[Adapted from a previous post.]
Could it be that some pastors, particularly among the denominations with more congregational autonomy, are upset when other churches start up in “their” territory because they view that congregation as their life-support? That the tithes given to the church are not only their primary source of income, but also their retirement fund, and any competition that threatens their church attendance affects the tithes and in turn, their income? Is it possible? (Yeah it is.)
There’s something to being bivocational. In fact the way I see it, there’s nothing particularly Biblical about the professional ministry outside of the Old Testament. Jesus appeared to rail against the institutional religious leaders (often). Maybe we should spend less time bringing in a salary from our churches, instead pouring that money back into the community (both local and global missionary activity). I’ll deal with that stuff more another time… right now I really want to pose this question:
What would happen if we put God’s money back into the hands of His people with the sole instruction to pay it forward- to change someone’s life- instead of using it primarily as the support system for our pastors, our buildings, and our traditions?
