I wanted to link back to Alan Knox's series on paying elders/pastors. I have been engaged in a conversation about this topic and I still find this series to be one of the best treatments of the topic, an area of discussion that generates a lot of emotion and heat.
I have been thinking a lot about this again and how hard it is to have conversations about the church when we have such cultural and traditional baggage to work through. This series by Alan is probably one of the very first I read when I started to question our church traditions. If you have read it before, read it again! If you have never read it I would encourage you to, especially if you are convinced that we should be paying men to minister in the church.
2 comments:
According to 1 Timothy 5:17f, the teaching elders are "working" in the teaching of the Word and they deserve their wages.
The NT is absolutely clear that the Lord commands the "preacher of the gospel" to be paid (1 Corinthians 9:14), that it is his right; that Paul was supported financially by the Macedonians (2 Cor.) and the Philippians (4:15) and stated that those who receive the teaching of the Word should "share all good things" (not just a meal!) with the teacher (Galatians 6:6). The question isn't what the Bible teaches. The question is whether you believe it.
John Carpenter
John,
I appreciate your response to Arthur's post about my series. I've written about each of those passages on my blog, and I'd be glad to discuss them with you if you're interested.
I think the questions are 1) what does the Bible teaches, 2) do we believe it, and 2) are we willing to live accordingly.
-Alan
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