What does the Bible Say About Taking care of our Pastors
73
Is it Biblical to financialy support your Pastor?
I have to admit I may have a little prejudice in my thoughts on the answer to this controversial question. Growing up as a daughter of a minister who had no choice but to support his family by working outside of the church I experienced the literal sweat blood and tears of what a pastor goes through to take care of his flock in his "spare" time.
Because of my bias I dug into the scriptures for my answer as that is what it is all about ....what God says about it through his Holy Spirit led writers. The first scripture I came across is Matthew 10:10-14 in the New American Standard Bible. This is where Jesus is telling the disciples that they need not take extra clothes, money etc. as it is expected they are worthy of support. My understanding of this scripture is Jesus wants the disciples to walk in faith that God will support them in their endeavors and they will be provided for. God typically, although not always, uses man to bless others. I interpret this scripture to say that they are worthy of pay and support.
I Timothy 5:17-18 NASV says " The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing, and The laborer is worthy of his wages."
Of course some of you jumped right on this one and say, " this is talking about the elders not the minister ". Well, you are partly right. It is speaking of the elders and the minister. The minister of the church is over the sheep which makes him the "head" elder so to speak. Seriously, that is the way I interpret these verses. God is saying through the disciple Luke that if you labor delivering the Word then you should be paid for your work. Now the biggest controversy here is the amount they should be paid. I don't believe there is proper amount that one can put on the books and say well this is what a pastor gets paid period. No I believe this will be Holy Spirit led. The sheep will be led by the Spirit as to how much they should give in the offering.
One more scripture that discusses wages is Luke 10: 7 where Jesus once again says the laborer is worthy of his wages. The disciples were to stay in one home not house hop and receive whatever the household was to share with them to eat or to drink. This is not to say that the laborer has the right to say " this is what I want to be paid ". No I can't agree with that one. I know there are many out there that dictate how much they want to be paid in order to minister to others although I do not believe this is supported in the Word anywhere I have found so far. God willing if that is what He wants then I pray that He corrects me on this and I know He will if it is different than what I have found to be so at this time. The joy of studying the Word is finding out the many facets to it. You can read the same scripture day in a day out for a month and every day the Holy Spirit can reveal a new meaning or a new way of seeing, comprehending and understanding it. This is marvelous to me. No other book have I read can boast of this.
In I Corinthians 9:14 NASV Paul proclaims the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. This basically refers back to the scripture in Matthew 10:10 where the disciples were taught to expect to be taken care of and not to pack extra " just in case" but to walk in 'faith' knowing they would be taken care of.
If you read on down through this chapter Paul goes on to explain himself in that he refuses to take pay for his ministry which is 'his choice' as he doesn't want his ministry to come across as someone more worthy or important due to the extravagant pay he is receiving. Now, don't take this statement and run with it and say " see I knew it all these ministers that are filthy rich are not living the way God wants them to live". No that is not it at all. This is Paul's choice as he simply chose to be simple and humble in his ministry.
At this time I want to point out there are many followers of God throughout the Old Testament and God 'richly' blessed them and their households for their righteousness and their faithfulness to Him. This would leave me to believe that God wants to bless us and especially those who give their lives up to the ministry.
Riches for Righteousness
Should we pay a pastor to preach?
See results without votingvote upvote downshareprintflag
- Useful (5)
- Funny
- Awesome (3)
- Beautiful (2)
- Interesting (1)
I really want to hear what you think please respond your thoughts about this subject and this HubLoading...
Thank Naomi for your excellent Hub. I do agree that pastors should be paid. I see pastoring as any other vocation, although called specially by the Lord to tend to His sheep. However, my observation of church going people today would call for Pastors to make mega bucks. Many people do not read or study the Bible on their own, they don't attend any formal Bible study; they don't have time to stay on Sundays for the coffee hour and actually talk to other Christians. If they have a given situation they immediately run to the Pastor as if they should have an answer to their problems. Many Christians today are very Pastor intensive. Yes, life is difficult and challenging, but I think that we as individuals are called to be responsible for our part and not behave as if Pastors are our full time parents.
Wonderful hub, very well thought out. I had a couple of comments but noted that previous commenter Alexander Mark had already said exactly what I wanted to, namely i) that Paul is a great example of choosing to make an independent living (I'm not saying that I would necessarily expect/want pastors to do that though) - just that it 'proves' Paul's faithful attitude, and ii) that calculating the average income for the town could be a fair way of determining a pastor's salary.
I also agree with frogyfish... everyone should be paid for doing a good job, including pastors.
I was intrigued by one of your comments that you'd like to write more on various aspects of this very deep topic... I would love that!
We ALL are to be responsible workers and that includes a pastor. We all are also to be paid for proper labor...and that includes the pastor.
