Professional Christians

I commented on Real Live Preachers "reimagining" of the church about a week ago. But my current study of 1 Corinthians brought another aspect of it to mind. From RLPs original post:

We would never pay anyone to be a professional Christian. There would be no staff, no paid ministers, no salaries, and no overhead. ... If there is preaching, it would be done by everyone. All who feel ready to share would take their turn. You would have weeks or even months to read your passage of scripture prayerfully. Then you would simply share the wisdom you found in the scriptures with your good friends.

How does 1 Corinthians fit in? Well in chapter 9, Paul discusses the rights of apostleship and specifically talks about so called "profession believers."

Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more?

But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel

In other words Paul states that there is nothing wrong with being a professional christian. It is an extension of the biblical precendents of reaping what is sown going back to the establishment of the Aaronic priesthood. It is completely in keeping with biblical principles.

Honestly I'm concerned about some of these groups seeking to remove professional ministers. While ministers aren't perfect, this new emphasis on laity seems to be coming from exactly the kind of people who need their reimaginings of christianity straightened out by an experienced believer.