If you don’t have a captive audience at a local church like a ‘normal’ paid minister, you have to find one that will listen if you want to make any kind of living from itinerant work. It’s a test of your own self belief and your longevity depends on being able to make yourself visible and form an audience around you.

Is there a ministry you are called to do regardless of pay?

If a tree falls in the forest how does anybody hear over the deafening buzz of the chainsaw? How do you get enough ‘cut’ to be heard amongst all the noise? Perhaps I could just speak to Apple about uploading my stuff to every iTunes account holder? In the words of U2’s pre-album RED single, Invisible, “I am not invisible, oooh oh oh oooh”. Well, I feel like I am sometimes.

Marketing. Urggh. Boy I wish I had that expertise. Apply here if you are an expert.

If your audience growth is slow and insufficient to support you, how long O Lord do you press on?  Most in ministry will rely on their denomination, their parent organisation, and their donors. Of course you could just do it for free…Paul the apostle did just that. Sometimes he took donations, other times he just worked his butt off part time as a tent maker so he could support his gospel presenting. If you believe in something so wholeheartedly, if you are really called to do something, I reckon you’ll do it, whatever it takes. So maybe I just have to keep self-funding indefinitely and publish my ‘art’ at my own cost. Perhaps one day, if it’s any good, it will find the audience I’d always hoped and prayed for.  On the other hand, in the words of Solomon, perhaps I need to be satisfied with ‘eating and drinking and enjoying my (art) labours’ at my own expense (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26).

The less you charge the less good you must be, right?

Interestingly when the apostle Paul didn’t charge for his work it made some people think he must be pretty ordinary. ‘Real’, fancy gospel presenters in the first century charged handsomely for their work. So if Paul didn’t, perhaps it was because he wasn’t very good at it (see 2 Corinthians).  Maybe I need to charge more?! Perhaps people would value the work better if I charged a higher rate? But I’m not sure these days if we know what the value of ministry is anyway (see my last post, ‘Why we don’t value ministry’)

[caption id="attachment_454" align="aligncenter" width="675" caption="From left, Timothy D. Cook, the Apple C.E.O., with the Edge, Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. of U2 on Tuesday in Cupertino, Calif. Credit Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press"][/caption]

Music has become so cheap these days we are in danger of killing it. What doesn’t cost us, we don’t value. Recently, U2 controversially fought against the race to the bottom by getting paid upfront by Apple to release its album into every iTunes subscriber’s account. A pretty neat way of maintaining the principle that ‘a labourer deserves his wages’ and still getting your art into popular culture. Of course, a few people were not impressed, but I don’t think they meant to put the milk ‘in everyone’s fridge’, just on the doorstep if you wanted it.

Persevere and they will come?

The other night my kids and I finished reading a biography of Christian missionary, Mary Slessor who went to Nigeria in the late 1800’s but saw little conversions for the first 30 or so years. She really loved the people and slogged it out despite little fruit and tediously slow cultural change (some were cannibals; others killed twin babies thinking they were of the devil). But toward the end of her life, chiefs and tribes were changing both spiritually and culturally. So doing great work, takes time. Steve Jobs I think once said that the difference between unsuccessful and successful entrepreneurs was ‘perseverance’. Mary certainly persevered and it paid off. So achieving anything great, takes enormous dedication and perseverance. But it’s a whole lot easier when you don’t have to worry about the bank account. Perseverance in the security of a paid job is one thing. Perseverance minus the pay is quite another.

What might happen if you were to present the good news for free or well below what you could afford to live off?

Would you do it?

What would stop you?