A central question for any eldership recognising Five-Fold ministry in its midst is whether the Saint should be sustained by the body full-time, part-time, or as a voluntary minister alongside other work. The New Testament does not give a single answer; it gives a pattern of discernment.
6.1 The New Testament Pattern — Mixed
Scripture is strikingly varied on this point. Paul, the paradigmatic apostle, often worked as a tentmaker so as not to be a burden to the churches he served (Acts 18:3; 1 Corinthians 9:1–18; 2 Corinthians 11:7–10; 1 Thessalonians 2:9). Yet Paul also vigorously defends the principle that those who labour in the gospel may rightly be sustained by the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:7–14). He chose not to exercise the right; he insisted that the right exists.
Elders who lead well and especially those whose work is preaching and teaching are “worthy of double honour” (1 Timothy 5:17). The early church supported widows by the church’s resources (Acts 6:1–6). Travelling ministers were sustained by hospitality and provision from the bodies they served (3 John 5–8).
The Greek word translated “double honour” (diplē timē) in 1 Timothy 5:17 carries both the sense of esteem and the sense of financial support — the very next verse quotes the principle that the worker deserves their wages (1 Timothy 5:18, citing Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7). The body is to esteem and to pay where the Saint’s ministry is sustained labour.
The pattern, then, is mixed. Some Five-Fold ministers are sustained full-time by the body. Some are part-time, with bi-vocational work alongside. Some are wholly bi-vocational by choice, as Paul often was. The question for the local eldership is which pattern the Spirit is leading them into for each particular Saint and each particular ministry.
6.2 The Paul Pattern and the 1 Timothy 5:17 Pattern
Two complementary patterns sit in the New Testament:
The Paul pattern (bi-vocational by choice). The minister has the right to be sustained by the body but voluntarily declines, working at a trade alongside their ministry. Reasons in Paul’s case included not wanting to be a burden on poor churches, not wanting his motives to be questioned by hostile critics, and modelling a labour-of-love ministry for the body. The pattern is honourable; it is not the only pattern.
The 1 Timothy 5:17 pattern (sustained by the body). The elder who leads well and labours in preaching and teaching is sustained financially by the body so that their full attention is given to the ministry. The pattern is honourable; it is not the only pattern.
Neither pattern is universally superior. The eldership discerns which pattern fits which Saint and which ministry, in which season, in which body.
6.3 The Eldership’s Discernment Role — Prayer and Fasting
This question is one of those where the discipline of prayer and fasting is essential. The eldership does not simply do the financial maths and decide. They lay the question before the Lord, fast over it, listen for the Spirit’s leading, and bring their unity of mind to the conclusion.
The factors to weigh include:
- The actual ministry demand on the Saint — how many hours a week the ministry requires, how sustainable the Saint’s current arrangement is, where additional hours would be invested if released.
- The fruitfulness of additional time — whether releasing the Saint full-time would multiply the fruit, or whether the bi-vocational arrangement is itself part of the fruitfulness (Paul’s tentmaking gave him daily contact with non-believers).
- The condition of the Saint’s family — whether the current pattern is sustainable for marriage, parenting, household.
- The body’s capacity to sustain the Saint — honestly assessed, not optimistically projected.
- The Saint’s own sense of calling — whether they sense the Lord moving them into a different pattern, or whether the current pattern is the calling.
- The wider Five-Fold coverage of the body — whether sustaining this Saint full-time is the right next step or whether other gaps are more pressing.
The decision is the eldership’s. It is made after prayer and fasting, in unity among the elders, with full transparency to the Saint and to the body. The Annual Plan (Document 5) is the framework within which this decision is integrated into the body’s overall ministry planning and funding.
6.4 The Annual Planning Connection (Document 5)
Document 5 sets out the five-stage annual planning process — alignment and discernment, eldership data review, workshops and Spirit-led direction, scoping the work, prospectus and funding. The question of whether to sustain a Five-Fold minister full-time, part-time, or voluntarily is integrated into this annual rhythm.
Stage 1 (Alignment and Discernment). The eldership brings the question into the annual prayer and fasting cycle. What is the Spirit saying about how the Five-Fold is to be resourced in the year ahead?
