Six months ago my back finally got bad enough that I could not walk, and by extension not perform, and eventually required surgery. After a lengthy recovery and rehabilitation, a lot of prayer, and a little determination, I am able to walk and begin performing again.

Predominately I perform as a ministry at church. I do this for no charge, since it is done as an extension of our church and to glorify Christ. Now, though, I am finding other opportunities outside of the church that are willing to pay for my services. At least one of them is at a senior care facility I perform at as an outreach program of the church.

My question is if these two opportunities are compatible. Can I perform for GOD through the church and still seek out paying opportunities outside of the church??

Well I think that you can - if God sends you these opportunities then there is a reason and if you be sure to tithe your earnings, then I do not see a reason why you can not. As far as seeking out the opportunities, I would just make certain that those wanting your services know that you are a christian clown.
I have actually thought about that myself, except I am way to knew at clowning...however if I ever did get paid I would give it to the Childrens dept. in church since it would not be full time.

I have different things that I use to perform for churches. Some are the same things but adapted to be Christian related. Of course you can perform outside of church but like Belle said we also tithe on whatever we make and claim it on our taxes but dont yet have enough shows to worry about using it as a business and deducting this and that. I want to start a nursing home ministry sometime soon and will probably just charge a small fee to cover balloons and gas..maybe 15.00 ...most are on tight budgets. We are performing at a place I used to work on the 6th of Feb and I was gonna do it for free and the aactivity director said no...we pay for entertainment and I no you are worth it so she is giving us 75.00...I feel bad about taking it but I worked in that dept for 3 yrs and I happen to know if we scrimp as we often did and dont use our alloted money, they think we can run on less and cut our budget...we learned fast to spend it all that they alloted us every yr! It is over a hour drive where we will be going is the reason I quit there..I sure do miss it. Have fun!

My question is if these two opportunities are compatible. Can I perform for GOD through the church and still seek out paying opportunities outside of the church??

I don't see why not. It's simply your gift of time and talent (and to a certain extent treasure, also, since you aren't accepting or asking for pay) to perform for/through the church. If someone is able/willing to pay you for other services, however, you're entitled to that. ("...for the laborer is worthy of his wages" Luke 10:7) You get to choose how much and what of your services will be done as a charitable endeavor and to what extent you must be compensated. It is a good and noble thing to give some away for God and your fellow man. But it is also a real form of work for which you deserve compensation.

Actually, I found it surprising a couple of months ago when Pricilla Mooseburger wrote in her newsletter about how many people complain to her about clowns who expect to get paid (since they do it solely as volunteers.) Usually, the complain I hear among professional performers is exactly the opposite. They get all kinds of requests for free services, which they just can't afford to provide since this is their livelihood. Clowning, like any other profession, is hard work. It may be in the form of playfulness. But to do it well and good takes effort. That deserves the respect of being paid just like people would for whatever else they consume (food, electricity, paper/printing) for an event/activity. And we certainly have every right to expect the same for our services. If we chose to freely give of some of our efforts for some greater good, that's wonderful. But most of us can't be expected to do too much on the free side without it draining our selves and our personal resources.

So the simple answer should be, "Yes, of course you can clown for church as well as, distinctly, for your own employment!" In fact, I'd encourage it.

Absolutely, God's word says that if you are faithful He will supply your needs and He wants you to have life more abundantly. What better way to live life more abundantly by doing what you love for Him and Him making a way to supply your physical needs by doing what you love. God Bless you and may He continue to meet all your needs Physically and Spiritually.

You can also think of it this way. The preach/pastor gets paid, the music minister gets paid. The plumber or electrician who does work at the church gets paid. It's ok to choose clowning as a business.

I've been doing both for about 12 years now. I do not charge for churches or anything I seek out as a ministry project. [Although some do charge related to the statement above]. I do how ever accept any donations. But if asked to do a church festival I do charge for this.

I keep my ministry apart from my business, 2 different accounts with others in the group on the ministry account. So I do charge for birthday parties, festivals etc. Keep record, taxes etc.
Keep same for ministry as well, as I often use my supplies for it as well and this is tax deductable.