The Bible Nerd

I like how we take something in the Bible, turn it into a catchy phrase and teaching, and then it takes on a whole life of its own. Take for example tent making. I wonder sometimes what Paul would think if he heard all the chatter in the church and missions about “tent making”. It is a good thing that Paul wasn’t a sanitation specialist! Then, we would all be saying, “I am going to (name of country here) to do church planting, but I think doing poop removal is the best way to do that.” or “I don’t think that missionaries or pastors should live off church support, instead they should be poop removing.” Tent making even sounds cool, although I am not sure if all the scars and calluses on Paul’s hands would agree with that. Most likely, it was a family business, and Paul didn’t think much about doing it. It was just what he did to earn money.

From my last post, a discussion started about whether all ministers of the Gospel (either domestic or abroad) should be “tent makers”, or at least bi-vocational (fancy word for doing ministry and paying job at the same time). I have heard three benefits from doing ministry this way: 1) opens a new door for ministry to the unchurched. Many will never venture into a church, so by working in the community, you can reach them with the Gospel in their sphere; 2) the church isn’t as burdened trying to raise so much money to pay salaries or support missionaries. That money can be spent on social projects and mercy ministries; 3) the Bible teaches this, and Jesus never wanted a paid clergy. People who aren’t relying the church’s money don’t see ministry as a “job”, and it erases the clergy/layperson separation.

We have already established Scriptures in the last post that I believe validates both missionaries and teaching elders being supported financially by the church. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy, this “right” comes with Old Testament precedent in the Levitical system. From Acts and Paul’s letters, it appears that not all ministers of the Gospel used this “right”. 1 Corinthians 9:4-6 says, “Don’t we have the right to food and drink? Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?” Paul isn’t condemning Jesus’ brothers and Cephas (Peter) for living on church support, he is simply establishing that he does have the same right as them, again so that he can explain later why he forgoes that right.

Acts 18:1-3 shows how Paul’s vocation helped him establish a relationship with two of his most trusted co-workers. “After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.” Aquila and Priscilla go on to help Paul plant the church in both Corinth and Ephesus, finally ending up planting a house church in Rome (Romans 16:3). God used Paul’s vocation to put him into connection with people that would be key to the spread of the Gospel. Would he have met them without his tent making? How many others ended up as Christians and then missionaries just like them because Paul met them while doing business?

Even though Paul normally worked for his finances, I mentioned in the last post that he did receive occasional church support. Philippians 4:15-16, “Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need.” Why was Paul in need? We don’t know exactly, but it could be that since he was traveling so much, he didn’t have the opportunity to make tents. Either he didn’t have relationship, customers, or he merely stopped making tents during this season of travel and church planting. It could be that from the beginning of his 2nd missionary journey until he arrives in Corinth, he didn’t make tents. That would explain his need, and how blessed he was to have the gift from the church in Philippi. The Philippian church alone funded his church planting endeavors in Thessalonica.

From these passages, I would conclude two things: 1) God calls some people, or they make their own decision, to do tent making while doing missions or ministry even though they have the right to be church supported. 2) Even some tent makers have seasons where due to God’s call or circumstances, they must stop their second vocation and rely fully on church support to do ministry. Paul did tent making because he believed it would remove a stumbling block to people receiving the Gospel. He never says that God told him to do tent making! (see 1 Cor. 9:12,15-18) In today’s context, each missionary and minister must look at their situation and make decisions just like Paul did. Perhaps they will decide that where they are ministering, it would also be helpful to do tent making. Others will be like Peter and Jesus’ brothers, and have no problems with receiving their right of church support.

A whole separate discussion is how tent making relates to business as missions/ministry. I don’t believe Paul did tent making so that he could reach the tent making community. It was a means to an end, to make money to travel and plant churches, which had the SIDE benefit of reaching people like Aquila and Priscilla. This is different from people who feel God calling them to a sphere in business, and tent making is done with the primary reason to reach those who work in that industry. Also, Paul didn’t do tent making to get into closed or restricted nations. Some today teach English or start businesses so that they can have visas to get into nations that don’t allow for missionary visas. While valid, I think this is also not the correct use of the term tent making if based on Paul’s life.

The bottom line is for me is Paul’s heart for missions and ministry. His passion was to reach the lost with the Gospel of Jesus, and used all means necessary to do so (all Biblically correct means!). Instead of figuring out who should shell out the money and who should work, I believe our focus should be like Paul’s, on the lost and what we need to do to reach them. I will then end this post and discussion in the exact way that Paul ended it in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” Amen, brother!