Dear EN,
As I write a workman is leaving my home. He came to service the alarm. He was pleasant, engaging and apparently thorough. I paid him £51.00 for a 30-minute visit. He lives locally. The plumber who came to do work in my bathroom last year charges £175 per day plus materials.
The New Testament calls preachers ‘workmen’ (2 Timothy 2.15). ‘Workmen who labour in the Word and doctrine.’ So, I’ve been wondering lately how much the Bible workman is worth.
I’m more than ordinarily interested in the subject because I’m in the process of retiring from paid ministry and am about to live on a pension in the hope that my itinerant preaching appointments might supplement my income.
I find an ambivalence in my heart over the whole issue because my ministry is a calling from God and I am willing to do it for nothing. The onus for determining the worth of a New Testament workman is the responsibility of the church. He does the work willingly as a calling without demanding a reward, the church accepts the responsibility to give generously and lovingly in order to support its labourers.
So, what have I found so far? I’m assuming that the 45p per mile allowed by HMRC is about right for the use of a car to get to the inviting church.
Here are some examples from my experience: (cid:129) Church A. A Brethren assembly with no pastor to support and 50 people in the congregation gave me £10 for preaching at their morning meeting. I had made a 20-mile round trip.
(cid:129) Church B. An FIEC church gave me £75 for preaching twice and making a 104-mile round trip. Again they don’t have a pastor and have 100 people in the congregation.
(cid:129) Church C. An independent church gave me £90 for preaching twice and making a 90-mile round trip. They have two pastors and 80 members.
(cid:129) Church D. An FIEC church with 5/6 staff members and 400 in the congregation gave me £320 for two services and a 240mile round trip (£100 per service plus 45p per mile).
There it is. One church puts my value at 5p a minute excluding preparation time and my travel. Another church in my own association gave me £30 for a two-sermon day once the cost of the car is taken into consideration and, again, preparation time is discounted.
So, if the workman is worthy of his hire, most of the time my labour is not calculated to be worth much at all.
I shall continue to accept calls to preach from churches who invite me, but I truly wonder how much value most of our evangelical churches place on the preaching of the Word of God. I question whether the principle of generosity is at work. I’m forced to conclude that the doctrine of the minimum prevails.
How is your church performing? It’s a New Testament imperative that churches treat their workmen adequately. If an ox is to be fairly housed and fed, how much more a preacher of eternal realities?
Yours sincerely,
