal us! If you receive freely, you give freely, but you are working. All work deserves a pay...even if the yoke is easy and light. And if you love pastoring, wouldn´t this the best job to get paid for? God wants to see us enjoying life and operating in his kingdom.