It does seem to be a particularly American thing. I don't come across it in real life, only online in places where there is a high proportion of Americans.
Sorry for my late reply to this thread Paidiske. There are actually Calvary Chapels in Europe, and the “Mosss Model” is pretty standard among non-denoms. It should be noted that these pastors have their cake and eat too, in that they denounce “hirelings” while making a substantial amount from mandatory tithing, etc. Especially prosperity Gospel people like Joel Osteen. I regard the Prosperity Gospel as preached by people like Creflo Dollar to be almost an exact definition of Galatians 1:8.
CCCC? (Again, sorry, not American, so not recognising the acronym). Your church plant sounds interesting; I shall be keen to hear more about how it goes!
The Conservative Congregational Christian Conference. Our main congregational church, the United Church of Christ, is not doing too well, hence my desire to work for a more dynamic, Gospel-centric entity.
I find that the hireling accusation either seems to suggest that we're just in it for the money (which is laughable, I could have made much more money in the career I left for ministry), or that our ministry is somehow less authentically offered because we're paid.
Indeed, the only people making any money from ministry are not “hirelings” like us but pastors of a certain type of megachurch, especially the Prosperity Gospel set. No one with a vocation to the Anglican / Traditional Protestant / Roman Catholic / Orthodox continuum of churches is driven by the money, because there just isn’t any. The only perks of the job tend to be good healthcare and retirement benefits, in the US, in some denominations, because certain denominations like the Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists and SDAs built a large network of hospitals and medical clinics. On the other hand, Orthodox clergy do not benefit from this, as there is a lack of large scale Orthodox health facilities in the US, and many Orthodox priests work until they die. Catholic priests tend to have mandatory retirement, except they keep on working and serving mass, because their liturgical obligations remain.
I also find it frustrating that people who've never actually worked in ministry don't seem to have any sort of conception of the reality of the role, or how feasible it would be to earn an income in some other way at the same time. People are quick to expect the world of their ministers, but slow to realise what it takes to actually meet those expectations...
Indeed. This is a very common problem in virtually every church.
Distinctive deacons are not terribly common in my context, and most of them work in chaplaincy type roles rather than in parishes, but you're right, they're absolutely wonderful for the church!
I am a huge supporter of the diaconate both for liturgical and pastoral care purposes. Now in some liturgical churches (mainly Orthodox), deacons are almost purely liturgical in their function, interestingly.
