In many churches, the pastor’s salary is a quiet issue. There is a sense of discomfort from both the pastor and the members when the topic is broached. Such discomfort is unfortunate, however, because a number of churches will not seek every year to make certain the pastor is paid fairly.
A couple of prefatory comments are in order. First, we all know of the extreme examples of pastors living lavishly or mismanaging money. Those stories, though true, represent a small minority. Most pastors are not overpaid. And most pastors manage their limited finances well. Second, I am aware that many people are unemployed and that anyone who has a job should be grateful. That is still not a good reason to pay a pastor unfairly. As a final note, this brief article is relevant to all paid church staff, though my focus is here on the pastor.
In my 25 years of consulting and working with churches, I have discovered five common issues that are not always known by most church members. And lack of awareness of any one of these issues can have a detrimental impact on fair compensation for the pastor.
- A pay or compensation package is not the same as a salary. I cringe when I hear churches state a package to be the pay for the pastor. The package includes benefits such as health insurance and expense reimbursements such as business use of the automobile. No worker in a secular company adds their benefits and expenses and calls it their pay. Anything other than the cash payment (before taxes) the pastor receives should be reported in a totally separate category.
- There are many resources to find out what the fair compensation for a pastor should be. Many denominations provide their own compensation studies. But you can do an Internet search for “pastor pay” and see a plethora of resources that are available. And as a rule of thumb, you could seek to estimate what the mean income is for families in the church, and use that as a basis for compensation for the pastor. Churches that do not do their homework on pastoral compensation tend to underpay their pastors.
- Many pastors request no raises but would still appreciate one. Some pastors simply don’t want to deal with a critic who might question any raise given to a pastor. Others feel extremely uncomfortable talking about money in general, and use the “no raise” request to deflect further conversation. Some think it’s just the noble thing to do. But most pastors, in reality, would appreciate a fair raise to keep up with growing expenses. Don’t accept their requests as the last word.
- Many pastors are under extreme stress because they do not have adequate income to meet their financial obligations. Like anyone else who is under heavy financial burdens, a pastor can find his thoughts consumed with worry. Because he is so distracted, he naturally is less effective in his ministry. Both he and his family feel the pressure.
- Some pastors leave their churches because of pay issues. You will not likely hear a pastor announce in his resignation that he is leaving because of financial pressures. The reality is that, for a number of pastors, the issue of compensation is a major push from one church to another, or from the church to a secular vocation. It’s not that the pastor is in his job for the money; it’s that the compensation for his vocation is insufficient to meet his family’s needs.
Paul wrote these words to his young protégé, Timothy, in 1 Timothy 5:17-18: “The elders who are good leaders should be considered worthy of an ample honorarium, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain and, the worker is worthy of his wages’” (HCSB).
It is unfortunate that the few indulgent pastors who live lavish lifestyles get most of the attention. The reality is that most of the some 400,000 pastors in America are not overpaid; indeed many are underpaid. Those are the pastors who need our attention.
Posted on December 17, 2012
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
More from Thom
522 Comments
My mind is blown by the amount of complete ignorance being demonstrated by some of the comments. Anyone who doesn’t think pastors should be paid or paid well can go get their Mdiv (which is required by most mainline churches and even some free churches) which if you take your vocation seriously you will go to a respectable and well known seminary after your undergrad and you will end up close to 100K or more in debt for just going into ministry. Then do your job for free while working another job (in field you don’t have a degree for).If you don’t think you need extensive training or education to be a good pastor then you are in severe denial. SMH.
Wow…guess Jesus and the apostles were in sever denial…
If a pastor gets money for his work in the church then also the volunteers should get wages. This may cause that suddenly everyone wants to help at church.
i have served in a small church for about 8-9 years and there is one bit of advice i can give you who serve. i have found that the biggest trouble makers and complainers in any issue but specifically issues pertaining to money are the ones who give very little in respect to their income or nothing at all. their issue is that they have a huge log in their eye (they do not have their own finances in order) another thing is that you can almost always tell when a person has issues they will start giving less or stop giving completely. if you notice this beware !
Our pastor rarely takes a paycheck and we have a mid-size crowd (200) but only 2-3 families give regularly and an actual 10%, need prayers.
There is no demonstration or reverence to show to make people understand that pastors should be pay, it is obvious that they deserve a compensation for the work they do. When God chooses, or decides to pay them, they receive more than what human beings can give them. It is an ultimate need for pastors to pray a lot for the church and for the themselves.
Being close to God, they get a supernatural anointing which human beings cannot buy with their money and which is more than money. They can only reach this level when they forget about themselves and think more about the Church. In John 12.24, does Jesus teach that seeds must die to grow. Sufferings, tribulations of this world makes you grow spiritually. Accept to pass in that situation, and in front of you there is a glory.
Pastors, your are parents. A parent cannot leave his family because the family is poor. He has to take that burden on his shoulder until something good happen, and if nothing to happen, he will still accept his fate. That’s in short what I wanted to say about this wonderful work of God.
