I need your help.
Recently I was potentially charged what I thought was an exhobirtant price to receive the talks from a conference that I had just attended. (I say ‘potentially’ because I didn’t go through the with purchase).
I’m now in the process of writing an article for a Christian publication on the pros and cons of charging people to access Bible talks (and other resources). I am enlisting your help in writing this article. Here are a couple of questions for you:
- Have you ever paid to download a sermon or to have a sermon mailed to you?
- What (if any) do you think is a reasonable price to pay for a single sermon?
- What is the maximum price you would pay for a single sermon?
- If you knew that the profits from sermon payments were put back into Christian ministry, would you be more likely to pay for a sermon?
- If sermons (or other resources, such as books) were offered for free, but a donation was encouraged, would you pay the donation?
- Do you have any other thoughts on this subject?
I’d really appreciate your feedback. To respond you can either comment on this post using the ‘comments’ space at the bottom of this page (click here if you are reading this in an email), or just send me an email with your thoughts. Thanks for your help.
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Have you ever paid to download a sermon or to have a sermon mailed to you?
- Only once and it was at a conference that wasn’t going to post any material online
What (if any) do you think is a reasonable price to pay for a single sermon?
- $2 max for a .mp3 download. If anything is being mailed hard copy then more is fine
What is the maximum price you would pay for a single sermon?
- $2
If you knew that the profits from sermon payments were put back into Christian ministry, would you be more likely to pay for a sermon?
- I would automatically assume that my payment will be used for ministry. Whether or not that ministry relates to online resources doesn’t bother me
If sermons (or other resources, such as books) were offered for free, but a donation was encouraged, would you pay the donation?
- So far I haven’t donated any money to online sermon webpages, but I’ve probably downloaded hundreds of sermons with some asking donations. Thats more my stingyness so yes I should give donations.
Do you have any other thoughts on this subject?
- Free is always the best because it shows the non-christian world that we’re not money focused. At the same time, small ministries have to be funded someway.
Good discussion at: http://davemiers.com/2008/08/29/burn-your-plastic-jesus-2/
I would happily pay as much for a sermon or sermon series as I would for a song or album.
I would appreciate knowing how the money is used.
Judging from past experience, I’m unlikely to make a donation.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts - keep them coming!
On top of these comments I’ve received a surge of emails in the last hour - it’s been really interesting to have your feedback.
In regards to the conference I was referring to, this is actually the ministry conference at St Andrew’s Cathedral on 1-2 September, not Engage (although Engage did charge for talks too). The conference was charging $45 for the set of talks over the day and a half.
I’ll answer some of the questions first and then go on a rant. Sorry it’s a long post.
Have you ever paid to download a sermon or to have a sermon mailed to you?
Yes
What (if any) do you think is a reasonable price to pay for a single sermon?
Depends (I’ll explain in my rant)
What is the maximum price you would pay for a single sermon?
Again in the rant.
If you knew that the profits from sermon payments were put back into Christian ministry, would you be more likely to pay for a sermon?
No, I don’t think knowing should govern this.
If sermons (or other resources, such as books) were offered for free, but a donation was encouraged, would you pay the donation?
Yes
Do you have any other thoughts on this subject?
Yes, here cometh the rant.
Personally I think that there is a right to ask for payment for a sermon as Jesus says in Luke 10:7 and Paul quotes in 1 Timothy 5:18, the worker deserves his wages. In addition, Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 9:7-18 would be helpful to consider with this question. I think that the person charging for sermons is entitled to charge for their sermons… however this can become a burden or turnoff for some people and so they can’t access these services.
On the other hand, we have to ask ourselves has our materialism affected us so much that we are unwilling to part with our hard earned cash even if it is going to a Christian organisation? As a result, we claim that Christians should share their work with others for free and argue that it’s unChristian to charge for it. Isn’t that being money focussed as well?
We’re called to be good stewards of our money but I think there is a difference between being a good steward and miserly.
Personally, if I was particulalry inspired by a sermon series then I would probably not hesitate to pay up to the price of a CD and maybe a bit more depending on the quantity of sermons to get them as mp3s.
On the issue of free sermons; think there is probably a difference between say evangelistic sermons, which I would almost certainly argue should be free for all to access, and more meaty sermons. I don’t think there is anything wrong with charging for meaty sermons and at the end of the day, no amount of money can compare to hearing someone show you part of the glorius nature of God.
The underlying issue here has to do with our attitude towards money and our trust of our brothers and sisters. Are we letting our love of it rule our lives? Are we trusting that our brothers and sisters in Christ are using their gifts and money wisely?
Both the preacher and the purchaser need to consider their attitude towards the purchasing of the sermon. For us as the purchaser, we shouldn’t let our stewardship of money become a love of money and we should trust that the preacher or the organisation is doing God’s will with the money and using wisely. For the preacher, they need to examine whether or not they are charging because of their love of money or because they genuinely need it..
Here endeth the rant.
