Lately, John Piper’s Desiring God Blog has included some very interesting posts on the topic of Christian ministries and fees. The discussion actually is just retouching on a discussion from a couple of years ago.
An archived article by Matt Perman encourages all online Christian ministries to offer all their online products free. This means you don’t charge for sermon downloads, study material, or any other information distributed on the web.
The article challenges online ministries to accept the four following conditions:
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- Post all of your content online.
- Don’t charge for your online content.
- Don’t make people register to access any of your content.
- Make your site very easy to use.
Four days later Perman was back to address some of the common negative concerns regarding his post.
The top three objections:
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- If you make it free, people will not value your material.
- Free dishonors the support staff who work with the ministry.
- Making a profit does not mean you are now longer serving your audience.
The Apostle Paul on Pastors and Money:
In 1 Cor. 9 Paul has an extended discussion regarding church workers and pay. The passage is packed full of pertinent information, but let’s keep the discussion brief. First, Paul is pointing out that church workers have the right to accept money for their work. Second, Paul underscores that he does not use that right – he will not accept money from those with whom he works. Essentially, Paul’s ministry is funded by income he earns and donations from other churches (but never those with whom he is teaching).
After reading 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 notice that Paul prides himself in his hard work. Paul was a tent maker (Acts 18:1-3) and spoke frequently how this labor morning and night was a blessing to God’s church (1 Cor. 4:12, 1 Cor. 9:6, 2 Cor. 6:5, 2 Cor. 11:23, 1 Thess. 2:9)
The biblical concern is one of conflict of interest: what happens to the gospel message when there are monetary payments involved?
The gospel message is a free message
Obviously very, very few people would endorses the following – Imagine in Acts 2:37 when the listeners ask “What must we do?”. What if Paul said – “I’ll give you the answer only after three easy payments of $19.95. We accept all major credit cards.” There is no doubt that this would dishonor God. That would be more of a get rich quick scheme than a legitimate ministry.
What if, however, Paul wrote an ebook after hours of study and labor. The book title: Salvation is available for download at your favorite website for $14.95. Would this be a sell out? Would it be a hindrance to the work of God?
Remember we must love God more than we love stuff. This was the difficult lesson learned by the Rich Young Man.
Including a balance of both free and paid material is biblically acceptable
I believe it is acceptable for Christian websites to have both free and paid materials. The material type and the audience should influence how much is free and how much is paid. There should, at a minimum, be some free resources for those who are interested.
When to offer free and when to offer paid services
- Be sure there is ample free material. This should cover the topics in a general way. This website offers free daily articles and even free access to a financial forum for Christians.
- All Christian workers should distance themselves from the Simon Syndrome (Acts 8:18-21) where greed is your underlying motivation for being involved in any sort of ministry. This type of envy is not appropriate for any work setting.
- Christian workers should not hinder access to the core gospel message – sermons on topics like salvation and God’s kingdom should be offered free. If charging or requiring a subscription hinders the message, the product should be free. Instead this organization should find individuals who will fund the ministry to help sustain it financially.
- The further the material is from core Christian teachings, the more acceptable it is to charge. Thus, information on improving your marriage is a more acceptable fee service than charging for a Handbook on defeating sin.
- Charging for extra, labor intensive, or exclusive products is acceptable as long as the product is a service. Charging for a product does not mean it is no longer a service.
- If someone has a problem with the price or cannot legitimately afford the product – give it to them.
- If someone (or an organization) is willing to underwrite the cost of a ministry that may be a better approach than charging a fee.
Photo by kylemac.
What’s your thought? Should Christian websites charge for products? Are there Christians websites that you gladly pay fees for services? Is it a turn off when a Christian site asks for money or even a subscription?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
This is an interesting topic, I have always been of the opinion that if I were to be a missionary, or some other full time ministry position, I would want enough residual income to not need to raise support. This is also a goal of mine, to make enough doing other things that I can do whatever, whenever God asks me to. It would be very interesting if pastors used this model as well.
Everything has value, based on each person’s perception. Money has become the “middleman” of bartering: it is the universal symbol of an established value, and as such, we gain money when we provide value to someone else (like the company you work for) and use it to purchase some other service INSTEAD of exchanging services directly with each other.
Note that I did not mention the word product, because all products are the result of someone providing a service to create those products. So, the materials on a website had to be created by someone, and thus intrinsically have a value.
I believe that, in order to best serve the Lord, I must provide value to others, and with that value I will gather money; then, I can give this money to others because (I presume) they also want the opportunity to provide value to others.
Freely ye have received – freely give. If a person’s faith is not strong enough to believe that God will supply all their need – even if it’s an ebook called Salvation they spent hours working on – perhaps that person should not be in ministry. The gospel message is life and death. Someone who needs to hear that message may not be willing to say, “I can’t afford it.” Is not a soul worth more than $14.95?
I think this topic is a moo point. It doesn’t matter. Surely there is more important things to consider to discuss then something so trivial.
