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Should ordained pastors/ministers opt out of self employment taxes (i.e. Social Security and Medicare taxes)?

Chances are…no.

Not unless you meet extremely rare requirements. None of which include the following:

• Social Security benefits won’t be available when I retire
• It’s poor stewardship of God’s money
• I can do a better job investing than the government
• It’s not the governments job to take care of people
• Extra cash in the pocket!

In order to opt out you agree to:

I certify that I am conscientiously opposed to, or because of my religious principles I am opposed to, the acceptance (for services I perform as a minister, member of a religious order not under a vow of poverty, or a Christian Science practitioner) of any public insurance that makes payments in the event of death, disability, old age, or retirement; or that makes payments toward the cost of, or provides services for, medical care. (Public insurance includes insurance systems established by the Social Security Act.)
~IRS Form 4361

That statement is extremely wordy so let’s look at a more simplified version taken from the bold sections above.

I am conscientiously opposed to the acceptance of any public insurance that makes payments in the event of death, disability, old, age or retirement.

If you sign Form 4361, you’re saying you’re conscientiously or religiously opposed to accepting public insurance. In other words, as a pastor, you believe it’s wrong to receive Social Security during retirement or have medical expenses covered under Medicare.

The form is asking if you’re against receiving public insurance.

That’s the key question to keep in mind. Not whether you think Social Security will be available when you retire or if you can do a better job investing. And as tempting as it is, opting out to get a bigger paycheck is not a valid reason to opt out.

So should pastors opt out? Consider this scenario…

Assume you’ve paid into the Social Security system for 50 years and you got your first Social Security check. Would you use the money or would you feel like you’re sinning against God if you did?

Do you see the difference in attitude?

If you have no problems cashing the check, that’s a clear sign you don’t have a religious or conscientious objection against receiving public insurance. A pastor should feel like they’re disobeying God if they have a genuine objection.

The military has a similar exemption for conscientious objectors. Prior to the exemption being available, people would go to jail for refusing military service because they believed war was wrong.

The heart of these exemptions are for those rare cases, not for the typical pastor.

Someone with a genuine objection to receiving public insurance would be willing to go to jail for that belief. They would refuse Medicare payments even if it meant paying for medical expenses out of pocket. Or they would rip up a Social Security check as soon as they got it.

Would you?

“Even if I have to pay the taxes, I can never file for the benefits, since my theology will never allow me to accept them.”
~Memo #10 – Can Ministers Opt Out of Social Security?

Final Advice

The decision to opt out of social security should not be taken lightly.
~Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability

Read Form 4361. Don’t blindly accept the advice of others. Know what you are signing and saying yes to.

I highly recommend reading this article from Russell Moore for a very well argued and biblical response to whether ordained ministers/pastors should opt out.

Be sure whatever your decision, you can stand before Jesus with a clear conscious and a pure heart.

I think a great prayer in this situation is:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
~Psalm 51:10 (NIV)

I pray we all have pure hearts and a steadfast spirit. Hearts not tempted by money and that strive to live according to God’s moral and ethical standards.

Sources and Additional Resources

• Is it Okay for Me to Opt Out of Social Security? My Response (highly recommended)
• Memo #10 – Can Ministers Opt Out of Social Security? (read section titled A “Catch” Often Overlooked)
• Ministers Opting out of Social Security (read bottom section after “Basis for filing for an exemption…”)
• On Opting out of the Social Security System
• Opting out of Social Security

I’d love to hear your reasons for either opting out or not. Please let me know in the comments!

For two years I have met for hundreds of hours on committees. I have never written a poem about it. It is deadening to my soul. I am a thinker. A writer. A preacher. A poet and songwriter. At least these are the avenues of love and service where my heart flourishes. . . .
~John Piper

While the post itself is a great reminder about the fruit of perseverance, it was this section that resonated the most with me.

…these are the avenues of love and service where my heart flourishes…

Some things deaden your soul. Others bring your soul to life.

What are the avenues of love and service that make your heart flourish?

Take a few minutes to ponder that question for yourself.

Here is what I am . . .

I am a researcher

A running joke in college was I wouldn’t buy anything without doing research first. My friends used to say: “You wouldn’t buy a pen without researching first.” To some extent that is true. I’ve spent time researching the best pen for pen spinning before. ;)

I love to research; finding the right tool for the job, the best product for the money.

But it’s more than just tangible products or tools. It’s knowledge as well.

Talk to any expert in a specific field and you’ll learn details and intricacies you never knew existed.

Buying a tennis racquet is more than just choosing one that looks cool.

Several factors come into play. Oversize or midplus? Standard length or longer? Head heavy or head light? Stiffer or more flexible frame? Open or dense string pattern?

I flourish seeking knowledge that leads to expertise in a given topic.

If I’m going to be _____, you better believe I’m trying to be the best _____ there is.

I am an executor

No, I don’t administer the death penalty to people.

My heart/soul is probably most alive when I’m able to execute to the best of my abilities (and knowledge).

Some people are great at delegating tasks and managing people. I am not.

Give me a task/area of responsibility and it will be done better than anyone else. Period.

It goes hand-in-hand with me being a researcher. I research in order to execute.

