Is it right to be paid to clean a church building?
Question:
Hello!
I have a question regarding the church treasury and its use. I’ve been going to an institutional church of Christ with my family, as I don’t have a driver’s license to attend the non-institutional church the next town over. I clean for the church. Is it proper for me to accept payment for the cleaning that comes out of the treasury? If not, I will cease to accept payment, and if they insist, I will cease to clean for them.
Answer:
"For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope" (I Corinthians 9:9-10).
A principle God has long taught is that a person who provides a service should be compensated for his work. "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor's service without wages and gives him nothing for his work" (Jeremiah 22:13).
There are congregations that pay for lawn care and building cleaning. Most use volunteers to accomplish those tasks, but there are situations where paying someone makes more sense, and if that pay can benefit a member of the congregation, then it makes even better sense.
