Proper Remuneration for Ministers
In this life those engaged in the ministry should receive fitting
remuneration for their labor. They give their entire time, thought, and
effort to the service of the Master; and it is not in the order of God
that the wages paid them should be insufficient to supply the needs of
their families. The minister who does his share according to his ability
should receive his just due.
The men who decide what each worker shall receive are to strive
earnestly to meet the mind of God in their decisions. Some who
have served on auditing committees have lacked in discrimination and
judgment. At times the committee has been composed of men who
had no real understanding of the situation of the workers, and who
have again and again brought real oppression and want into families
by their wrong decisions. Their management has given occasion for
the enemy to tempt and discourage the workers, and in some cases has
driven them from the field.
Scrupulous care should be shown in settling the accounts of the
laborers. Those who are chosen to act on the auditing committee
should be men of clear perception, acquainted with the work they are
handling. They should be “able men, such as fear God, men of truth,
hating covetousness.” [
Exodus 18:21
.]
The minister should have a margin to work upon, for there are many
calls made upon his financial resources. In his work he frequently
finds people so poor that they have little to eat and wear, and no proper
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sleeping accommodations. He must give succor to the very needy, to
supply their hunger and cover their nakedness. He is also expected
to lead out in good enterprises, to help in building churches, and in
advancing the cause of God in other lands.
God’s chosen missionary can have no settled abode, but must take
his family from place to place, often from country to country. The
character of his work makes this necessary. But this frequent moving
places him under heavy expense. Then, too, in order to exert a good
influence, his wife and children, and he himself, must set a fitting
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