Ministry or Money: Considering
the Contrast
Dr. J. D.
Watson
Pastor-Teacher of Grace Bible
Church
Founder of
Sola Scriptura
Ministries
Meeker,
Colorado
Behind the wheel of his Ford
Aerostar mini-van, Bill Stuart turned left into the
parking lot of Contemporary Community Church. Since his
move to the new area about a year before, he had been
delinquent about church. He just hadn’t made finding a
new church a priority. He finally realized that that
should change and had decided to visit this church as
the start of his search. Seated next to him was his
wife, and in the back seats their three little
ones.
“Well, here we are, gang,” Bill
said cheerfully, as he eased the van into a parking spot
and shut off the engine. “Everybody
out.”
They all climbed out of the van,
Bibles in hand, and headed for the door of the somewhat
large church, with Bill and his wife in the lead and the
children following like a row of baby
ducks.
As they walked, they
smiled at other churchgoers and said “Good morning” to
one young couple as they passed by. Bill also smiled to
himself as he saw one man get out of his car, start
to walk away, and then snap his fingers as he went back
to his car. Bill rightly assumed that the man had
forgotten something as he saw the man open the car door
and retrieve a brightly colored, two-inch by four inch,
piece of paper. I know the feeling, Bill thought
to himself. I get more absent-minded
everyday.
As the family drew closer to the
building, Bill noticed a short line forming at the large
doors and also saw other people there, whom he assumed
were greeters, directing the arriving worshipers. Since
he was talking to his wife, he didn’t take much notice
of all that was going on until suddenly his group
arrived at the door.
Bill’s eyes caught the gaze of
the smiling young woman at the door. She had her hand
extended as if she were expecting Bill to give her
something. Bill just gave her a quizzical
look.
“Oh, I see,” she finally said,
still smiling, “you don’t have advanced
seating.”
“I beg your pardon,” Bill
said.
“If you don’t already have
advanced seating, you can step into the foyer and buy
your tickets there.”
“Our tickets?” Bill said
incredulously, as he now noticed other people who were
holding the same brightly colored paper he’d seen a few
moments earlier. “What do you mean tickets? This is a
church isn’t it?”
“Oh, of course, it is, Sir, but
there are many expenses that must be met. If you would
like to step into the foyer, there’s still seating
available, and we accept all major credit
cards.”
Have You Got Your Ticket for Church?
What a ridiculous story,
right? After all, how outrageous it is to think that a
church would actually charge people money to enter for
worship, fellowship, and Bible knowledge.
Then again, perhaps it’s not that
uncommon after all.
How about the $70 registration
required to attend the two-day “Philadelphia Conference
on Reformation Theology 2003?” Oh, yes, there are
discounts for students, senior citizens, and groups, but
it’s full price for anyone else. I just couldn’t help
wondering how much John Calvin charged the Genevans to
hear him preach twice each Sunday. On the other hand,
since every other week he preached every weeknight,
perhaps he gave them a
discount.
Or how about a
well-known ministry’s three-day 2003 National Conference
titled, “The Power and the Glory: How Can We Glorify
God?” The bargain price—if you registered between 1/18
and 2/14—was $129. After that, however, you were rebuked
by having to pay $149. At least pastors got a discount
of $10 and children 17 or under were free. But the
conference title immediately begs two questions: Why do
we have to charge money to learn how to glorify God? And
just how exactly is God
glorified by such a mercenary
practice?
Or how about
another well-known ministry—this one in the
Creation/Evolution debate—which charges $25 per person
($35 for a family, $10 for students and senior citizens)
for its Friday night and Saturday seminars that are held
right in local churches? This example struck me as not
being very far at all from our story about Bill and his
family.
And these are only three examples
of a growing trend.
I thought it
interesting that while many ministries have in the past
just begged for money so they could
continue ministering, many today demand it
before they even start
ministering. It almost makes one yearn for the good old
days of the TV or radio evangelist, who devoted 10
minutes of the broadcast to pleading with the viewers to
send money. Today the cost of “ministry” is up front and
in your face, just like buying any other product. Oh,
how times change.
