Christian conferences often sell tickets at substantial prices; these days often in excess of $300. On one hand, these events are expensive to host, but given that the gospel itself is free (Isa 55:1), ought they charge anything at all?

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To get right to the point: I believe that Christian conferences should be free. Conversely, to sell tickets for such things is against the commands of Scripture. I’ll lay out the claim more precisely, then make my argument.

Definitions

It’s important we define both “Christian conferences” as well as “free.”

“Christian Conferences”

By “Christian conferences,” I mean gatherings where the primary featured activity is the proclamation of the Word of God. I do not intend conferences on non-religious matters (business, homeschooling, etc.) that are particularly for Christians. I’m addressing a category of events that might often be labeled “gospel conferences.”

“Free”

By “free” I mean that access to the conference should be offered apart from finance-based partiality. Not only should the teaching itself not be sold, but the conference host should not restrict attendance based on the purchase of any other thing—e.g., requiring the purchase of a meal pass to attend.

There are several things that one might imagine me saying that I don’t intend. I’m not claiming that hosts must:

1. actively ensure access for attendees—e.g., provide plane tickets.
2. avoid charging for other things in a way that does not restrict attendance—e.g., selling food.
3. avoid acting as a proxy to any costs that may be incurred by the attendee—e.g., collecting money from attendees to make hotel reservations on their behalf.
4. avoid all venues that would impose their own finance-based partiality on attendance—e.g., hosting at a private camp that imposes its own entrance fee.
5. avoid restricting attendance on all other bases of partiality—e.g., forbidding individuals who constitute a threat to safety or enforcing an RSVP deadline.
6. refuse conference speakers an honorarium—in many cases, they should give one.

That is not to say that these activities would be negligible or neutral. In typical situations, a number of the above would be profoundly unwise. Scripture forbids the sale of Christian teaching in part because it compromises the sincerity of the message (2 Cor 2:17). Those who simultaneously take the positions of minister and secular vendor—for example, teaching for free but selling food—risk suggesting ulterior motives for their ministry. Those who are thoughtless about the financial difficulties imposed by the venue—for example, hosting it on a cruise—risk suggesting that the gospel is not freely offered to all. However, these activities constitute gray areas because they do not necessarily undermine the sincerity of the message; none of these activities are technically selling access to teaching.

Argument: Partiality in Christian Teaching is Forbidden

A number of arguments could be advanced here,^[1] but to choose one and put it forward simply: the Bible forbids partiality in Christian teaching. Consider both 2 Corinthians 2:17 and James 2:1.

2 Corinthians 2:17

Paul forbids peddling the word of God because it demonstrates an ulterior motive; i.e., a lack of sincerity.

For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God. (2 Cor 2:17)

The one who charges for teaching (peddles the word) is one who does not teach purely out of a desire for others to know the message. The reason he chooses to teach one person and not another is because of the benefit he receives by doing so.

James 2:1

James explicitly forbids partiality in the context of Christian teaching. Even to give someone better access on the basis of finance is contrary to a biblical ethic of Christian ministry.

My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4)

Does not James’ prohibition on partiality clearly forbid the sale of conference tickets? Since God has chosen the poor of this world (James 2:5), ought we not reflect that in how we would promote Christian teaching? To sell conference tickets is to favor those who are willing and able to give us some benefit in our teaching. James clarifies for us that the concern over finance-based partiality is not just in the binary question of access, but even in the degree of access (e.g., online vs. in-person).

Objections

There are a number of objections one might raise. Some objections respond to the use of the above passages; others come from a pragmatic perspective.

“Christian Conferences Are Not Religious Worship”

James 2 is addressing church services, not conferences. It would be sinful to charge for access to a church service, but conferences are not church services.

James 2:2-4 gives the example of church services as one application of James 2:1 (“do not show favoritism”). James 2:1 forbids partiality in Christian teaching altogether and naturally has broader applications than church services, as indicated by the rest of the passage. To narrow the scope of James’ warning is to miss his point, which is to broaden our consideration of the love of neighbor (James 2:8-11).

It is right to make distinctions between religious worship and other venues of Christian teaching, but that distinction has no bearing on the sin of charging for access. Paul did not say that it is acceptable to peddle the word so long as it is outside of a church service.