A lot more could be 'argued' but you just asked for opinion so here is mine. Enjoyed the hub and comments too.
naomi, you are right on sister. As to how much a minister should be paid, I think that is totally dependent on the size of the church and the budget. I think the church leadership should decide on what they can afford and when the pastor applies for the job of Pastor, he can look at what they are offering and decide to accept or decline. I don't think it apporpriate to name a figure, but that is just my opinion. I have not checked the scriptures on that particular issue. I also think churches should consider a good insurance plan as the pastor, I bleieve. is just as in need and has a right to healthcare as anyone else. One might argue that the disciples and early church leaders did not have health care coverage. Well duh, there was no such thing. If a pastor or his family get sick, they cannot afford healthcare on their own just like everyone else. And certainly if he himself is sick, he cannot fulfill his calling to serve as shepherd if he has no way to cover his medical expenses.
Why, some of you, do you think a pastor is greedy or sinful just because he earns a living. It does not mean, in most cases, that he is not also following a call of God to serve as shepherd. It does not mean he is not going to do his best to be a good leader.
God bless you Naomi. Thanks for this insightful hub.
Thank you for your kind words. We gain far more in giving than the receiver gains. We would all do well to take good care of our pastors. Not too many people understand how many hours a pastor spends taking care of their sheep
This is good, you covered all the basics. I totally agree that there is nothing wrong with a pastor being paid, mainly because of the verses you referenced. I remember also that Paul encouraged making a living instead of living off the ministry - it's clear we have a choice.
In the church I used to go years ago, they paid the pastor an income that would be considered average using the town's economy to compare it with. That's a pretty good way of doing it.
skye2day you are truely full of the Word. I apreciate your comments and am very glad we hooked up. You said many of the things I was thinking but didn't get put down. I do plan on going a little deeper into this and wanted to cover the tithe as well which I am sure will stir a " few " up but it needs to be said. Look forward to following you both in your writings!
I could have said a lot more on this topic and may add more hubs on this as I feel it is incredibly important to the giver to give...more important than receiving any day. I truely apreciate your comments Knightheart.
Wow, I was just thinking about this today. I have been getting a rough time on my Rapture hub from a person and had to delete all of his comments. This was just one person and a pastor, goodness, must face this hostility by a bunch of mislead people! I was asking advice from him on the phone and we got on the topic of handling obnoxious people! I can't imagine dealing with this all the time from multiple sources! Anyway, I do think our pastors should get paid. My pastor and the one before him were true followers of Christ and sacrificed much in the way of time and inconvenience. I don't think they ever took a day off for themselves since things seem to come up all the time. These men of God definitely had Christ's attitude of servanthood! Our true treasure will be laid up in Heaven, the best treasure being able to spend time with the Lord! Everything on Earth is God's, so we aren't giving our pastors anything that isn't God's already. If God didn't want pastors to be paid, then it wouldn't even be an issue! :) Thanks for bringing this up. It tied in exactly with a need I had today defending God's Word from a scoffer! Bless you both!
Naomi I lost the first comment hmmm. I could write for days on this topic but it would be a huge hub. Not today thanks. You are brave and did a great job in writing this. Praise God.
Jesus taught more on the seed principle of sowing and reaping then any other topic in the Bible.
We Bless and We get Blessed Back, what goes around comes around. Mk.4:20 “But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty fold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
God needs us to give so others may be helped. It costs money to get the good news of salvation out to the world and help the needy and poor. God knows our hearts and God knows the pastors heart. I know that Gods word is true and He tells us to put Him to the test in finances. It is for OUR BENEFIT not HIS that we give. We do reap what we sow.
If one can give then Praise GOD, if one can not give help them to share the Love of God or to believe, if one will not GIVE then God please open their eyes to see and ears to hear.
If a pastor has to ask for money I would be Leary. If the Pastor teaches the WORD he knows God will provide a way and GOD will HE does not lie. Sometimes the people in the pews need a reminder of why we give but not a twist the arm message. Giving is for our benefit God does not need our money. We serve a rich God that pays very well and keeps HIS word. It costs money to help others and feed the pastor. Nothing stays when w and share the message of salvation.
GOD is our source. It took me much time to 'get' this but Praise GOD it is in my heart. The bank could get blown away tomorrow or we could loose a job. God will not forsake us. We are banking seeds in our words, actions, deeds, thoughts, giving. Not only in this lifetime but our treasure will be stored up in heaven. We will be rewarded!!
Naomi's Banner Hub Author 11 months ago
You are do right guanta today everyone seems to think that they should get something for nothing and it's never worked that way. We get out of life what we put into it. In order for the holy spirit to speak to us we must be in the word ourselves