My name is Glen Davis, a Nationally Appointed US Missionary with the Assemblies of God. I lead Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship at Stanford University. This is my blog, where I talk about things that interest me. I also maintain a database of quotes that I've found stimulating.
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The Biblical Model for Funding Missionary Work
How should missionaries be paid? Biblically, there can be only one answer to this question. As Paul says, the Lord has commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel (1 Cor 9.14). The teaching is very explicit. There are many examples of this principle being practiced in the Scriptures. Here are just a few:
- First and most significantly, Jesus’ ministry was funded by some of those who heard Him (Luke 8.1–3), and He taught the disciples to rely on others while ministering (Matthew 10.5–15).
- Second, Paul requested that the Roman church financially support Phoebe, one of the ministers at Cenchrae. (Romans 16.1–2)
- Third, Paul himself received support and was grateful for the support he received: Philippians 4.10–20 (people frequently assume that Paul always supported himself by making tents. Actually, that was the second-best option for him. See Acts 18.1–5, where Paul began by making tents and quit as soon as it was financially feasible to do so. See 1 Corinthians 9.1–18, where Paul’s whole point is that the Corinthians owed him support: he concludes the letter by telling them that he hopes to stop by and that he hopes they will provide for him to finish his journey in 1 Cor 16.5–6. Also see Romans 15.20–24, where Paul asks a church he has never visited before to fund him on his journey to Spain.) In addition, Paul explicitly teaches in Galatians 6.6 that Christians are obligated to provide for the needs of ministers.
- Fourth, the apostle John encouraged his friend to support a band of missionaries in 3 John 5–8.
- Fifth, the whole Levitical system in the Old Testament (the Levites were minsters) is predicated on the financial support of ministers by the rest of God’s people (Numbers 18.21–24 is a representative example). See Nehemiah 13.4–11 for how outraged Nehemiah was that the Levites had to go earn wages in another fashion.
In summary, there is an extremely strong Biblical case for missionaries raising financial support from the Body of Christ.
Which bring me to my point: we’re missionaries and we need your partnership! If you’d like to support our ministry financially, here’s how.
Incidentally, the word that we prefer to use when discussing financial supporters is partner. That word was chosen very carefully. If you’re curious, read about how missions is really a partnership
If you still have unanswered questions about supporting missionaries, you might be interested in our answers to common questions about supporting missionaries.
5 comments. You can probably see more comments on Glen's Facebook Notes page4 responses to “The Biblical Model for Funding Missionary Work”
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Great site!
Spelling error thought you’d want to know about:
“minsters” should be “ministers”God Bless.
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Paul Robinson December 6th, 2008 at 17:44
Greetings from Colombia, S.A. my brother!
I hope that you are well…and assume that you are very busy as Christmas approaches. I love this time of year, don’t you?
Let me introduce myself. My name is Paul Robinson, an AG missionary in Colombia, South America. Just recently I was preparing to give a workshop regarding the Biblical Model for fundraising to some short-term missionary teachers at a school here when two veteran missionary teachers (who were offended by this) wanted to school me in the correct Biblical Model.
Anyway, I wasn’t going to entertain this because it would only be divisive — and there is no need for this. You see, these two teachers are from an organization that doesn’t raise support like we (AG) and others raise support, and apparently they think that we “beg” for support and this is not “Biblical.” Crazy, huh?
So, in short, I just wanted to thank you for the fine work you did regarding this.
Have the best Christmas ever…and may He lead you into this New Year with a fresh joy, boldness, and perspective…carry on!
A fellow bold servant,
Paul Robinson -
I’m very glad I could serve. If you ever need to teach on this again, the finest book I know of is Scott Morton’s “Funding Your Ministry Whether You’re Gifted or Not”. It includes much Biblical and practical material, although some of the practical stuff is very American and might not translate well into various foreign contexts.
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Sheraz Fazal January 23rd, 2009 at 05:47
I am a missionary last 8 years and I am working with out financial support. I have to raise my support. I am working in a mission as an accountant. I belong to that country there church is not educated to support the people. I am praying for my financial support. Could you help me How can I raise my support.
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[…] is a consistent principle taught in the Scriptures: ministers should be paid by the people of God. In this regard, there are two broad categories of ministers: pastors, who are paid by the local […]
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Jeff October 18th, 2003 at 16:54