Financial Support

The financial support of missionaries and people in professional Christian service has significant theological and spiritual implications. From the point of view of not-yet Christians, raising money to support Christian workers—sometimes in extravagant lifestyles—smacks of religious hucksterism and may “hinder the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:12). Some of those required by nondenominational agencies to raise their own support feel they are forced to “sell themselves.” On the other hand, Scripture solidly endorses the financial support of some Christian workers to fulfill their particular form of ministry. The manner in which this is done can be either upbuilding or destructive for the person supported, the people whose support is enlisted and the watching world.

Paul’s Teaching and Practice

More than any other part of the New Testament, the letters of Paul deal with financial support. In 1 Cor. 9 Paul defends the right of apostles like himself (and by implication some other Christian workers) to be financially supported by Christians. His arguments are from the words of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 9:14), the practice of Jews and Gentiles in supporting people who work in their temples (1 Cor. 9:13), the law (which provides for the ox that is treading out the grain; 1 Cor. 9:8-9) and the everyday principle that people should expect to be supported by their labor (1 Cor. 9:7). But then Paul explains why he refuses to exercise his rights as an apostle and chooses to serve as a tentmaker. It has to do with two things: the advance of the gospel, which Paul believes is better served by being publicly free of personal greed or obligation to others, and Paul’s own spiritual desire to preach the gospel free of charge as a love gift (compare Acts 18:1-3). We should remember that it was in Corinth that Paul had his most difficult time. He was accused and misunderstood because most traveling philosophers received patronage with all its attendant obligations—“he who pays the piper calls the tune.” Paul’s overall concern is for the gospel. This tentmaking approach, however, was not Paul’s universal practice.

Paul did receive financial support from the Philippian church, which is all the more remarkable because of its extreme poverty (2 Cor. 8:2), though he did so reticently, as evidenced by what has been called his “thankless thank you” (Phil. 4:14-19). There is no indication that Paul received their gifts while he was actually serving them or that he ever received support from other people while he was among them. In Ephesus Paul ministered for two years (Acts 19) supporting himself by the work of his hands (Acts 20:13-38) in order to “help the weak” (Acts 20:35). Paul concluded that it is more “blessed to give [ministry free of charge] than to receive [the gifts of people]” (Acts 20:35). In Thessalonica he also toiled day and night so as not to be a burden (1 Thes. 2:9) and as a model to those with poor attitudes toward work (2 Thes. 3:8-10). We do not know what Paul did in Galatia, but at Philippi he taught the principle of mutual ministry (Galatians 6:6)—which does not necessarily imply financial support, though this principle is mentioned in 1 Tim. 5:17-18.

Supporting Workers Today

What does all this mean for us today? First, we are dealing with grace, not with law. No one should press his or her rights to be supported. In the same way no church should require all of its workers to be tentmakers by refusing to support their elders, who are worth, in Paul’s language, a “double honor” (1 Tim. 5:17-18; the word used is the one used for the physician’s honorarium).

Second, while being supported is an occasional privilege for Christian workers—perhaps one in one hundred—there is no mandate for people to go out seeking their own support; indeed, the spirit of the entire New Testament seems to point in the opposite direction, that is, doing all one can not to be a burden on others. It is the responsibility of the church to discern and call forth people to serve in a supported way. In other words, the call to be supported (unlike the call to ministry) does not come directly from God but comes from the people of God, who graciously free some to serve as supported workers.

Third, while there seems to be little justification for the almost universal practice today in parachurch agencies of sending people out to raise their own support, there is a strong case to be made for people raising the support for others, as Paul did by his teaching and his aggressive fundraising for the poor saints in Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 8-9). One constructive approach to the contemporary dilemma is for people being led into a raise-your-own-support enterprise to prayerfully seek the counsel and help of the elders of their church and people known to them over a period of time. If these are unwilling or unable to raise their support for them, there is a clear biblical mandate as to what to do. They are not to send out begging prayer letters or crisscross the country with their hands out; they are to work (1 Thes. 4:11-12; 2 Thes. 3:6-13).

Fourth, Paul’s practice and teaching suggest the need for flexibility from place to place and time to time during one’s lifetime. In some situations the advance of the gospel is better served by refusing support and working as tentmakers; in other places it would be better served by being supported. The world will never be reached or fully served if we rely completely on supported Christian workers (see Tentmaking). Though it is the almost universal assumption of the seminary system, it is highly questionable whether one should ever make a lifelong career out of supported Christian ministry.

