Sunday, April 30, 2017

Keeping I Corinthians 9 in Context

In my previous post, I discussed why most of today's church planters ignore the biblical model by setting themselves up as pastors of the churches they have planted. A main reason is finances.

One of the primary New Testament passages that is frequently used to (erroneously) support the practice of pastoral salaries is I Corinthians 9. The great irony is that while I Cor. 9 does not in fact suggest that pastors ought to receive salaries, it does indicate that it is acceptable for church planters to receive monetary support. Thus, if we keep the passage in context, we see that today's church planters have the entire issue backwards. That's what happens when you simply go with the flow instead of following scripture wherever it leads.

2 comments:

Tim said...

I'm confused. What do you mean by "it does mean church planters can receive monetary support" for church planters?
A. Occasional support from other churches when your marketplace work does not cover expenses. You start with marketplace work knowing that the time invested in the marketplace is a strategic benefit to relationships in ministry and forces reproduction of all leadership elements instead of building perpetual dependency.
B. Full Pay check from anywhere - other churches, saints in your new work. Marketplace work is bad. It takes time away from preparing weekly Bible lectures and one persons driven outreach efforts.
C. As much money as you can get from somewhere, then work in the marketplace to make up the rest. Marketplace work is ok, it's just the last resort and makes the leader feel like he's not really a "full time minister", and his church is a "struggling church" if it can't pay a full salary.

I'm suggesting these 3 but you might have another.
In my book I show Paul only taught and modeled A.

Eric said...

Tim,

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond.

Option A.