Building A Ministry While Unemployed

There is a conversation that almost nobody is having online: how to build a ministry while being unemployed.

 

While mainstream culture measures your worth by a traditional 9-to-5, the online world pushes hustle culture. If that’s true, what does this mean for us if God has you in a completely different season? What happens when we're in a space where we don’t have a job (because we are unemployable), but you're working for God?

 

I know this space personally. I just turned 38 this year (2026), and I have been unemployed for more than 5 years. I always thought that when certain things didn't work out in the job market, I’d be working for myself. Technically, I was—but didn’t have the financial side figured out yet.

 

The Hidden Season of Preparation

 

For me, I was on benefits at different stages of my life. If I wasn't on benefits, I was studying. And if I wasn't studying, I was volunteering while on benefits.

 

Not because I didn't want to work, not because I didn't have the desire to go out there and make money from the gifts that God had given me and the skills that I had, but God showed me that He didn't want me to work in a traditional job.  

 

Looking back from God's perspective, I realised He was protecting me from depending on another system, but also keeping me from doing things in a way that didn't align with the person He was calling me to be. He was developing my character. He was also developing things in me that I didn't know would be hindered if I sat under a corporate structure.

 

I know I couldn't have figured all of that out under the pressure of keeping up with a 9-to-5, and God knew that.

 

Yet, people judge because it isn't their story. I want to speak directly to the woman who feels judged, who feels critiqued, who feels like she isn't being seen in a season she didn't put herself in, but that God allowed her to be in.

 

I’m not ashamed of the season, but I just hate that there's such a negative stigma making people feel like they are not productive or that they have done nothing while being on benefits.

 

During those years, I worked on myself. I developed skills through different projects I worked on over time. Today, I have something real to offer. I have confidence, clarity, and direction. Having less money makes you look deeply at how you do life and ministry. It also changes how you manage money, how you prioritise your time, and how you budget to invest or save for what you need (i.e., equipment, software, etc.).

 

From Unemployed to Self-Employed By God

 

When you move from unemployable to self-employed, it requires a massive shift in mindset and financial dependency. For example, when you go from receiving consistent income to becoming the one who builds the systems, or creating the income funnels that sustains the vision. Working for God can feel scary, especially when being on benefits has acted like a monthly income safety net.

 

But when God gave me this word in a dream on the 1st of September: "The year of wealth."

 

It made me realise that the time is now. This is the time to use your gifts, talents and abilities to generate an income stream that supports you during the process of doing the work of ministry. But this only happens when you can get accustom and comfortable with God working through you to provide monetary value.

 

 

Bridging the Gap From Revelation to Execution

 

Spiritual revelation is powerful, but practical execution is what creates sustainable change. If you are sitting in a season of technical unemployment and feel God calling you to step into self-employed ministry, here is how you start transitioning today:

 

Audit Your Hidden Assets

Take an inventory of everything you’ve created or developed during your hidden season. Look at the advice or skill set people constantly ask you for, the templates you’ve built for yourself that someone can benefit from accessing, the manuals you’ve written for your own ministry, or the how-tos you’ve given away for free. You already have material—it just needs to be structured.

 

Apply the 70/30 Rule (Seed vs. Product)

Keep 70% of your content free to bless, build trust, and reach the people you are called to serve. But dedicate 30% of your time to focus on creating practical resources. Pick one core offer to start—whether that is a physical book, an e-book, a template kit, or a training package—and place an intentional price tag on it.

 

Set Up Quiet Automation

You don't need to be live on social media 24/7 to build a platform. Build simple digital infrastructure: a basic landing page and an automated email list. This allows you to serve your community, share your message, and deliver your products automatically in the background while you stay focused on creating.

 

The Myth About Monetising Your Ministry: Is It Godly Or Not?

 

Many women in ministry hesitate or feel deeply uncomfortable around money. We worry that charging for our gifts makes us look greedy or ungodly. But we have to break the lie that poverty equals piety.

 

Scripture is very clear that labour in the Kingdom is worthy of reward:

 

• "For Scripture says, 'Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,' and 'The worker deserves his wages.'" — 1 Timothy 5:18

• "Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages." — Luke 10:7

• God blesses the work of your hands. — Deuteronomy 28:12

• Seek first the kingdom, and your needs will be met. — Matthew 6:33

•  And my God will liberally supply (fill until full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:19 AMP 

• And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. — 2 Corinthians 9:8 NLT

 

With that said, you have to remember your time, your wisdom, and the resources you spend hours creating can't always be free. Just like a book, it isn't free to produce—but the real question is: is it ok to charge a fair commission for solving a problem someone else prayed for? The truth. As ministry creators, we operate on a completely different economy: "Freely you have received; freely give" (Matthew 10:8).

 

When you take the spiritual insights God gave you to share with others and put them behind a paywall like a £500 course, monetisation becomes blurred. For instance, if people can only access the answer or solution to a spiritual problem behind an overpriced resource, then it is no longer ministry—it is commercial gatekeeping.

