Pastors often need additional sources of income besides just their church. Running a side business is a great option, but you have to be careful. You shouldn’t try to monetize your ministry. Your ministry can feed off of your business, but your business should never feed off of your ministry.

 

It’s common for pastors to want to earn extra money on the side. Whether it’s a young family needing a little more to be able to afford a minivan or a church planter with no church salary, Christian pastors have been working in the secular marketplace, or “tentmaking,” as far back as the Apostle Paul.

 

If you take a minute and google “extra income for pastors,” you’ll get about 429,000 results. Some of the top results will suggest earning money through network marketing, counseling, affiliate marketing, selling your sermons and other content you’ve created for your church or ministry, recommending and marketing health products to your friends, or as a paid speaker.

 

Your Church Is Not A Marketplace

You can earn money doing all of those things. But being a pastor, I don’t think you should. Why? Most of those suggestions either monetize your ministry activities (like counseling) or they monetize the relationships you’ve developed through your ministry (like affiliate marketing).

 

To me, that’s akin to monetizing the ministry, and that is wrong. It brings to mind when Jesus “cleaned out” the temple of all the savvy businessmen taking advantage of the Jewish pilgrims in John 2:13-22.

 

Was it wrong for them to exchange money at the temple? I don’t think exchanging money was the problem. I think it’s the profit they were extracting that Jesus was mad about. He didn’t want the temple, the house of God, or now the Christian community, to be used for financial gain.

 

Business As Evangelism

Does that mean it’s wrong for pastors to earn money on the side? Not at all. I actually think it’s a really good thing. Having a business and being in the marketplace is a way of “letting your light shine for all to see” instead of enclosing it within the four walls of the church.

 

You can use your quest for extra income as a way to get involved in your community and be an example of Christian ethics and integrity to people who would never dare set foot in your church. Through his tentmaking, Paul was able to disciple Aquila and Priscilla to such a level that they were then able to do the same with Apollos (Acts 18). Working side by side with others in a business might provide you with the same kinds of discipleship opportunities as well.

 

Business also builds the local community, providing much needed-services and perhaps even jobs for others. It’s a way of meeting physical needs in your community in addition to the spiritual needs that you meet as a pastor.

 

Separating Church And Business

But your business should not feed off of your ministry. You should not market to your church members. That creates an incredible conflict of interest. People look up to you and place themselves under your authority. How are they supposed to respond when you try to sell them a product? Or if you pressure them to purchase your services, what happens if they aren’t happy with them?

 

It’s okay for your church members to know that you have a business. If they seek out your services, it’s not wrong to work with them. You need to understand the consequences if the business relationship doesn’t work out, though. However, you should not actively promote your business or try to get customers from within your congregation. Your ministry should benefit from your business, not the other way around.

 

Side Business Ideas For Pastors

As a pastor, you can’t just start any old business or have just any side job. The work you do needs to have flexible hours and be able to be done on a part-time basis. I’ve seen pastors do everything from running a firework stand the week before Independence Day to having a home staging business to renting out part of their home through airbnb.com. Read this post for a list of business opportunities that can work around your schedule as a pastor and don’t require you to feed off of your congregation.