Stage 2 (Eldership Data Review). The eldership reviews who is exercising Five-Fold gifts in the body, what fruit is being borne, what hours each Saint is investing, what the body’s capacity is.
Stage 3 (Workshops). Where appropriate, the question is opened to wider input from Saints — not the financial decision itself, but the body’s sense of what the Lord is doing in and through these gifts.
Stage 4 (Scoping). The work the Five-Fold minister would do if released full-time is named in specifics. The scope is realistic, measurable, and tied to the body’s overall direction.
Stage 5 (Prospectus and Funding). The annual prospectus communicates the proposed investment to the body. The body responds in giving. The Lord provides through the Saints who carry the gift of giving and through the wider body’s generosity.
6.5 Decision Framework — When to Set Apart Full-Time
Indicators that the body should move towards full-time support of a Five-Fold minister:
- The ministry demand has grown beyond the Saint’s capacity to sustain alongside other work, and reducing the ministry would damage the body more than reducing the Saint’s other work would damage their family.
- The fruit at the current level of investment is clear, and additional time would credibly multiply the fruit.
- The body has the financial capacity to sustain the Saint sustainably (not optimistically) over multi-year horizons — not just the first year.
- The Saint and their household are in a season where the change is well-fitted.
- The eldership has unity of mind after prayer and fasting.
- There is no other route by which the same fruit could be borne — e.g., by recruiting a second Saint into the work part-time, by realigning the Saint’s existing hours, by drawing on itinerant ministry for what the local Saint alone cannot cover.
6.6 Decision Framework — When to Keep Bi-Vocational or Voluntary
Equally important and less often weighed. Indicators that the bi-vocational or voluntary pattern is in fact the right pattern, even where full-time sustainment is financially possible:
- The Saint’s wider employment is itself part of the ministry — marketplace evangelism, professional witness, household-economic discipleship of younger believers.
- The body is small enough or young enough that sustaining a full-time minister would distort other priorities.
- The Saint’s sense of calling is to the Paul pattern — working with one’s own hands so as not to burden the body — and the calling is settled in prayer.
- The Saint’s gift is itinerant in such a way that no single local body is responsible for the full sustainment, and the gift is funded by multiple bodies’ partnership.
- The body’s leadership culture is intentionally bi-vocational — a deliberate stewardship choice rather than a financial accident — and the Saint is in alignment with it.
6.7 What “Voluntary” Really Means
A note of care. “Voluntary” ministry, in the New Testament sense, does not mean “unpaid neglect.” It means a Saint exercising a gift faithfully, sustained by their own labour, walking in the Paul pattern by choice, with the body’s blessing, prayer, and partnership. The volunteer Five-Fold minister is still sent, still resourced (relationally, in counsel, in shared resources where appropriate), still accountable, still pastored.
Where “voluntary” drifts into “unsupported, unresourced, unrecognised, and quietly resentful,” the eldership has failed the Saint. The Paul pattern requires the Saint to be honoured — and where the Saint’s family is straining, the body should re-open the question of fuller support rather than allow the Saint to burn out under the banner of voluntary service.
6.8 Funding the Equipping Ministry
Where the eldership concludes that full-time or part-time financial support is the right pattern, the funding mechanism follows the Annual Plan (Document 5) and the constitutional framework (Document 6 Appendix Clause 6). The body gives. The Lord provides. The work proceeds.
Document 1 (Vision, Purpose, Commission & Mission) Chapter 9.6 closes with a careful word on this: “As the body engages — gifted, called, invested, Spirit-led in its giving — the work is funded, the workers are sustained, the gospel goes out, and the Body of Christ is built.” The Five-Fold ministry is sustained the same way every faithful New Testament ministry has been sustained — by a praying body, walking in the Spirit, giving as the Lord leads them.
6.9 Discretion — Not Rule
Nothing in this Part is meant to fix a rule that every Five-Fold minister must follow. The point is the opposite. The pattern is mixed in the New Testament; the discernment is the eldership’s, after prayer and fasting, on the needs of the body and the calling of the Saint. Some will be full-time. Some will be part-time. Some will be voluntary by deliberate choice. Some will move between patterns across seasons. The eldership holds the question open before the Lord and acts as He leads.