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Is Church Work a Higher Calling?

Is Church Work a Higher Calling?

Last updated on: June 10, 2015 at 11:41 am by Theology of Work Project

Is Church Work a Higher Calling? 2015-06-10T11:41:33-05:00 Theology of Work Project

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Many Christians have the impression that church workers—especially evangelists, missionaries, pastors, priests, ministers and the like—have a higher calling than other workers. While there is little in the Bible to support this impression, by the Middle Ages, “religious” life—as a monk or nun—was widely considered holier than ordinary life. Regrettably, this distortion remains influential in churches of all traditions, even though the doctrine of virtually every church today affirms the equal value of the work of lay people. In the Bible, God calls individuals both to church-related and non-church-related work. For example:

Calls to Church Work

Exodus 28:1

Then bring near to you your brother Aaron, and his sons with him, from among the Israelites, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

Mark 1:16-17

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”

Acts 13:2, 5

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ….When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also to assist them.

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Calls to Non-Church Work

Deuteronomy 31:14

The LORD said to Moses, “Your time to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I may commission him.”

(Moses and Joshua were both primarily military/political leaders, not cultic/religious leaders. They were both exceptionally close to God, but that doesn’t make them religious leaders. Rather, it shows that God calls people in all walks of life.)

Samuel 16:12-13

He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

Given the Biblical evidence, it would be inaccurate to think that God calls people to church work but not other types of work.

In fact, non-church work is as much “full-time Christian service” as church work. All Christians are called (that is, commanded) to conduct everything they do, round the clock, as full-time service to Christ:

Colossians 3:23

Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters.

Before concluding, we should note that one stream of thought interprets 1 Timothy 5:17-18 as contradicting the view we have just laid out.

1 Timothy 5:17-18

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching; for the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves to be paid.”

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According to this perspective, being a church elder (roughly equivalent to a pastor or priest in modern church usage) is in fact a higher calling; being a pastor is a “double honor” compared to other professions. But most Bible commentaries reject this interpretation.[1] A more accurate reading is that elders who do their work well are worthy of a double honor (or honorarium) compared to elders who do their work merely adequately. Alternately, the contrast may be between elders who volunteer in their spare time and elders who work full time for the church.[2] The Old Testament quotations about pay further reinforce the sense that this passage is about rewarding high-performing or full-time elders, not about comparing church work to other work. It means that elders who work full-time for the church, and who do it well, deserve to be paid well by the church. The passage’s true comparison is among pastors, not between pastors and lay people.

A call to ministry or church work is no more sacred than a call to other types of work. What matters most is not one’s job title or place of work, but obedience to God, the one who calls us.

This excerpt was taken from our free eBook, Calling: a Biblical Perspective.

[1] I. Howard Marshall, The Pastoral Epistles, The International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1999), 610ff.
[2] William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 46, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2000), 309.

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