“Christian Conferences Are Not Obligatory”

No one is forcing you to go to a conference. It’s not like a church service where God requires us to attend.

The fact that conferences are voluntarily attended is irrelevant as to whether it is acceptable to charge attendees of conferences. Once again, Paul did not say, it is acceptable to peddle the word when others are voluntary participants in the transaction. He refused to peddle the word in any circumstance.

Moreover, Christians are obligated to seek the truth even outside of church services. Not every Christian is required to go to every conference, but some might find themselves obligated to go under the broader commands of Scripture. Proverbs 23:23 commands the Christian to “invest in truth.” Some will rightly feel an obligation to purchase access, even when it is wrongly sold.

Additionally, one could make the same argument to justify charging for church services, saying, “no one is forcing you to come to my church; you can go to another church instead.” There may be freedom of choice for those who would be taught, but that does not imply a license for teachers to charge.

“Christian Conferences Often Make the Messages Available Online”

Many conferences stream online or make the material available after the fact for free. They aren’t charging for the message.

James 2 forbids finance-based partiality even in seating. To say to the one who is willing to pay, “you sit here” and to say to the one who is not willing to pay, “you sit at home,” have you not become judges with evil intentions?

“Christian Conferences Engage in No More Partiality Than Other Teaching Mediums”

Consider a book. One might offer the content for free but charge for paper and ink. How is this any different from charging for seating while streaming online for free? The one who pays gets a premium experience.

This may appear like a weighty objection, but its power rests on the mental difficulty of maintaining the qualifications given in the position statement. If we can recount some of these, it should be evident that charging for a physical book is different from charging for a conference ticket. Let’s begin with three similarities between conferences and printed books that Scripture does not condemn.

First, we already acknowledged that conference hosts do not necessarily sin by choosing a venue where a third party charges for access. In fact, given that most countries have visa fees, every in-person conference implies some kind of cost to a theoretical foreign attendee. Similarly, if a third party publisher sells a physical book, this does not necessarily reflect poorly on the author.

Second, we acknowledged that conference hosts do not necessarily sin by serving as a proxy for a third party who would charge for conference-related conveniences. This would be analogous to the Christian author who runs a storefront for his own books, but behind the scenes uses some print-on-demand service.

Third, we acknowledged that conference hosts do not necessarily sin by selling things that do not restrict attendance. The one who sells a paper and ink book, even at a profit, essentially does the same, provided they do not restrict access to the content of their teaching (e.g., prohibiting distribution via copyright, etc.).

So what makes charging for a ticket unlike charging for a physical book? The answer is that in the case of books, the secular service being charged for may be divorced from the spiritual service offered freely. In the case of conferences, it cannot. The activities of authoring and publishing are consecutive and separable; one can write content without the involvement of physical books. However, the activity of live teaching is inseparably annexed to the physical space in which it is given. That physical space is a limited resource inherent in the act of teaching itself. As such, to the degree that it is controlled by the minister/conference host, it should be offered apart from finance-based partiality.

Of course, one might only make a conference available online—at that point they have circumvented the concern over partiality. Additionally third-party venue administrators may charge attendees for access to this space, but it would be their finance-based partiality rather than the host’s.

“Christian Conferences Don’t Offer A False Gospel”

2 Corinthians 2:17 is about corrupting the message, not selling the message.

There are some translations of 2 Corinthians 2:17 that refer to “corrupting” the word rather than “peddling” it. I would contend that this is an erroneous translation. Regardless, even if 2 Corinthians 2:17 is about corrupting the message, it still demands sincerity—a lack of ulterior motive. But to sell the word is to expose an ulterior motive of benefit, regardless of whether one teaches falsely.

Additionally, one who sells the word implicitly corrupts the message because a corrupt medium (which is not free) carries the message (which is a free offer).

“Christian Conferences Don’t Just Teach the Gospel”

Maybe it’s wrong to charge for the gospel, but Christian conferences often teach on other topics. It should be fine to charge for those.

Paul forbids selling the word. James speaks of holding on to the faith. Neither of these verses are particular to the gospel itself.

At the same time, all scriptural teaching, rightly understood, relates to the gospel (Luke 24:44-45; 1 Cor 2:2). Thus, no Christian teaching should be so absent of the gospel that it can be called gospel-less. If your teaching is devoid of the gospel, go ahead and charge, but don’t call it Christian teaching.