And speaking of TV, have
you heard about the Church Communication Network
(CCN)? It’s a satellite
network much
like HBO or other premium cable or satellite channel.
The big draw here is the seminars that you can watch
exclusively on CCN, in the comfort of your living room
or all-purpose facility at your church. With a one-year
subscription, you’ll receive a Dish Network satellite
dish and receiver with free installation and have access
to view 24-30 CCN seminar programs. Cost? 30
seminars by satellite for $1,100 per year (or $99 per
month), plus a $250 one-time activation fee (at the
time of this writing, this was actually a bargain since
the regular price is $2,195).
What about the content of those CCN
seminars? A couple of them actually sound
good—Principles for Growing a Healthy
Church and Spiritual Growth for Real
People—but, of course, I can’t vouch for the content
since I didn’t pay to get it. Tragically, I guess I’ll
never know how to have a healthy church or how to have
spiritual growth. What a pity, since I’ve been a pastor
for over 20 years.
As a sidebar,
the content of several other seminars, however, reveals
the root philosophies of modern Evangelical “ministry.”
Postmodern Ministry, for example,
teaches the viewer how to “discover exciting new ways to reach the next generation for
Christ.” Odd, I thought God had already given us the
ways to reach the world in Scripture. The description of
another seminar, Beyond the Box, is very
instructive: “In church leadership, thinking outside
the box is good,
but beyond the box is better! A seminar to help you move
outside—and beyond.” Forgive my ignorance, but
what box would that be? Is it
perhaps the Scriptures? I for one like that particular
box. Still another seminar,
Innovation and
Risk-Taking, instructs the viewer how to
“develop bold leadership to build the
church and change the world!” Pity my simplicity once
again, but I wasn’t aware that Biblical ministry had
anything to do with
risk-taking.
All those seminars,
and others we could note, merely underscore the
approaches to ministry
that have now been adopted by 90% of the Church
today—Pragmatism and Relativism. Pragmatism, of
course, is the philosophy that the worth of something is
dictated by how successful it is, by whether or not it
gets results. Therefore, if a course of action
(including a method of ministry) gets results, it’s
right, but if it doesn’t get results, it’s wrong.
Pragmatism is, in turn, rooted in
Relativism, which simply says
that there is no absolute right or wrong, good or bad,
truth or error. Everything is relative; it just depends
upon the circumstances or
perspective.
The danger in all
this should be so obvious to Christians that it
shouldn’t even be an issue; the destructive nature of
these philosophies should be glaringly apparent—they
totally destroy Biblical authority and sufficiency. But
such is not the case. Evangelicalism as a whole has been
sucked into both Pragmatism and Relativism despite the
fact that Scripture is neither pragmatic nor
relativistic. It gives absolute Truth on all issues, including methods of
ministry.
Just one graphic example is that
preaching, which is God’s mandated method of proclaiming
His Truth, has been replaced by entertainment and other
“more relevant” methods. Shorter sermons, comedy, drama,
and other “more relevant” methods have replaced
doctrinal exactness and Truth and the bold proclamation
of both from church pulpits.
Which brings us back to the main
thesis. Another direct result of today’s Pragmatism and
Relativism is the idea of charging money for ministry.
Let’s face the fact that there is not one single
Biblical precedent for this kind of approach. Not once
do we ever see God’s people being charged for hearing
Truth. The whole idea is appalling.
So how has this
happened? There is only one explanation: Scripture
alone is no longer our sole and sufficient
authority. Instead of following the mandated methods
of Scripture, we do things the way we want to. In so
doing, we are telling God that His ways are not good
enough, not “relevant” for our age. And there can be
only one word for this attitude—a word that most fear to
use in our tolerant and politically correct
day—heresy.
Now, I am fully aware of the
arguments for charging admission to conferences and
seminars: “We have to pay the electric bill, the
speakers, the cost of printing the brochures, and so
much more.” But we are still left with a problem: no
Biblical precedent. Whatever happened to the love
offerings of God’s people? If a ministry is really
important, won’t God provide the finances to do it?
