I know that sometimes it seems there is a great emphasis on giving in the local church. Could that be the result of the materialistic society in which we live? Success in our culture is measured in dollars instead of purity of life. But constant “brow-beating” of members in Paul’s day to give was not the practice. Nor is it conducive to spirituality now. There should be proper teaching on giving, and reminders from time to time. But we need always to remember that money is only a tool that God grants us to use in His service.<\/p>\n Maybe some preachers do get big salaries today if compared with salaries from fifty years ago. Who doesn’t? But if you will compare the average preacher’s salary with that of other “professionally educated” men of the congregation, you will find the preacher is among the lowest paid. Having spent most of my life (until just recently) in “full-time” preaching, I found very few preachers that I met who were overpaid. Most put in sixty hours or more a week, and nearly all could make more money doing something else for a living. But they are doing their work for a LIFE. And most are happy doing it. I suppose there are some preachers somewhere who are overpaid. I never was, and I never met very many who were.<\/p>\n “What is right?” How much should one give, and how should it be used by the local church? How much should be spent on the building and its upkeep? How much should be spent on local work? How much should be spent on mission work in other areas of the world? These questions cannot be answered except by the people involved in a given locality. I always suggest that members of a congregation talk with the elders and others in the church who make up the church budget. You have a right to know how the money given upon the Lord’s Day is being spent. And all the elders I know will welcome your suggestions as a member of the local congregation over which they have oversight. And their explanation will nearly always satisfy you that they have chosen a wise course.<\/p>\n Budgets should never take precedence over the teaching of God’s Word. Nor should money become as important as our mission of saving souls. But, at the same time, we need to carefully examine our own objections to emphasis on money and its use for the Lord. We need to make sure that our resentment is not based on our desire to “hang on” to what we have. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also<\/em>” (Matthew 6:19-21). Let us prove our love for the Lord and His church by our giving, as the Galatians and Corinthians did. (II Corinthians 8:1-12).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 57, No. 25, June 20, 2008. Let us first note what the passage says: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I gave order to the churches of Galatia, so also do ye. Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[157,159,1511],"class_list":["post-55902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-contributions","tag-giving","tag-preachers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31132,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-church-treasury-only-in-an-emergency\/","url_meta":{"origin":55902,"position":0},"title":"A Church Treasury, Only in an Emergency?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gordon J. Pennock via\u00a0Truth Magazine\u00a0- January 1961 It seems that considerable controversy has arisen regarding what we call the church treasury, meaning of course the funds contributed by the members of local churches. This controversy seems to be a by-product of the discussion of scriptural and unscriptural ways in\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":58366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/now-concerning-the-collection-i-corinthians-161-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":55902,"position":1},"title":"Now Concerning the Collection: I Corinthians 16:1-2","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Through the years some have been heard to ridicule the idea of \"five acts of worship.\" When we understand that the Biblical concept of \"worship\" involves \"an act of homage or reverence to God\" (see W. E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vol. IV,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/01\/collection-plate-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89452,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-often-should-christians-observe-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":55902,"position":2},"title":"How Often Should Christians Observe the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Willis The Lord's Supper was instituted by Jesus Christ on the night of His betrayal and was designed to bring to our remembrance His beloved sacrifice for sin. Knowing that he would soon depart this world, Jesus commanded his disciples to take unleavened bread and fruit of the\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":9894,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-corinthians-161-4-apply-to-general-collections\/","url_meta":{"origin":55902,"position":3},"title":"Does I Corinthians 16:1-4 apply to general collections?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day to you all. A question has come up here, one that always does, and has to do with I Corinthians 16:1-4. The questioner appears to be denying that the text is an authority for the weekly giving we practice here on the first day of the week.\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":20842,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/questions-about-the-use-of-funds-given-to-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":55902,"position":4},"title":"Questions about the use of funds given to the church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Having read your articles and also\u00a0was a member of the conservative church for 24 years I have some questions. The conservatives say it is ok to use the Lord's money for a $20,000 yard but wrong to give a sinner some food from the treasury. Really? It is ok\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":14242,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-an-unused-preachers-home-be-rented-out-by-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":55902,"position":5},"title":"Should an unused preacher’s home be rented out by a church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do you feel about a preacher's home that the preacher does not live in being rented out? The congregation also has one other home that it rents out. Is that scripturally wrong? Answer: The problem is a lack of authority. The Scriptures are clear that a church is\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\/55902","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=55902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/collection.jpg\")
Yes, the funds collected were for the “poor saints” in Jerusalem (Romans 15:26), but that is not the only reason for our giving. Preachers are to be supported by the church: “Have we no right to eat and drink? Have we no right to lead about a wife that is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? Or I only and Barnabas, have we not a right to forbear working? … Even so did the Lord ordain that they that proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel<\/em>” (I Corinthians 9:4-6, 14). Paul said the same thing to the churches of Galatia, “But let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things<\/em>” (Galatians 6:6). So, the giving of members of the church than was not limited to helping the poor saints. The church has many financial obligations it must meet. The church then had them, churches today have them. We know that the early church spent a great deal of money on mission work; for instance, Paul received help many times from many churches for his work in planting churches here and there.<\/p>\n