God’s Money in God’s Mission: Financial Support and the Minister of the Gospel

In this essay, Kenneth Cherney makes five points about financial support of ministers: 1) it is not a payment for services rendered; 2) it is provision for needs, since this service precludes them from earning a livelihood in a normal way; 3) it will ordinarily come from the people they serve; 4) in certain situation, ministers of the Gospel in Scripture have declined such support; and 5) what constitutes an “appropriate level of compensation” is best handled in light of point #1.