Erratum: There is no demonstration or reverence to show to make people understand that pastors should be pay, it is obvious that they deserve a compensation for the work they do.
I wanted to say: There is no demonstration or reference to show to make people understand that pastors should be pay, it is obvious that they deserve a compensation for the work they do.
Our Pastor pastors over a small church of about 100 people. The church budget is 150K a year. We rent a building to meet.
His compensation package is 90K. Average house here cost @ 200K
Is this excessive?
I think if a Pastor is meeting the needs of his congregation as a full time Pastor, the congregation should meet his needs. 90K seems a little much to me.
Dan
No, it’s not excessive. Try pastoring for a few years and you’d quit for 90K. Most people have NO IDEA of the additional expenses that pastor’s face, until they live in a pastor’s home. If you can’t afford to buy a graduation gift, baby shower gift, birthday gift, funeral wreath, etc… No big deal, right? Let the pastor neglect to do it… 50 shades of hell are unleashed. Just one example of an additional expense.
Dr. Rainer,
I have a question: I am from a modest church (about 75 – 100 people). I simply LOVE our pastor. He is a good man with a good heart. He was our friend BEFORE he was a minister; the groomsman at our wedding (his wife my matron-of-honor) over 26 years ago. He is a master plumber/heater and makes good money at it. He has a lovely home (paid for), and every member of their household drives a decent vehicle – absolutely don’t begrudge any of that. He is a very hard worker and goes above and beyond the duties of your typical “pastor.” I am truly blessed to have him not only as my friend but as my pastor as well.
Here is the issue I struggle with: Our Finance Committee wants to upgrade his pay to about 1/3 to what he is probably earning at his primary job, in hopes that by continually increasing it he will quit his other job. The pastor has talked about that desire (for years) but I don’t think it will ever happen because (I feel) he fears not being financially “stable” solely as a pastor. He has worked 30+ years as a master plumbler/heater and I think that income supports the lifesyle he is comfortable with. Not only does he receive an generous income as a master plumber/heater, he also receives a modest income from the church among other perks (bonuses and $$ as gifts from the congregation) and he has been doing this for about 25 years – with the hopes of “one day stepping down from his primary job.”
My concern is this:
1. That his continued increase in pay is going to affect his ability to relate to the average person in his congregation. Already he has asked us to join his family for lunch after services but we can no longer afford the expensive resturants that his taste has grown accustomed to so we have to decline. Sometimes he will put his distaste for a lower cost resturant aside and join us but for the most part he will join others with more affulent means to a more expensive place to eat. Please do not take this as jealousy because that is not where this is coming from. I truly am concern for this man of God to be able to relate to the average people in his congregation.
2. What I thought was extremly ironic, was these same men who were pushing to increase wages of the pastor, completely over looked, stepped over, the maintenace salary which has remained the ridiculous amount since the conception of the church (30+ years ago) – never having an increase! And this man lives on a very modest income. Like the pastor, he has never made a request for his income to be increased.
3. I teach Sunday school (and have been for 20 years) and never thought to even ask to be paid (nor do I want to be). I study for hours every week and I also follow-up with my students during the week with a visit, a phone call or mailing them the lesson they missed. I am also a committee of one that does certain mission out-reaches. I, too, have a primary job outside of our church as a church secretary in a different denomination, part-time earning about $9,000 a year. Granted, I do not have all the responsibility as the pastor but it seems, to me, odd – even makes me feel uncomfortable when we keep increasing the dollar amount of someone who is already being paid handsomely while overlooking those who get paid just a “token” for the work they do. These are business men (Finance Committee) and sometimes I feel that their heart misses the spiritual aspect of the church body as we should all work together to edify the body of Christ.
4. My concern is that if we continue paying our pastor the way we are, he will continue to increase his lifestyle and will be unable to live within the means of what the church can pay him, even if we could match what he is getting paid from his primary job, it would still be a step-down because he would not have the “extra” from the church. Do you follow what I am trying to say?
Please, can you impart some words of wisdom that will give me peace about this? Regrettably, I have even entertained the thought of leaving the church because I just feel so uncomfortable about the whole thing. If our pastor, our friend, was solely dependent on the church, I would say “Give him everything he needs to live comfortably.” If he needed anything I would say to him “All I have is yours – what do you need?” I love him that much. But I think it has gone beyond need to………greed and that is what is making me feel uncomfortable. Not greed on his part for asking for more money (because he doesn’t ask) but greed because he accepts it. And I am also concern about these men over-looking the common man. It is as if they think that increasing the pastor’s salary will secure them a place in heaven – I know that is ridiculous to say that but the thought is there none-the-less.
I would say that if a pastor is meeting the needs of the church and works exceptionally hard at his job, then he should be compensated fairly, even if that means giving him a raise.
The second job and the extra income from that job isn’t a factor. I have two careers, a salaried job and a separate business. I didn’t have to start my business, but I wanted to go above and beyond to use all the gifts God gave me to the fullest extent possible.
