Do any of these sound familiar to you?
“I’d like to grow my readership….but my blog is a ministry, so that seems selfish.”
“I blog to encourage people, so I feel guilty that I’d like to earn something from it.”
“I’d like my blog to make money, but it makes me uncomfortable since I blog about my faith.”
I hang out a little in the Christian blogosphere, and I hang out a lot with Christians who blog, and I hear statements like these over and over. And while I love the heart behind their hesitation, I hate to see these bloggers holding themselves back.
Where Christian bloggers get it wrong
When Christian bloggers hesitate to get their blog “out there” because of their faith, they hobble themselves. By shying away from promoting their blogs, they make it difficult for anyone to ever find them. And if they’re writing as a ministry, well, ministries serve people. A writing ministry needs readers for it to truly be a ministry.
And since blogging is ultimately about relationships, it’s hard for writers to enjoy blogging without them. By failing to promote their blogs, Christian bloggers cut themselves off from their potential readers. No readers, no relationships, no fun. And no ministry.
That pesky money thing
No one argues with someone who says, “I want to make money from my hobby.” We’re used to hearing people say, “I want to make money from my blog.” And most of us think that’s just fine.
I know so many Christian bloggers who would like their blogs to generate some cash. They view blogging like a ministry, so most aren’t looking to make tons of money, but they’d like to make a little to justify the time they’re spending.
But many of these Christian bloggers–who approach their blogs as ministries–feel funny about saying they want to make money from their blogs. Because they view blogging like a ministry, and no one is supposed to “make money” from their ministry. It sounds all wrong. I won’t argue with that.
But I know lots of people in part- or full-time Christian service, and they all want their ministries to be self-sustaining. This mindset is vastly different from that of wanting to “make money” from a ministry, even though it may look pretty much the same way in the bank account.
Ditch the guilt
Christian bloggers, don’t feel bad about wanting to grow your blog or wishing it could generate an income. But do be careful how you approach it, with your words and your heart and your mind and your wallet.
Blogging isn’t just about growing your reach, it’s about expanding the conversation. It’s not okay to monetize your ministry, but it is okay to create a self-sustaining one.
It’s not just a question of semantics: it’s a matter of the heart. Christian bloggers, stop shooting yourselves in the foot. Stop holding yourselves back, so the world can see your hearts.
Anne, thank you for this!
I haven’t gotten around to “monetizing” my blog yet, but it is some thing I would love to do in the future. As you said, mainly to justify the time I spend blogging. And a few months ago I started participating in link-ups to get more exposure for my blog, and created a facebook page for it…I’m learning. 
And even the small measures I’ve taken have made a big difference. And yeah–it’s all about expanding my own ministry opportunities. I’m able to share how the Lord is working in my life to a lot more people now than I was a year or so ago. It’s exciting!
Amen! There is a wave of false humility that permeates anyone who wants to serve the Lord. It isn’t of God. Humility has its place, and pride should be checked. But we aren’t all Mother Teresa, and we shouldn’t all feel guilty for bringing God glory Ina new and different way. When we work hard at our ministry and bring new people into places where they can be exposed to God’s kingdom (as in your blog), then we are bringing glory to the Lord. THAT is our goal and we should not feel ashamed or afraid of it. Those who seek to make you think less of yourself for it are serving someone other than God. God also is not against blessing those who do his work monetarily. One only has to look at the bible to see that time and again he provided financially for those in ministry. If blogging is your ministry, you have every right to expect compensation for the time invested in it. Seeking wealth for wealth’s sake is wrong, but anyone truly called to blogging as a ministry is going to have God’s heart and purpose before them.
I’ve been to seminary and am a licensed pastor. It took me a long time to reconcile God calling me to serve via blogging versus serving full-time in a church. It took some strong words from a pastor-friend to wake me up to what I was denying. Since then God has had me on a wonderful and amazing journeying into ministering to a whole new group of people. Christian bloggers: keep at it. God is sending you out to speak to the people who would otherwise never hear his voice, and never learn his ways. God bless each and every one of you!
