Some days I just want to scream.
My wife’s just got back from interstate working for a week while I’ve been juggling the tri-fecta of single parenthood, job seeking and developing my gospel shows. There are songs to write, sticker stories to publish and promote, scripts to work on for Christmas and beyond; but despite all this productivity, my gospel shows just aren’t a meal ticket yet. So wifey disappears to make up for lost income; the kids go a bit crazy; I feel like a waste of space not earning my keep and together we scream…Why do we do this to ourselves!!?
We have everything we need, but sometimes it feels like we are heading for the ‘effluent’ life (mis-spelling intended).
Why the devil is being a Christian performing artist so hard?
1. The Undervaluing of art?
Is it because her dreamer of a husband is attempting to make a living from his Christian ministry in a country that barely applauds when its own artists reach world class recognition? Justin Heazlewood’s honest account, Funemployment, of mid-level success as a secular performing artist (The Bedroom Philosopher) plots the incredible challenges anyone in Australia faces to earn a living from art. The opposition and disinterest in artistic work is commonplace. Getting gigs is hard. Building momentum, frustratingly illusive. Our population is tiny and those sympathetic to Christian values, even tinier. We also suffer from the same disease as the English, namely, cultural cringe. We just don’t believe we are that good, or that our artists are that good until the Americans tell us so. If you’re in the business of trying to live off your art, suck it up, you’re in good company.
[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Cover of Justin Heazlewood's 'Funemployed' book"]
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2. The undervaluing of ministry?
However, most people employed in Christian ministry are not trying to live off their art. In fact they are paid to do the art of gospel ministry regardless of the quality or quantity of their work. The benefit being Christian ministers are free to preach, teach, visit the sick, administer the church and so forth, without any financial penalty or incentive for their work. Hopefully this protects the minister from distraction and greed. I used to be one of these guys and while most of us would say we feel very privileged, it’s easy to lose sight of just how privileged until you step out and try to earn your crust, solo.
In paid Christian ministry it’s easy to make the disconnect and think ‘it’s not about the money’. But few if any, would be able to do their gospel ministry without the money. One dangerous bi-product is that we stop valuing ministry. We don’t know its value.
Ask any congregation member or person on the street and they will straight away know exactly what they are paid per hour. Ask a minister or congregation member what it costs to present a sermon each week and they’ll have some idea but not much. But it does cost, quite considerably actually. Ministry and money are somehow far distant relatives in our minds. It is as though money has become this impure thing that should never enter the ministry equation.
Now when I enjoyed the privileges of full time pay for ministry I tried my best to set a high standard in how I presented the gospel every week, but it nearly killed me. There’s a lot of people work and administration that consumes the majority of your time. Soon you realize it’s impossible, and you learn to economise, cut corners and do what you have to in order to survive. Which is why I love what I do now. Creating, writing and producing performance art that presents the good news is such a delight. The only compromise is how far my imagination and my budget will stretch. People in full time paid church ministry roles don’t have the time or necessarily the abilities to do what I do. But trying making it pay? Ouch!
When it comes to paying for the vet, the dentist or a plumber we all know what we’re up for. It ain’t gonna be cheap, but it is what it is and we know we have to pay it. But when it comes to gospel ministry we somehow have no idea how to value it. We’ve never had to price ministry as it’s always just magically happened.
People often say to me they don’t want to be stingy and will pay me what I need. But the disparity between what they have in mind and the real world is vast. Most of the time if I accepted what people have in mind, I’d be better off working at Coles as a 16 year old check out chick. Occasionally someone does come along and says ‘don’t worry about the money, this is important to us, we’ll pay’. And they do without complaint. Wow. I love these people.
3. The De-valuing ministry?
I know some Christian performing artists subsidise their income with donations. I worked out that one Sydney based presenter actually charges only 25% of their expenses, the rest has to be made up in donations every year. Consequently, a church in Sydney might get a show for kids at around $200, but actually the show costs upwards of $800. We’re talking expenses here, not profit. Is there really any need in affluent Sydney for churches to be sponging $600 off other believers just so they don’t have to think about what ministry actually costs? All this does is devalue the service that presenters offer.
They say ‘we can’t afford that’. This is not usually true. It’s a bit like that episode on American Pickers where one guy wanted the pickers to buy everything for a $100. Didn’t matter if it was rubbish or what, he just said, $100. In ministry it seems many of us have a similar mind set. Whatever value is potentially on offer, we don’t care, ‘cause we pay $100’. What if people actually stood up in church and said, ‘we’d like our SRE kids to have an awesome end of year service, full of the gospel message. It’s too good an opportunity to mess with, so we need $X to get the best performer there is’. I guarantee you’ll have the money by the end of the day.
4. No money = no vision
It comes down to vision and prayer. Giving people time to see the vision, giving them something concrete to hang their hat on and leaving it with God to move hearts. But I just don’t think we are prepared to go there. The mention of money is somehow unholy.
Take a risk. Sell the vision, put a price on it that is REAL and ask for the money and wait. Then we can all benefit from each other and celebrate the money the Lord has given us to celebrate Him.
For information about Stephen’s gospel shows go to www.antonsantics.com & www.baristabanter.com.au