The Apostle Paul never demanded a
single denarius in his three decades of ministry (Acts
20:33-35; I Cor. 9:1-15; I Thess. 2:5, 9; 2 Cor. 11:9).
On the contrary, he warned that doing so was an earmark
of false teachers (Acts 8:18–23; 1 Tim. 3:3; 6:3-5,
6–10). From Balaam, who sold himself to the highest
bidder, through the greedy false prophets of Israel, to
Judas and Demas in the New Testament, the hallmark of
false teachers is greed. As Peter likewise declares,
“And through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long
time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not”
(II Pet. 2:3).
Personal
illustrations are not Truth, but I would share something
my wife and I learned long ago—God will provide when
we are faithful. We saw this
provision first hand when we were in a traveling
ministry. As we traveled all over America, we followed
Paul’s example by never making a demand on how much
money we had to have before we could come for meetings.
We trusted God and he supplied our needs for four years,
as we pulled our “home” (a 21-foot travel trailer)
behind us. One week is still vivid. After a six-day
meeting at one church, the pastor handed us $150, which
didn’t even cover expenses. Thanking him, we went to our
next destination, where after a three-day meeting, the
pastor handed us $500.
Evangelicals need to wake up and
realize what we have allowed to happen. This practice of
charging for meetings is, if I may be so bold,
despicable and worldly, and it makes us look like
cultists and false teachers.
Does That Include Shipping and
Handling?
Another practice
that continues to grieve my spirit is “Christian
publishing,” where the publishing of most Christian
literature has very little to do with ministry,
rather has everything to do with
money. Let’s face it, most
(not all, but most) publishers are commercial
enterprises; they are in the business of publishing
books to make a profit.
Now, before I am accused of being
a Socialist—and believe me, I am the farthest thing from
that—let me say that there is nothing wrong with making
money, or even with being rich. There were numerous Old
and New Testament saints who were wealthy. But, as we
would all agree, the main danger, of course, is making
money our God or getting it
wrongfully.
Another danger,
however, is not so universally recognized, namely,
sacrificing Truth for the sake of
profit. All one need do is
simply look at the majority of what is published today.
Most of the books on the market are shallow,
experiential, and devoid of doctrine and are not worth
the price of the ink it took to print them. Usually,
anything deep, authoritative, or doctrinal is denied
publication because “it doesn’t sell.” There are
exceptions to that norm, but often the only reason is
that the author has a big name that could sell the New
York phone book if his name was on the
cover.
Now, I want to make it clear that
I am not talking about all publishers. There are
exceptions. There are those whose motives are pure and
whose goals are the propagation of Truth, such as some
that are run by a trust, for example (such as Banner of
Truth Tust), and other small publishers that operate on
a shoestring budget (such as The Trinity Foundation).
But again, why can’t we trust the
Lord for our publishing needs? Why can’t we make our
publications available on a love-offering basis? I can
hear the laughter of the skeptic and “the realist” who
think this naïve. Well, they both can think what they
want. The fact is that the amount that is charged by
most publishers (not to mention the horrendous shipping
and “handling” fees) could never be called “ministry.”
We have tried desperately to do
this in the tiny publishing endeavors that we carry on
at our own church, which I have had the joy of pastoring
for 17 years. Our book and tape ministries are just
that—ministries. God’s people are encouraged to give as
God lays it on their hearts. Just the other day, for
example, a check for $50 appeared in our donation box,
and I know for a fact that the one who left the check
took books from the rack that totaled only
$10.
This development in
publishing is even more vivid in the area of Bible
translations. Now, I am not going to enter the textual
debate here; I just want to deal a moment with one of
the obvious driving forces in this
fracas—money.
Consider this. In an
interview published in the April 7, 1996 edition of The Denver Post
newspaper, a Christian bookstore salesman said to the
reporter, “There’s a Bible for every person and
background.” He then estimated that their store stocked
300 versions, including a range of “niche” Bibles for
targeted audiences. The article goes on to cite several
examples. In Path
to Victory: A Sports New Testament, “baseball pitchers Orel Hershiser and Dave
Dravecky reveal how the Lord helped them through the
middle part of the batting order.” Not only are there
Bibles for sports fans, but Bibles for families,
environmentalists, intellectuals, couples, singles,
students, and countless
others.
