Should a preacher be paid through accounts payable or payroll, and how are his taxes handled?<\/p>\n\t
“Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel<\/em>” (I Corinthians 9:14).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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<\/em>” (Romans 13:5-7). How those taxes are collected is up to the government.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[154,1511],"class_list":["post-27630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church-funds","tag-preachers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17966,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-to-deduct-contributions-from-your-taxes\/","url_meta":{"origin":27630,"position":0},"title":"Is it right to deduct contributions from your taxes?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it okay to deduct\u00a0the money\u00a0that is\u00a0given\u00a0to the church each week from your taxes when you file\u00a0each year? Answer: The Scriptures teach that Christians should pay their taxes. \"Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1433,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-preacher-be-paid-to-hold-a-gospel-meeting\/","url_meta":{"origin":27630,"position":1},"title":"Should a preacher be paid to hold a gospel meeting?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 11, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: One brother raised an objection that he believed that a preacher shouldn't be paid anything for holding a gospel meeting! The reason being that it would be paying to hear the gospel preached. What do you think? Answers: \"My defense to those who examine me is this: Do we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-dont-preachers-follow-pauls-example-and-not-accept-pay-for-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":27630,"position":2},"title":"Why don’t preachers follow Paul’s example and not accept pay for preaching?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In I Corinthians 11:1, we are commanded to follow the example of the Bible, so why don't preachers today follow Paul's example and not take money for preaching so as not to hinder the Gospel of Christ? Reason I ask this question is because from 1950s-1970s preachers were ranked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68556,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preaching-to-be-paid-or-being-paid-so-you-can-preach\/","url_meta":{"origin":27630,"position":3},"title":"Preaching to Be Paid or Being Paid So You Can Preach?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Men should not preach to get paid; men should be paid so they can preach. There is a fundamental difference in that statement: If someone preaches to get paid, the emphasis is on the preacher wanting to receive money from the congregation for the time that he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7841,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-preachers-only-be-supported-if-they-are-in-need\/","url_meta":{"origin":27630,"position":4},"title":"Should preachers only be supported if they are in need?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This subject came up in our budget meeting last night. The brethren proposed to increase the pay for our gospel meetings and our spiritual weekend events. I objected. I am in agreement with the scriptures used in\u00a0your address\u00a0regarding supporting the work of the Gospel. I stand on this: It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8817,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-pay-a-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":27630,"position":5},"title":"Is it wrong to pay a preacher?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin to pay a preacher? Personally I don't think it is, but some of our brethren in the church think it is. Can you give me some scripture for this, either not to pay or pay the preacher? Answer: \"My defense to those who examine me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}