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?