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 Editor:
Is
it right for a preacher to quit the ministry to take a secular
job?
Reply:
There
is so much work crying to be done in so many places that we
lament losing the efforts of any who quit. I understand their
discouragement with brethren who refuse to treat them fairly and
the problem of trying to make ends meet financially. I have
brooded sitting where they sit, but I ask myself. “Why did you
begin to preach?” No one expects to get rich preaching;
discouraging and hard obstacles were expected. Love of souls, an
awareness of the need for preachers. and a desire to be of
service to Christ is why we all began. What has changed to make
any of us quit? Perhaps we lost those unselfish motives.
Does
a preacher have the right to quit “full time” work?
Paul accepted church support (Phil. 4:15-f; 2 Cor. 11:8), but at
other times he supported himself as a tentmaker (Act. 18:3). He
even supplied others their needs with his own hands (Act.
20:34). Doubtless then a man may choose to accept or reject
support as a “full time” preacher. He has the right to be a
“tentmaker.” A preacher has no more obligation to continue
in “full time” work than other qualified brethren have to begin
such work Brethren condemn a preacher for quitting to become an
insurance salesman. yet they offer no criticism for the
insurance salesman who is capable of preaching but will not try.
Such is not just judgement.
Now
to the real point. Does any Christian have the right to “quit
the ministry —
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regardless of support. May a qualified
man CHOOSE not to preach? Absolutely not! Paul said. “. .
.necessity is laid upon me: yea, woe unto me if I preach not the
Gospel!” (l Cor 9:16). He could choose to be a tentmaker but
not to quit preaching. Make a living how you will but serve the
Lord as ability and occasion require.
Oh,
yes —” the ministry” is more than “full time” pulpit
work. There is a ministry of the Gospel (Col. l:23) and “of
the word” (Act. 6:4) which is the work of teaching truth.
Every teacher — part time or full: man or woman: public or
private — has part in this ministry. There is a ministry to
Gospel preachers (Act. 19:22;
2
Tim. 1:18; Phm. 13). Christians who love truth and men who
preach it become “helpers” to them (Rom. 16:3). Perhaps more
preachers would “stick-it-out” if more brethren were busy
helping them. Paul’s “ministry of reconciliation” was
bringing lost men to be at peace with God in Christ. How
brethren need to awaken to such work! And there is the “ministry
to the saints” (2 Cor. 9:1-f). Surely we need to participate
in this work that God never forgets (Heb. 6:10) and by which we
are judged (Mt. 25:31-46). Paul also “ministered to the Lord”
(Act. 13:2). This evidently refers to the whole deportment of
life in those who have become “servants to God” ( Rom.
6:22).
Quit
the ministry? Never! Our ministry requires faithfulness “unto
death” (Rev. 2:10). Let all saints “... . take heed to the
ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill
it” (Col. 4:17). Joe Fitch
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