By far the most
appalling, however, are the Bibles that “employ earthy,
conversational language to reach their readers.” One
example is the Black Bible
Chronicles, an Old Testament
published for street kids by African American Family
Press. It’s written in familiar language that is
“reminiscent of rap music.” It describes Cain getting
“bent out of shape” and killing his brother and how God
“busts” him. In Leviticus 19:20, where God speaks of
fornication, this “Bible” says, “It’s bad to do the wild
thing without a blessing from the Almighty. You have to
be hitched.”
The article goes on to cite Glenn
Paauw, product development manager for the International
Bible Society in Colorado Springs, whose specialty is
these “niche” Bibles. One of his next projects is a
comic book Bible for teenagers in jail, not to mention a
New Testament for truckers.
Perhaps the most
enlightening comment in the article comes when Paauw
states, “How do you get someone who already has a family
Bible to buy another Bible? You do it by addressing some
life situation that they’re in.” What, then, is at least
an underlying motive, if not the primary motive, for all
the new Bibles? Money! The Bible is just another
product! And I am convinced that this is the real
driving force behind most modern translations. From the
lethal Dynamic Equivalency approach of the NIV (not to
mention its “Inclusive Language,” i.e., “gender
neutral,” edition) to the blasphemous Black Bible
Chronicles, God’s Word is just
another commodity. It is no
longer in the hands of God’s people; rather It is now in
the hands of the corporate boardroom. It is controlled
not by those who are committed to ministry and Truth,
but by those who primarily are concerned with the
bottom-line.
What IS
Ministry?
The problem here
lies, at least partly, in the fact that we have
forgotten what ministry is. Briefly, as most
know, ministry (which occurs in the KJV, for
example, 18 times) translates the Greek diakonia
(e.g. Acts 6:4). It (along with other
forms—diakonos and diakoneo) appear approximately 100 times in the New
Testament and are variously translated “administration,”
“cared for,” “minister,” “servant,” “serve,” “service,”
“preparations,” “relief,” “support,” and “deacon,” among
others. The root idea was “one who serves at table,” but
probably included other menial tasks. That concept
gradually broadened until it came to include any kind of
service in the church.
So, what is
ministry? It is service, and there is no monetary
return implied in the word since it was originally
rooted in the menial tasks performed by slaves.
Christians today, even Christian speakers and leaders,
have forgotten (if they ever knew) that Christian
ministry is service, whether you get paid or not. “But
these servants need to be supported by God’s people,” it
is argued. That is absolutely true, as Paul makes very
clear in I Tim. 5:17-18. But that does not mean that a
servant demands
anything.
As if this principle
were not clear enough, Paul uses several other words to
make sure we get it. One of the most common is
doulos, which speaks of one
who is a bondman, one who is in servitude to another and
gives himself totally to another’s will (Col. 4:12; II
Tim. 2:24; etc.). Does such a servant demand from the
master?
Even more graphic is
Paul’s use of huperetes, which literally means
“under rower” and originally referred to the lowest
galley slaves, the ones chained to their oar on the
bottom tier of a ship. As he wrote to the Corinthians,
“Let a man so account of us, as of the
ministers of Christ, and
stewards of the mysteries of God” (I Cor. 4:1). Just as
the puffed up Christians in Corinth needed to be
reminded of what a true minister is, we need reminding
today. How many in “ministry” today consider themselves
to be a galley slave?
Is there any doubt that we need a
radical rethinking of ministry today? What methods are
we using that simply do not have Biblical basis? What
are our real desires? What are our real motives? What
are our real goals? Who are we really serving, God or
mammon (Matt. 6:24).
Fine, if we want to
continue charging for meetings and demanding high prices
for empty books, could we at least stop using the term
“ministry?” Let’s call it what it really
is—merchandising.