Nothing gives me more joy than walking away from a project proud of the work I’ve done.

Proud knowing I just didn’t get the job done, but it was done well, efficiently and “the right way,” utilizing best practices.

I am a teacher

While I love to research and execute, it brings me great satisfaction when I can consolidate my research and summarize my experience into a digestible, useful blog post.

It’s no surprise that my three most viewed blog posts are the ones I’ve shared from my research and experience.

It makes me smile when I can teach others one blog post at a time.

:)

I’m curious. What makes your heart flourish?

Hit me up in the comments the answer to “I am a __________.”

I’m curious to know how you approach reading your Bible? Particularly, how do you ensure you’re maximizing what you read?

Back in college, Chi Alpha (the campus fellowship I was involved with) did an outreach during the week of freshmen orientation. I remember being out there one day handing out Pop-Ice wearing my Chi Alpha t-shirt.

A guy came up to me and my Pop-Ice cohort curious to know more about the group. Part way through the discussion he saw we had 2 Corinthians 5:20 on our shirts and asked what the verse said.

I looked at my cohort. She looked at me. We stared at the guy blankly.

We had no clue what 2 Corinthians 5:20 said.

Needless to say I immediately went and memorized that verse.

2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV)
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

My motivation for wanted to regularly read through the entire Bible is similar. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to profess and stand for something you are unfamiliar with.

So for that reason I’ve read through the Bible twice (mostly) within the past two years. But I’ve gotten to the point where I need to shake things up a bit, which is why I’m soliciting different ideas from you.

There are a few goals I’m looking to achieve with my Bible reading.

1. Regularly reading through the entire Bible.
2. Applying what I read in my daily life.
3. Learning more about the Bible.

I’d like to read fast enough that I can familiarize myself with the main characters, history, flow of events, major milestones, etc. of the Bible.

But I’d also like to read slow enough I give God sufficient opportunity to speak to me about what I read.

And all of that should be rooted in sound doctrine/theology and knowledge of the Word. So I’d enjoy reading a good commentary on top of all of that.

So! How do you approach reading the Bible?

I was flipping through some of my old documents and ran across this collection of poems. I wrote them for my mom last year as a Christmas present.

Contrary to popular belief, I do occasional give Christmas presents. ;)

Each poem has a different rhyming scheme. I don’t remember which is which, but Wikipedia was my source. ;)

I’ve been banging my head against the same wall for awhile now. It happens to be the wall that is Celebration Church Online.

It is my ministry.

One that I can’t help but believe God has uniquely equipped me to handle. The opportunity to disciple the nations. An opportunity that I am passionate about; one that excites me. An area that my heart longs to be fully invested in.

But it is a ministry that, despite my best intentions, has not developed beyond the state it started at back in September 2008.

I keep asking myself: can you be passionate about something that doesn’t bear any fruit?

It is that question/wall that I haven’t been able to get past. It’s caused me to doubt whether I’m even the right guy for the job. To wonder if I’m really passionate about it or if it’s just something I’m trying to believe into existence.

All I see is failure at the lack of fruit.

Can you be passionate about something that doesn’t bear any fruit?

As it turns out, that question is about 12 steps ahead of where I’m at. It’s not the right question to be asking right now.

While my sole focus has been on “fruits of my ministry” it has missed the fruits of God’s ministry in my life.

Could it be that all this head banging isn’t because I’ve failed or I’m not passionate but an elaborate plot by God to open my eyes and have me take a hard look at myself? To put less of a focus on what my ministry is doing, but on what God is doing within me?

Because that’s what it sure feels like.

It has been a time of re-evaluating who I am.

What does this compact, Asian fellow named Alex Tran bring to the table? How does his Asian afro hair, chicken legs and crooked pinkie combine into a person that is perfectly prepared to serve God’s Kingdom?

Maybe this is a coming of age post? ;)

The scene in the Matrix where Neo realizes he’s the One.

I look over my shoulder and I see myself from a couple months ago. There’s a clear distinction between who I was then and who I am now.

Today, I have a much keener sense of my spiritual identity. I am more confident at what I bring to the table.

To my Church Online peeps

You rock!

When I talk about Church Online not bearing any fruit, I’m talking about my inability to expand Church Online past what it’s been since the start. The lack of new initiatives, the lack of spreading the word about its existence, the lack of providing a better service experience, etc.

Really, the lack of stewardship on my part.

The lack of fruit does not mean lack of your life or others being changed by God.

I know that Church Online has touched lives and brought some of you closer to God. I don’t doubt the spiritual fruit that has come from Church Online.

To chat with some of you and to be able to see that relationship with God deepen has been a great privilege. I truly cherish knowing Church Online was able to play a small part in that.

When I feel like I’m failing and don’t see any growth over the past year, you are a constant reminder that Church Online is bearing spiritual fruit; that fruit isn’t always measured in what new initiatives you launch.

Dear BlueLily, Janet, Kathy, Becky and everyone else touched by Church Online,

Thank you for being an encouragement to me.

I love you all!
-Alex

Same goes to Sarah, Brent, Becca, Daniel and Tova for putting up with my antics. ;)