“Christian Conferences Are for Christians”

It might be a problem to charge unbelievers to hear Christian teaching, but if one already has the gospel, then you are not charging for the gospel, but for additional truths.

The Christian is likewise in need of the gospel (Rom 1:15). Consider that many of those to whom Jesus sent out the twelve disciples were already regenerate, yet they still needed to hear the message of the kingdom, and he still commanded “freely give” (Matt 10:8).

“Christian Conferences Offer Something Valuable”

If it is true teaching, it has value, and it is reasonable to charge for it.

Christian teaching is not just valuable, it’s priceless. Furthermore, it belongs to God. He gets to set its price, and he has made it available at no cost (Isa 55:1)!

“Christian Conferences Often Have Scholarship Programs”

If you are truly needy, conferences will often give you a free ticket.

This is still a finance-based partiality. When the scholarship is needs-based, those who are well-to-do can still only attend if they are willing to give the host some financial benefit. And those who have less are required to jump through special hoops and reveal their financial situation.

“Christian Conferences Often Only Charge to Cover Costs”

It would be a problem if Christian conferences were selling tickets to make a profit, but if they sell tickets to cover costs, that’s fine.

While some translations of 2 Corinthians 2:17 say “peddle…for profit,” the Greek word “καπηλεύω” refers to selling in general, not just the kind of selling that makes a profit. Moreover, this does nothing to settle the problem of ulterior motives. To give one person teaching and not another, based on benefit received, is to act partially toward them.

“Christian Conferences Can Charge without Greedy Motives”

You say that conference organizers who charge have an ulterior financial motive, but isn’t that claiming you can see their heart? Many just want the gospel to go forward as much as possible, and they have deemed charging for tickets as being the best way to accomplish that because it will ensure their work is sufficiently funded.

Even though I use the word “ulterior,” my claim isn’t so much one about the heart as it is about the stated motives. If person A and person B both desire to attend the conference, and the conference organizer admits one but not the other, there must be some reason for that. If the stated reason is that one was willing to pay for a ticket and the other was not, we can safely assess that it is an additional motive beyond the desire for others to hear the teaching. One could argue that more people will hear the teaching this way, assuming the finances serve to enable more ministry. But the concern in James is which people will hear it.

“Christian Conferences Must Fund the Laborers”

The laborer is worthy of his wages. This includes both the conference organizers and speakers. You have to charge in order for them to be paid.

I agree that speakers and conference organizers should be funded in the work that they are doing. This can happen in many ways that aren’t ticket sales. That is, there are many ways for God’s people to exercise generosity and pool their financial resources. The simplest of these would be the mechanism that already exists in the weekly giving of the church. Many churches have ample space in their budget to put on free conferences without even seeking outside help.

“Christian Conferences Wouldn’t Happen if They Didn’t Charge”

These conferences are a substantial undertaking and it would be impossible to fund them if they didn’t charge. How do you expect these conferences to happen otherwise?

First, it’s not a given to me that every conference should happen. Given the dangers of celebrity culture in conferences, maybe it’d even be good if some ceased to exist.

Second, if there is already enough demand that people are willing to pay, why would we assume there wouldn’t be enough demand for people to voluntarily donate in order for a conference to happen? Churches and individuals can financially partner to bring about a conference and offer it for free to all attendees.

Alternatives

We’ve already pointed out some alternatives to charging for conferences, but just to consolidate, here are a few ideas.

Reducing costs:

• Use church facilities.
• Do not provide food; let guests order or go out for lunch.
• Choose speakers who do not demand large honorariums.

Funding:

• Churches can fund a conference out of their own budget.
• Churches can work together to fund a conference out of their combined resources.
• Churches and individuals can fund a conference together, even using crowdfunding tools if needed (e.g., GoFundMe).

Conclusion

While there are a number of gray areas, the main point is clear: God has forbidden finance-based partiality in giving access to biblical teaching. This is precisely what is done when tickets to Christian conferences are sold.

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1. Most of the articles on this site are relevant to this question. For a sampling of passages, consider Matthew 10:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12-13; 1 Corinthians 9; 2 Corinthians 11; 3 John 7-8. ↩︎