Varieties of Financial Support

While Paul’s teaching and practice are central to this matter, the rest of the New Testament is not silent on it. Indeed there are some seminal teachings and examples that point toward a rich diversity in financial support for our own day if we are willing to break free from the dominant model of the fully supported career worker. In the New Testament there are at least three kinds of support: (1) undertaking traveling expenses (Titus 3:12-14), (2) giving hospitality (Matthew 10:9-10; 3 John 6-8) and (3) providing living expenses, rather than a salary for work performed (Romans 16:2; 1 Cor. 9; 1 Tim. 5:17-18). Were these practiced today, as they occasionally are, there would be very constructive assistance to Christian workers, especially those who travel: providing a room and meals, buying someone’s airfare, giving a lump sum for a tentmaking missionary relocating overseas, creating a suite in a home for a youth worker, including a single Christian worker in one’s family, providing living expenses for a stated period of time. All these can be done by individuals willing to support others as part of their personal stewardship. But what about the role of churches?

The New Testament offers several models of the way churches can be involved in giving and receiving support. First, one church can speed a worker on her way to another church by providing the means for making the journey or transition (Romans 15:23-24). Second, a church may support a worker in another church, as the Philippians supported Paul in Corinth and Thessalonica, at least until the church becomes established. Third, workers can be supported by the church they serve, a matter Paul defended but refused to practice himself. Fourth, a ministry team can support one another as Silas and Timothy appear to have supported Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:5) and as women disciples supported Jesus and his male disciples (Luke 8:3).

All of this suggests that the New Testament was much richer than the modern church and parachurch agencies in providing for flexible and appropriate options to support people: full time or part time, short-term or long-term, with pocket money or a full living, with full support or transition help to a tentmaking worker. Some doctors have formed team practices with the understanding that one in four will be released every few months for service in the Third World as a voluntary worker. Some seminary graduates have banded together in ministry teams with three people taking one remunerated position, embracing simple living and taking part-time employment to assist with living expenses. Churches have been planted successfully by such arrangements. A few churches in the world have very large staffs with a very low budget by including people for periods of time in ministry teams, living together in community or boarded in homes of members, all associated with specific projects and partly as a combination of learning and serving.

The Discipline of Financial Support

Seeking financial support on the part of a Christian worker is also an opportunity for some deep interior work. Do I believe in this ministry sufficiently that I will engage in it by working with my hands or mind even if financial support is not forthcoming? Am I seeking work in the church because I believe deeply that there is nothing else in the world worth doing (a serious misunderstanding of work and ministry)? Am I willing to be accountable both in discerning the Lord’s guidance and in the exercise of ministry, or am I “independently” serving the Lord (a contradiction in terms)? Are there people around me who believe in what God is doing through me enough to raise my support if it is needed? Can I trust God for a living one way or another (either through being supported or in finding work)?

For the church (or Christian community) there are equally important questions. Will supporting a worker help or hinder the gospel? Is the person to be supported sufficiently mature to qualify as an elder (1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:6-9): well thought of by outsiders, proven family life, able to teach? What is the person’s worldview? Is ministry an escape? Will this person be helped or hindered by being supported? Does she have the maturity to survive the pressures of feeling she has to justify her salary and please the people who support her?

The recovery of integrity in financial support of Christian workers is critical to the advance of the gospel in the post-Christian West. When people are inoculated with mild forms of Christianity and are almost immune to the real thing, only a radical return to New Testament simplicity and authenticity has a chance of gaining a hearing and winning respect. Our situation is not very different from Corinth’s, where religious hucksters and patronized teachers abounded. On a worldwide basis, only flexible and imaginative ways of supporting Christian workers can enable us to respond adequately to the challenge of the global mission of the people of God.

» See also: Gift-Giving

» See also: Leadership, Church

» See also: Ministry

» See also: Simpler Lifestyle

» See also: Stewardship

» See also: Tentmaking

References and Resources

R. Allen, Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992); J. M. Bassler, God and Mammon: Asking for Money in the New Testament (Nashville: Abingdon, 1991); J. M. Everts, “Financial Support,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. G. F. Hawthorne, R. Martin and D. G. Reid (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993) 295-300; G. Georgi, Remembering the Poor: The History of Paul’s Collection for Jerusalem (Nashville: Abingdon, 1992).

—R. Paul Stevens