Can A Ministry be a For-Profit entity?

I recently was having a conversation with a local ministry leader, we were discussing his ministry and how it was set up. He had two arms to the ministry, a for-profit arm and non-profit arm. As we talked he explained that he started with the for-profit as a way to protect his intellectual rights to curriculum he wrote. However, local churches did not feel that the a for-profit was a ministry. This forced him to open the non-profit arm. In the end, he had to spend thousands of dollars to start a non-profit, all because people don’t realize that the mission and means are two completely different things. Can a ministry be a for-profit entity? The short answer is yes, the how takes a little more explanation.

First we have to look at what ministry is and what it is not. First ministry is based in the mission of the organization. Biblical ministry can be described as simply as an activity carried out to express or spread the Christian faith. Ministry is defined as a noun, but in reality, ministry is an action. It is the process of spreading the Good News. An organization’s mission drives if it is a ministry much more that their tax status.

The difference between a non-profit and a for-profit is simply their tax status. Yes, people can get a tax write off for a donation to a non-profit. A for-profit does not solicit donations. Are there for-profits that aim to make a profit that claim to be a ministry? Yes, just as their are non-profits that have questionable practices. That is why focus should be on the mission and the actions of the entity. However there is  another difference that people do not know, a curriculum copyrighted under a non-profit belongs to the non-profit, not the creator of the curriculum. If the creator copyrighted the curriculum under a for-profit he owns, he retains the rights to his work.

Ultimately, we have to remember that if an entity is a ministry it is dependent solely on its mission.