Cedar Park Church
16300 112th Ave NE
Bothell, WA 98011

p: 425.488.3600
e: info@cedarpark.org

Service Times:
Sundays:
9am, 10:45am, 6pm

Radio Show Times
7:00am KLFE 1590AM
7:30am KGNW 820AM
9:30am KCIS 630AM
10am KKOL 1300AM

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New Testament Methods for Financing Ministry

There really is no such thing as a New Testament method for financing ministry. It turns out that there are several methods used by New Testament figures as they responded and adapted to the circumstances.

Corinth provides a strong New Testament illustration of the diversity of funding employed by Paul and the others. At least three different types of funding systems were employed. Two are mentioned in Acts 18:1-5. “After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.”

The first type is found in verse 3. “Because he was a tentmakers as they were, he stayed and worked with them.” The first type is ministry entirely funded by the person’s own secular work. There is no church money supporting Paul at this time. He is earning his entire income by his own labors. In such a case, a person may be involved in ministry, but they support the entire ministry expense themselves. My father pastored a church for nine years with this method. He held down a full-time job to cover his own family expenses and took no money from the church. Paul was able to tell the Corinthians “We work hard with our own hands.”[1] He returned to that theme again in his second letter to them when he said, “I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep.”

Paul did this out of necessity but also to be an example to others. He expected that working with ones hands would become the norm rather than the exception. He makes this clear in his Pastoral instruction to the church at Ephesus. In Ephesians 4:28 he wrote “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.”

The second type of funding system is where a group of people team up so that others can be more fully engaged in ministry. Luke is careful to tell us that Paul shifted from full-time work to full-time ministry with the arrival of Silas and Timothy. I think that decision had an economic element to it. Certainly Paul did not hesitate to minister alone as he did in Athens. There is no reason to assume that he was holding back from full-time ministry for spiritual reasons since he is quite active each Sabbath day in the synagogue. My presumption is that once additional breadwinners arrived, they could pool their collective paychecks and Paul would not have to work. In this case, some people work for money, but others do not. Or, everybody works some for money and everybody ministers some.

This would be the example the later monks would follow. They did not rely upon offerings or tithes to support themselves. Instead, each person worked so they could fund the spiritual part of their labors. They had common work and common housing so they could share common spiritual pursuits.

For Paul, physical work had two and possibly three goals. It was the means by which the gospel could be accelerated and the weak could be helped. He worked, presumably again as a tentmaker, and allowed his companions to be more engaged in ministry. In Acts 20:32-35 Paul said to the Ephesian elders, "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Paul told the Ephesian elders that he had provided for himself by the work of his hands. That is the first goal of labor. The second goal was to be able to help the weak. This is the almsgiving principle. To live righteously, one must help the poor. Besides these two, in Ephesus, Paul also supported other people. He supplied the needs of his companions. These are not the weak that he mentions in the subsequent sentence. These are his fellow workers in the ministry. At Corinth, he benefited by the profits others made. In Ephesus, the favor was returned. He made the profit and he supplied others.

Cedar Park is using this type of funding system with the Thrift store and the Studio. Groups of people work together in an economic enterprise that has spiritual outcomes in itself, but which also produces income that supports other parts of the ministry. In our case, the funding source has a spiritual goal in what it does. It is good to provide clothes and household items to poorer people at very low prices. It is good to provide worship CDs and similar recordings. The work is good in itself. On the other hand, if the enterprise was making camping gear (tent making) for sale on the open market, the profits could still be used for ministry. That would also be good and should not be viewed as inferior to a more direct ministry enterprise. The church could have any number of economic enterprises with the proceeds going to support ministry. It was a frequent tool in the early days of Christianity and there is no reason not to do it today.

The third type of funding is where ministers live off the tithes and offerings of the congregation. We know of this example by Paul’s statement that he could have gone this route even though he didn’t. Thus we have this example by reference but not by example. Paul said he did not use that method but it would have been acceptable. The ninth chapter of Corinthians is an extended discussion about how a minister can be funded. This chapter is most often used as a defense for why the minister should be paid by the congregation that he or she serves. Paul and Barnabas did work for their living but they were entitled to food and drink for themselves as well as for their spouses. They sow spiritual seed but are entitled to a “material harvest”. Paul and Barnabas have a right of “support” from the Corinthians.

Compensating the minister by offerings is certainly a proper use of this chapter. It can also be the key chapter for arguing for secular work to support spiritual work. What Paul argues is that he has a right to earn his living from his ministry. Even so, he does other work which earns his living while preaching the rest of the time. Here is what he says in 1 Corinthians 9:1-15.

“Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? 2 Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 3 This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 4 Don't we have the right to food and drink? 5 Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living? 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? 8 Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12 If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. 15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast.” (NIV)

Paul followed a similar line of reasoning in what he did in Thessalonica. To them he wrote in II Thessalonians 3:6-12,

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." 11 We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.” (NIV)

Paul did not receive from them a salary or an offering in order to engage in ministry. Instead, he worked another job, doing the ministry without charge to the congregation. Even so, it is quite clear from the Corinthian and Thessalonian examples that being paid from the offerings of others is acceptable. It is primarily how the Old Testament Temple worked. The priests could eat of the meat offered in the temple.

This third method has become the American standard of ministry. The people work and the ministers get paid from the tithes and offerings. I am not arguing against this since this is how I earn my living. I am merely pointing out that the offering method is only one of three methods that Paul and the early church employed.

It is important to lay it out in this three-part way because some people only can imagine what they presently know. They have a hard time looking back into biblical history and comprehending that things were not necessarily done in bible days like we do them now. They also cannot imagine that it could be done other than how it was done when they were growing up.

We will certainly continue to use the third method of tithes and offerings. What Cedar Park is also doing is opening up the first two. Some of our ministry will have to exist entirely on the work of those who provide it. That is, they will essentially be able to pay their own way but not more. Others will be sufficiently productive in their work that they will support their ministry and something for their “companions.” When the bills are paid, there will be enough left over to fund some other part of the ministry.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES