Should Christians Work (Sorry, Minister) for Free?

Should Christians Work (Sorry, Minister) for Free? November 1, 2013

Ed Cyzewski has an interesting piece up at The High Calling asking if Christians ought to be paid less because their work is “ministry”:

It makes me wonder if Christians unintentionally undervalue each other’s work when asking for the family discount.

In some cases we have confused freebies with ministry, as if adding money to a transaction devalues the holiness of someone’s work . . .

Most churches have no trouble paying a pastor and calling that type of work ministry. However, when a website creator or a graphic designer is asked to “minister” in a church, it’s oftentimes assumed that he/she will provide professional quality work at a steep discount or completely for free.

You can read the whole post here. This is especially interesting in light of Tim Kreider’s much-buzzed-about New York Times piece last weekend (which is half right, half wrong, in my opinion) about whether writers should ever write for free.

What do you think?


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