Paul made tents, I sell them.
Over the last 10 years I’ve been an elder, a deacon, a pastor, and a church planter. I’ve preached dozens of sermons, led many Bible studies and small groups, and done almost everything that a paid full time pastor would. The main difference (read:advantage) is that I get to do it all without being paid staff.
I’ve learned a few things now that I’ve been both a paid and an unpaid staff member of a church.
1. Being called to ministry doesn’t automatically mean it has to be your job.
Often people assume being called to ministry means you get a paycheck from the church, but if there is any way that you can have a non ministry job that will still allow you to serve the church with your gifts, you should try that first. Unless you’re going to be the main pastor of a church over 50 people, you can probably pull it off without pay.
Paul did it: 1 Cor 9:18 “What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.”
I recommend trying to find a vocation that can make you enough money to live and leave you enough time to minister in the church. My regular job is selling real estate, and there are thousands of different ways to make money without working 60 hours a week.
2 – Ministry can be the focus of your life even when you have a regular job.
You’ll have to make sacrifices of time and effort and profit in order to do a substantial amount of ministry, but it’s well worth it. In Thessalonica Paul made tents during the day and at night he ministered to the church. 2 Thes 3:8 “Nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.”
You can’t work 60 hours in your regular job and expect to have time for family and ministry too. You can’t be the highest paid salesman or the top executive, but those things are temporal worldly things that are just the means for you to have the time and finances to do ministry in the church. Any sacrifice you make at work for the sake of ministry will be rewarded in Heaven.
Jesus said the main thing in your life will be either serving God or serving money, but not both. You’ll have to sacrifice some success at work and give up making as much money as you could, and that’s exactly what God wants you to do. If you’re too busy at work to offer service to God, then you’re sinning against God. Jesus says that if you love money, you can’t love God at the same time. (Matt 6:24)
But that doesn’t mean you should quit. You just need a new perspective. (see #3)
3 – Your job can be an essential part of your ministry and a means of spreading the gospel.
Luther told us that being a janitor or salesman could be just as spiritual as being a Pastor, but most of us lay guys don’t believe that. We put our work in a box that’s totally separate from our spiritual life and church ministry.
In reality, everything is God’s from the moment we wake up. If you’re willing to put your faith out in public at your office and do all your work to the glory of God, you’ll find that He can use you at work and through work just as much as He can use you in the church.
God is completely involved in our regular jobs, which is why Proverbs 16:11 says, “Just balances and scales are the Lord’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.” He wants us to be examples of His love and justice at work, and to boldly proclaim our faith to our coworkers and customers. If the problem is that you work too much, the solution is to bring God and the ministry into your work and let him make your schedule.
Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your work to the Lord and your ways will be established.” I want God to bless my work, but He isn’t going to do that until I’ve committed my work to Him. Just as a farmer prays for rain, I pray each day for God to oversee my work, to give me wisdom and boldness, to make me a light to everyone I come in contact with.
Maybe someday I’ll be in paid ministry again, but for now I minister through my work by giving of my finances, spreading the gospel to my clients and vendors, and being an example of Christ in my business dealings. Sometimes that means making decisions that cost me money but gain me favor in God’s sight. That’s a trade I’ll make anyday.
Tony Kawaguchi has helped to plant two churches and is currently a Deacon at Harbor Church. He leads Harbor’s East Oahu Community Group, and sells Hawaii real estate.