I remember reading this article a while back and I think it makes some good points:
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/RecentlyAdded/2458_Make_it_Free/
Since the speaker has already been paid for their time, why can’t others get it for free? Of cause it isn’t a sin to charge for a sermon, but to go through a payment (or registration) process does weed out your audience a bit.
To answer some of your questions, I think I have paid I think about $us2 for a sermon, I don’t think I would pay more than that.
I have also donated to one online site that I download from. They were upgrading their server, and I liked what they were doing online. I *think* I have also donated to e-sword.net (i at least remember sending an email to to guy about it ) as I do like the free program the guy has made.
Good topic Kryger.
- Have you ever paid to download a sermon or to have a sermon mailed to you?
Yes.
- What (if any) do you think is a reasonable price to pay for a single sermon?
If it’s for me, I really don’t mind. If it’s evangelistic, it should ideally be free.
- What is the maximum price you would pay for a single sermon?
Probably the same as I’d pay for a CD, so $30. I pay hundreds of dollars for decent Christian/theology books. Why would I not want to pay for what is often of the same quality in audio form and usually a bit more accessable?
- If you knew that the profits from sermon payments were put back into Christian ministry, would you be more likely to pay for a sermon?
Yes, although it would frustrate me if we only gave towards a ministry if we felt we were going to recieve something like a talk back for doing so.
It’s very little of my business where the money goes. If I really wanted to know perhaps I could get involved with the ministry (if possible) to help out.
If they would like to tell me where the money is going they can, but the worker deserves his/her wages so let’s get off their back. I assume that if a Christian speaker or author is going to write something that I want to hear or read that they will be living their life as a Christian, which means they have the responsibility to use the profits wisely and generously. I would hope that they or the organisation were being generous towards ministries.
- If sermons (or other resources, such as books) were offered for free, but a donation was encouraged, would you pay the donation?
I would hope so.
- Do you have any other thoughts on this subject?
I don’t think we should just go with the approach of expecting to pay ‘cheapest price’ possible for quality CDs, MP3s and books. Paying more than just printing and postage costs enables ministries to be built and grown for the future. We can be part of contributing to wider gospel work, rather than thinking of what will give immediate benefit to us as an individual.
A slight divergence in opinon in the Boxwell household…
In brief Kryger (and you knew this would be my opinon) Paying for sermons is not ideal but permissible IF the money is going towards Christian ministry and NOT towards an individual.
I won’t go through your questions individually. Hopefully you’ll be able to sift out answers to them all enmeshed somewhere in the following evangelical socialist spout.
“A worker deserves his wages” has got to be one of the most abused pieces of Scripture in the Bible. People have used it to justify some vile corruptions. It strikes me that Paul’s basic point was to say Christian ministry ought to be paid for by the Church. Paul was not a Capitalist! Paul was not saying, “a worker should put in their timesheet and allocate minutes to individual Christians who you can bill for work or consultation.” He was not saying, “a worker should be paid for every individual piece of work he completes.”
I really love that many demoninations in Australia pay their ministry staff with a stipend. It’s a technical distinction but an important one. What it says is that a church or a para-church organisation is paying a person enough money to free them up for ministry. That is, they don’t need t do other work in order to live. If a minister decides it would be good for their church, or even good for the wider gospel that they go and speak at a conference or write a book, then that is fine, but they ought not then expect to get paid extra for that work. Their church generously has paid to free them from the need to work for extra cash. If this were not true, everytime John Piper wanted to do up his kitchen or take a holiday to Vanuatu he could just release another sermon series and charge like a wounded bull.
Further, paying preachers and teachers on commission for their efforts devalues ministries that might be just as taxing (e.g. the sound desk guy). We are thus elevating certain kinds of ministries in a way not in keeping with the 1 Corinthians and Collosians image of the body working together to bring honour to the head, which is Christ.
It is to my mind deeply wicked if a person becomes rich from Christian ministry. I think most people would agree with this. But how do we define rich? How do you know you’ve crossed the line to becoming rich? Is making $10000 off conference talks becoming rich? How ’bout $1000? how ’bout $100? I’m going to take a hard line here mate and say, if you are employed a church, freed up for ministry by them, then it would be a foul thing to accept payment outside of that.
I will not “get off the backs” of people who profit from Christian ministry. For we have profited greatly through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. How obscene that we would desire to profit further!
(Anna was concerned that this paragraph above makes it look like I’m having a go at her - I’m not. I’m saying that though in an ideal world we could trust preachers of the word who we are wiling to buy the sermons of to act wisely with monies that come their way, however it doesn’t take long for any of us to think of people who have either been corrupted by greed or been corrupt and exploited the Christian gospel for selfish gain.)
All this said, I understand that, for example, Katoomba Christian Conventions relys on the sales of talks given there to further their ministry. But I have no problem with this in principle because the money props up their ministry and not a minister. Likewise I know that if you buy a copy of “Nothing in my hand I bring” by Ray Galea, the royalties are being diverted to the Church’s building project, which is great for a church in Western Sydney that struggles financially.
Do you plan on putting out a policy statement at the end of this project Kryger?
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