 

The real question then becomes: If you can offer a solution someone prayed for, when is it ok to charge? The answer. Charging your audience is a way for them to invest in your ministry. For example, using a product or service isn't wrong; it’s allowing your community the opportunity to sow into you and your ministry with added benefits.

 

But what most creators miss is their price points—who they are serving. Many draw from the world instead of their audience's income bracket. As creators, we have to remember: we serve first and profit second. If some people refuse to support, it's because they can't see the value in it, while others aren't in a season to purchase or benefit.

 

We also have to remember that traditional ministers were supported by a local community through tithes and offerings, where the community jointly covered the leader's living expenses so ministry could be given freely to everyone. But as ministers are being called beyond the church walls, how do they cover the cost of doing ministry? Like "making a living" or "funding ministry expenses"?

 

Asking your audience to support the work you do was never about locking a message behind a paywall or repackaging free information. It was a call to provide tangible, professional value. Your income comes from real products, professional services, or experiential value where people are paying for labour, materials, or skillset—not for permission to hear spiritual insights.

 

Here is how you structure a sustainable model that funds your mission ethically: Instead of trying to monetise to people who need spiritual help, create a product or service that offers a return on investment.

 

For example:
 

1. Passive Income Model—Something like a skill you developed and perfected over time, a system you designed, etc. This can also be something people have requested of you that you can create once (which will save you time explaining or demonstrating it over and over again) and sell as people need it.
2. Active Income Model—A small group or 1-on-1 activity people would benefit from you training or tutoring them in. Think of it as a service that provides people with the practical tools to execute on something you do naturally.

 

Spiritual Caveat: Serve first, Profit second

 

While I advocate that charging for ministry is okay, Paul reminds us that refusing to use this right is honourable and that using paywalls can put an obstacle in front of your ministry (1 Corinthians 9:12-18).

 

That's why, as ministry creators, we have to be careful not to charge for a lifestyle God did not approve of. Scriptures like 1 Timothy 5:18 and 1 Corinthians 9 affirm that ministers who share the Gospel deserve voluntary support to cover their basic living needs (not a lavish lifestyle or leverage to build an influential platform). So while we can charge, it doesn't mean we should profit every time or pressure people to buy (a product or service) to fund the vision or lifestyle we desire. The goal is always to serve first and profit second.

 

Getting Comfortable With Your Value (What You're Worth Financially)

 

We've been told a lie that many of us live by, not because we agree with it, but because it has been forced on us through religion to view it as the way of life, even if life as we know it contradicts it.

 

That's why you, as the believer, have to get comfortable with charging, knowing it's going to help people, even when you're getting paid to do it.

 

Some people are going to buy your product; some are going to sign up for your services. Others are going to have issues with it, not because you shouldn't charge, but because they expect everything you create or do to be free to them, even if it costs you.

 

That's why (on the business side of my ministry) I had to get comfortable with not doing everything for free. In the past, I would help people without expecting any financial incentive, but when that person asked me to use my gift for free, they didn't think to pay me or ask for my rate; they assumed that I would do it free of charge every time. Why? Because they didn't see the value in supporting me with a financial seed. They just saw me as a means to an end.

 

When I choose to meet a need or solve a problem for someone (that was me offering a service free of charge, or without anything attached to it), but when someone enquires about my help (people shouldn't assume my time is free unless I offer). This is where value comes in, so when someone wants or needs something that you have—let them know you deserve payment.

 

Asking for fair value isn't greed—it's stewardship. Your time and expertise deserve a wage, even when you make it available to people through a product or service.

 

Your Call to Monetisation: Starts with Integrity

 

• Be careful not to commercialise your ministry: Never allow profit to dictate your obedience. Monetisation is a tool to support the vision, not the master that directs it.
• Don't disguise "kingdom reach" for monetary validation. A high price tag or large revenue number is not the measure of spiritual impact. True reach is measured by changed lives, not just filled bank accounts.
• Avoid turning purely spiritual insight into a paywalled product: The Gospel, divine revelations, and basic spiritual encouragement should always flow freely. Charge for the structure, tools, templates, and labour you create to help others execute—never sell access to God's grace or baseline truth.
• Don't sell just to make money—sell to serve others: Your products and services should solve real problems and provide genuine value. If an offer doesn't elevate, equip, or bless the person buying it, it shouldn't have a price tag.

 

Getting comfortable with your financial worth isn't about exploiting your calling—it's about recognising that the labour, time, and resources you pour into serving others carry legitimate value.

 

The Time to Build Is Now

 

Being unemployed in the technical sense gives you the time to create content, work on key projects, and elevate your brand to reach the exact people you are called to serve. Do not let society’s timeline make you feel small. God used your hidden season to build your character—now it’s time to build the platform.