Heather, thanks so much for sharing your own journey through these murky waters. You’ve been thinking through these things for far longer than I have, and I’m grateful for your input.
“Christian bloggers: keep at it. God is sending you out to speak to the people who would otherwise never hear his voice, and never learn his ways.”
Yes!
I feel this way sometimes too, but you are right… it’s ok making money doing Christian ministries. Pastors, church office staff, and youth ministers get an income. Blogging is a bit different, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a few dollars.
I don’t make much with my blog, but as a wife and mother, I feel guilty taking so much time away from my family to blog that I appreciate being to contribute financially with it.
Anne, this is all so true, and such good counsel for bloggers and others in ministry. There is nothing spiritually superior about eschewing making money off a ministry merely for the sake of being able to say one is doing it for free.
In fact, I would go a step farther and say that Scripture authorizes those who serve God to accept payment for it. Paul mentions it in 1 Timothy 5:18 (“For Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and ‘The worker deserves his wages.’”) and discusses it at length in 1 Corinthians 9:3-14 (concluding “the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”)
It’s not that we have to be paid in order to be in God’s will. Paul and Barnabas are good examples of Apostles who worked to support themselves rather than burden their congregations with supporting them. But Paul told the Corinthians that it is a matter of freedom in Christ: a gospel worker is free to choose to take a wage or to forgo it, and God’s blessing is on his worker either way.
Thanks for helping me think through these things today, Anne.
tim
Tim, thanks for adding such good thoughts to the discussion!
“There is nothing spiritually superior about eschewing making money off a ministry merely for the sake of being able to say one is doing it for free.” You’re so right. And yet we seem to have a hard time believing this is actually true, don’t we?
I completely agree! A laborer is worth of his hire. However, as much as I’d theoretically love an income from my blog, I’ve chosen not to pursue that route.
Because I’ve chosen to NOT monetize, I can skip. . .
Carefully crafted 300 word posts complete with headings and bulleted lists.
Great graphics and interface. My ultimate goal is to get each year printed via a blog-to-book site and give my daughter a handwritten homemaking notebook to take with her when she leaves home. My blog graphics have zero impact on that book.
Great pictures. My only camera is currently on my Android phone, but I usually spend about 10 seconds googling for a picture for widgets, linkys, and pinterest to grab onto. I don’t use 99% of the pictures in the blog-to-book.
Incessantly linking, backlinking, and networking . I enjoy linking up to a community of like-minded women when I have the time, but I never have to.
Worrying about losing readership because of controversial content. Yes, I do have an opinion. No, I’m not afraid to share it, because I have an audience of one. I regularly lose “followers” and e-mail subscribers after I publish letters on marriage or parenting.
Editing. I purposely use the format of writing letters to my daughter so I have the freedom to read through once and then publish. These aren’t essays or articles, they are letters, complete with faults in spelling and grammar.
Publishing on a regular schedule or a hot topic. I’m free to write what I want, when I want.
Not all payback is in dollars and cents
“Not all payback is in dollars and cents.”
Bekki, you’re so right. I love reading your blog, largely because of the format, the controversial content, and the unique tone. What I didn’t know is that you have in mind to print a book each year based on the blog posts. What a fabulous idea, especially because the blog is, in fact, letters to your daughter. One day can you post a picture of one of those books? (How’s that for circular?) I would so love to see it!
Spot on–thanks for the perspective!
Simple question but maybe a not-so-simple answer: what do you think is the best way for us humble writers to actually go about monetizing our blog? (And maybe a tangential question, but if you do recommend advertising, do you recommend any with less-than-annoying/trashy content?)
Megan, I’m going to be covering this in the next week or two on Modern Mrs Darcy. My short answer would be (a) affiliate income and (b) private ad sales, or a really great network like Federated Media.
Great advice! Thank you!
Absolutely! I haven’t started blogging yet (well, not unless my ancient xanga–now defunct–counts), but if and when I manage to get one going, I am absolutely writing about faith matters and absolutely welcoming any income I might gain through it–as a previous commenter said, the worker’s worth his wages! (Did I use too many absolutes in there??)