But if you want to go down this path. Why not make christian education free. The irony about all this is Jesus was born into a poor family. He probably couldn’t afford the cost of a download of christian material. He certainly wouldn’t be able to afford christian education. Maybe it’s those with the full wallets that are worthy enough to be saved. Go figure!!!
My feeling and the word of God states that a laborer is worthy of his hire and that includes people who write or people who pitch tents for a living. God desires that we prosper and have abundance so we may have to give to those who need. Giving things away is nice but it does lessen the impact of that which you have given. Example: we teach a class on the Bible, there is a fee which people pay and a committment to sit through all the sessions, it used to be free but noone took it seriously and learned nothing. If you have an investment in something you will be more attentive to get your monies worth. Give to God first!
In the long run, it is entirely up to me what I pay for. I do not have a problem with a Christian website charging a fee for some online resources. They have to pay the bills too. And I fully agree with Richard’s comment.
As a paid church worker (100% of my salary comes from contributions from individuals and churches) I LOVE hearing all your feedback.
It highlights the precarious position of full time church workers.
Some believe it is not right to charge for a religious service. Others believe it is less than noble to be given money. In the midst of everything we find men and women of God who must find a way to feed and support their families.
I believe the primary reason church workers should be paid is in exchange for their time. A person who spends all their time working for God does not have the time to go out and do other income earning work. Thus it is respectable for a person to be compensated for their time.
Free vs. paid:
I can give my product free and that requires faith. I can charge a fee and that also requires faith.
I have heard Dave Ramsey say that he charges for products because he knows people value items for which they have paid their own money.
To provide someone with a valuable service is not something for which one should be ashamed. But, as the comments reveal there are opposite opinions.
While some are offended by fees there are not people who are offended by free. Thus, it seems as though free might just be the better road.
But is this just acquiescing to the strong opinions of a few?
Craig, good discussion you have started. I think I lean more towards the side of Richard and Dave Ramsey – I have noticed personally in my own life that when I invest more into something (time, energy, money) I value it more than when I don’t. I wish it wasn’t that way, but if I am honest I have followed that pattern in the past. Therefore, while I much appreciate people offering free products and services, there is a possibility that they would not be valued and respected the same as if they charged a fair price. SO, I think I just convinced myself to turn ChristianPF into a $20/month membership site –
(just kidding, for those who can’t tell)
Although I don’t come from a Christian background, this applies to all faiths. I have no problem with sites charging, they also are in the business of making money, and need money for their own costs.
While I agree that charging for the gospel message would be the ultimate in tackiness, I have no problem with Christians charging for valuable services rendered. While Paul prided himself for not receiving financial support for his ministry to the churches, he was nevertheless a Christian serving his Lord even while making tents, and he obviously charged for the tents…as he should.
I know I am reading more into this than what you intended, but I think we need to be careful about categorizing “ministries” as spiritual and secular because doing so creates a double standard of how one should be compensated. All Christians are in full time ministry whether they are evangelists, missionaries, factory workers or engineers. And no one faults a factory worker for expecting his pay.
Thanks so much Craig for this thought-provoking post. Indeed, we have to seek God’s wisdom on issues like this one . The “guidelines” you presented above are filled with wisdom.
Am reminded of what a successful internet entrepreneur shared with me a while back. He said he received insights from God on new ways of doing business and God wants him to share them to people for free. But how could he earn a living? So, he asked God again. Now he is not earning from selling information but from the use of information eg., training programs etc.
I think we can strike the right balance if we seek God’s wisdom.
God bless.
Jose O. Paclibare
@Jose
Thanks for your kind comment. I think you use the perfect phrase “right balance”. I am thankful for business men and women to discern God’s will for their business.
@Joe
I agree that Christians should not have a problem about charging for valuable services. You are correct that we do make confuse ourselves when we try to divide our occupations into spiritual and secular categories. Thanks for you comment.
So I guess if I do not have an independently wealthy Christian benefactor to pay the bills, I’m out of luck. Oh well.
As a committed believer with a wide ministry of helps over 7 years, very involved in my local church, started off as a volunteer, involved in not one but several ministries, helped grow these several ministries, trained many men and women, helping ended up a paid staff after my pastor recognised my God-given talents, and now going back to being an unpaid volunteer by choice, for family reasons, please allow me to share these:
1. Any form of Christian service is by faith.
2. Any labourer is worthy of his hire, so honour him/her!
3. Mature Christians generally do not have a problem with giving.
4. Immature/Ignorant Christians who want everything for free have a problem, and they love to hang on to their problem through selfishness and self-centredness.
5. No one goes into a Christian bookstore and demand the manager give him/her a free Bible or free book, so why should believers not pay where payment is due?
6. Something is more valued when sacrifice is in it.
7. Don’t cast pearls before swine.
I would very much prefer to serve the Lord without any wage. I’ve been there, done that. I’ve refused a salary on a number of occasions. Has God blessed me? More than you can imagine. I’m giving more to God now on a pension than when I was working in a secular job, and more when I was on church staff. You can never outgive God. I have many missionary friends who can testify that they are kept on the field only when people give. If you’re not a giver, don’t bother trying to get free stuff off the internet. God does not bless that.