HH.mm.ss; $ and ©

Many years ago, my father asked for an appointment with his pastor. Dad received a sermon on how busy the pastor was, how many meetings he had to attend, etc. No, not from the secretary at the church office, but from the pastor himself. Now I’ve been through a few experiences in this regard myself.

One day I had an argument with a pastor. He believed that when counselling, one should charge a fee. My opinion was (and is) that it is a gift received, to build the church, and should be free of charge.

Last week I phoned a pastor to make an appointment. I left a message on his voice mail, and missed his return call, and decided that I would call again after the long weekend. He beat me to it, but the cell phone signal was just too bad. He phoned me again at home. We discussed a time, and I know that he is a very busy man. His comment was, "I may never be so busy, that I do not have time for people". My appointment was booked for two days later.

Second incident I want to mention: While searching for a new church, I remembered a certain pastor. I decided to google, and found his church’s website (See Antipas in my links.) Now what do we usually see in many Christians websites – Copyright and Dollar signs. Yes, there is a theological seminary, and a fee is charged. ZAR50-00 per module (between 7 and 10 U$). If you’re not sure, it is just about for free. Look at the homepage: "Copyright none". There is plenty of material for free on that site. Now read this statement:

"Anyone is at liberty to use material from this website with or without recognition. In preparing, the authors received help from many sources. We believe the content to be a true statement of Scriptural teaching, and our desire is to further the spreading of the message of CHRIST, and not to restrict it.
"Freely you have received, freely give" (Mat 10:8)"

What if we regularly meditate on how much we have received for free, and start giving in the same measure…