The Church As Beggar, No More!
By Rev. Ellsworth McIntyre
Years ago I heard Otto Scott say on an Easy Chair tape that America cast the church into the street to beg.
Historically, the church was supported by tax money, but the shift to voluntary contributions has produced an entirely different church. A pastor today must pander to the majority tastes in doctrine or suffer the loss of his pulpit. The church of my youth, for example, was filled with old ladies in high-buttoned shoes and little children like myself The sermons, as a predictable consequence, were targeted at drinking men who were not in the audience and little mischievous boys who like their absent fathers, did not contribute to the weekly offering.
Sermons on the golden rule and the power of love to heal all wrongs raised self-satisfied smiles on the women's faces and the ring of a pittance of coins in the plate.
Now that I am in the ministry myself, I find many of my fellow pastors and missionaries secretly are believers in robust Calvinism. "They would preach a different tune," they assure me in hushed tones while looking about for listening ears, "if it were possible, but of course God would not be pleased with occupational suicide, would He?"
Yes, I agree a feminized church with a feminized, watered-down gospel is the rule of the day, but it is possible to gain financial independence by starting, owning, and operating a Christian school for profit. Using the system I have developed at Grace Community, a pastor and his family can enjoy $100,000 per year independent of the ladies' missionary society or generosity of the other "love bugs" in the first church of the sacrament of Kool-aid wine and broken saltine crackers.
As a matter of fact, it is possible to become a foreign missionary without asking any church for financial support. lfa reader of this article is desiring to work in Japan, Rev. Arthur Newton (email address:newcitysh.comminet.or.jp) is eager to review your application. Rev. Newton can show you how to make a living teaching English fresh off the airplane without speaking a sentence of Japanese. It seems the Japanese prefer the American accent (sorry, Brits!), and Rev. Newton has many openings waiting for pastors yearning to throw off the silken noose of church politics.
Native Japanese pastors have also developed an opportunity to earn additional income by performing Christian weddings.The Japanese love ceremonies, so the western wedding is at the top of the list for the majority of young couples in Japan. Rev. Newton assures me that they pay a generous fee and even give the pastor a computer printout of every guest with an invitation to visit in their homes. Rev. Newton showed me pictures of beautiful chapels being built by hotel chains all over Japan for these ceremonies. A phonetic script is provided for the new arrival from America. Rev. Newton's Japanese wife confided toArthur that his Japanese is getting so accent free that the natives do not enjoy listening to him as much nowadays. It is an open door for any reconstructionist called to Japan.
Other foreign missionaries also assure me that opportunities exist in their countries to teach English. Several are planning to start schools for profit like Grace Community to free foreign missionaries to teach sound doctrine without the fear of financial threats.
So there you have it! The old model of depending on begging for a living is over if the soldier of Christ has the courage to cast aside his chains. May God bless you and strengthen the feeble knees.
We need to beg no more! The church can come in out of the cold.
