I came across this book on the Aleph with Beth YouTube community page. Bethany & Andrew are partnered with the author, Conley Owens, & Jon Here of copy.church. They’ve created the website Selling Jesus out of this partnership.
Owens’ goal is to resolve the seemingly contradictory statements in Matthew 10:8-10 – Christ’s followers are to freely give, as they have received, but are also laborers that are worthy of their wages (cf. Luke 10:7). He concludes that the issue is not what is received, but who it is received from.
In the first half of the book I found that, practically, this would not change much about how most congregations do giving. If anything, it may be a mindset shift – our obligation is not directly to our pastors (what Owens would call “reciprocity”), but to God, who is obligated as the “Lord of the harvest” to provide for His laborers (what Owens calls “colabor”).
Owens reinforces these categories by evaluating when Paul refuses funds from the churches & when he accepts funds. Paul himself refuses to be a “burden” to any congregation, but expects that any congregation be willing to take up the “burden” of the Gospel alongside him. This is why Paul lists his secular work alongside his other hardships (1 Cor. 4:11-12, 2 Cor. 6:4-5, 11:24-27). In this way, anyone can share in suffering for the sake of the Gospel by giving up some of the fruit of their labor.
A couple weeks ago, I read through The Didache with my church. In Chapter 11, it covers how a church should know whether to receive or reject an apostle or prophet – it specifically says that, “by their ways will the false prophet & the prophet be known.” Often, we think of “false teachers” & “greedy teachers” as two separate categories which overlap in some instances. Owens argues that the Venn diagram for these two categories completely overlaps. Especially concerning to me was that this was a vital tool in identifying false teachers for the Early Church, which is now almost entirely lost because of how we have been trained to look at giving by our culture.
It would seem that most people’s issues don’t come from normal church giving, but from parachurch ministries. A disconnect between these organizations & the churches they serve leads to them seeking other means of support that, more often than not, violate the dorean principle. My mind was drawn to Michael Heiser’s divine council worldview – God’s end goal for creation & our redemption is to have a reconstituted Family of God. As such, the Church should be looked at as a family, not a business. I’d say this is where Romans 12:2 comes in. Following along with the flow of culture leads to us adopting their means, & God is just as concerned about the means as He is with the ends.
What really grabbed my attention & got me to read this book was Jon Here’s copy.church website. Learning the Bible’s original languages is one of my hobbies, & when I saw how access to translation resources (original manuscripts & critical texts) & use of translations themselves can be heavily restricted, I was shocked. When you add to this the threat of government coercion imposed by copyrights, it’s even more concerning, especially in light of texts like 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 & Romans 12-13 (I see this pair of chapters as a contrast between the Church & earthly governments).
As a result, I’ve started swapping out commonly-used resources that are restricted or paid in some way with resources that can be used freely when in a public setting. I have found that the American Standard Version & World English Bible are both excellent public domain versions, as well as Young’s Literal Translation (if you can get over some of the archaic language).
I also play drums at my church, so I was familiar some of the issues Owens brought up on the worship side of things. After studying the Psalms, I’ve come to appreciate why they were the hymnal & prayer book of the Church for centuries (maybe I’ll talk about the Desert Fathers in a future post). I appreciate seeing the Church’s creativity in worship, but I can’t help but feel that we are missing out by neglecting these as our “foundation”. I’ve heard the analogy of them being our “scales & arpeggios” – memorizing & reciting the Psalms doesn’t restrict our prayer, but frees us up to make improvisations in line with Scripture & sound doctrine. To quote The Didascalia Apostolorum, “If you wish for songs, you have the Psalms of David” (Chapter 2). Check out Zac Fitzsimmons‘ work, The Psalms Project, & Exodus Church‘s Psalm 119. The Corner Room also does word-for-word Scripture songs, but charge for their sheet music.
I recommend checking out Owens’ book. You can download digital versions, listen to the audiobook, or even request a physical copy for free on his website here.
Nathan's Meditations 