Should a preacher be paid through accounts payable or payroll, and how are his taxes handled?

Answer:

"Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel" (I Corinthians 9:14).

Paul argued in I Corinthians 9 that those who preach the gospel have the right to be paid. There is nothing in the Scriptures that specifies what accounting practice needs to used to make those payments. A congregation may select whichever means works best for their situation.

The Scriptures do affirm that governments have the right to collect taxes and that Christians are to pay their taxes. "Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor" (Romans 13:5-7). How those taxes are collected is up to the government.