If my boss were to say to me, “you have that business income on the side, you dont need a raise from us – if we gave you one you wouldn’t be able to relate to the average white collar worker anymore”, then I could tell you right now that I’d turn in my resignation. My side income does not impact how hard I work during my day job, regardless of how lucrative it is. It is no one’s business what you do on the side. Absolutely no ones. If someone excels at what they do, and serves faithfully there is nothing wrong with rewarding that.
I also think it is a tad distorted to believe that simply because one has more than someone else they are somehow unable to ‘relate to the common man.’
Well, what is “common”? Pretty subjective right? If you can’t afford to go to expensive places, then maybe you should simply say so or make other recommendations. If you feel like he is doing some planning that is a little extravagant then the policy should probably change. Maybe have it be more of a group vote. Switch it around a bit. Nothing wrong with rotations in restaurants.
I understand that you may fear that the pastor can get lost with the extra cash and feel out of touch with realty, but the fact is he already had that before hand. A raise isn’t going to change that at this point.
Let me ask you this, if his other job had been something that didn’t give him as much income, would you have had the same problem with it? Or are you of the opinion that pastors who are above average in salary is somehow wrong on an ethical level?
In my experience, regardless of what you do in life, pastor or not – people will go to where they are valued and appreciated. If he feels like he is working for a group that is unresponsive and unappreciative and deny him well earned funds just because he already had additional income, then he can probably find a church that will. And if he truly is a great pastor, well educated, and works hard, the demand for him would be higher as well, so he wouldn’t have to look very far.
It’s been interesting reading the blogs with so many opinions on how much a pastor should be paid and if he/she should get another job to support themselves. My wife and I have been pastors for 40 years. We are still serving suffering humanity to the best of our ability with God’s help. Not only have we planned weekly worship meetings, conducted Bible studies, conducted youth meetings, senior meetings on a weekly basis, but also served people in need on a daily basis. including battered and abused wives and children, served the hungry, provided groceries to those living in poverty, helped raise the money to pay for these services, responded to disasters both natural and manmade, feeding, counseling, comforting the bereaved. Many times the calls for help would come at inconvenient times but true servants of Christ respond even when it is inconvenient. It’s what we are called to do, it’s part of our journey as pastors and ministers. There is no way either of us could have considered taking on another job. This one has taken all of our strength and focus. And if I had the chance to do it all again I would. We are not rich by any stretch of the imagination but have been able to provide for our children.
Now both of our children are in Christian ministry along with their spouses. Our son and his wife are ministers, our daughter is a Christian marriage and family counselor and her husband is a professional Christian musician. We have five wonderful grandchildren who are being raised to love God and serve others.
So those of you who have never served as pastors, you really don’t have a clue what we are called upon to do 24/7.
Mega churches only represent about 1% of all the churches in America and those churches with more than 100 in attendance only make up about 10% of churches in America. Most churches avearage between 40 to 99 people. The staff available to help with church ministry is usually based on what the churh can afford to pay. The volunteer church members only make up about 20% of most congregations. So 20% of the people are doing 80% of the work while the 80% make excuses for not contributing time, money or talents to ministry. The 20% of the congregants who are closest to the pastors to see what they do on a daily basis would never be writing letters saying their pastors should work other jobs nor would they ever think that they are being overpaid for thier work.
Serving Christ is still my heart’s desire. I must daily seek the Lord of the work before I attempt to do the work of the Lord. He is our sufficiency, our strength and joy. The Westminster catechism reminds us that the chief aim of man is to Love God and enjoy Him forever. When was the last time you enjoyed God and spent the day hanging out with Him! He is my joy giver, my provider, my all in all. Praise be to His Holy Name!
I hardly leave comments, however I read a few of the responses here Five Things You Should Know about Pastors’ Salaries
– ThomRainer.com. I actually do have 2 questions for you if you don’t mind.
Is it just me or does it look as if like some of these comments come across like they
are written by brain dead individuals? 😛 And, if you are posting at other online social
sites, I would like to keep up with you. Would you make a list of
every one of your social networking pages like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
As I started to read through these comments, it has blown me away. The lack of respect many of you have for for your pastors and other ministers in your church. My pastor is one of the hardest working men I know and what he does is very much needed and appreciated. His role is just as hard work as any CEO, Farmer, etc.
The one thing that I want to communicate is this; “The greatest commandment is this, love the Lord with all your heart and the second is like the first; love your neighbor”. It seems that everyone in the church always wants to criticise their church staff, but if you love them, you would pray for them daily. My pastor is compensated well, because that is our responsibility to do this, but for all he does he is underpaid. I give because I love to give my very first fruits to God and my church; It all belongs to Him and I am called to be obdient to His Word. So, if we love the Lord with all our heart, we will strive for complete obedience and be involed (SERVE) in the ministry God calls you to do. LET’S BUILD HIS KINGDOM!!!
Make it a great day!
A lot of comments have mentioned the fact that Pastors are overworked and should delegate more responsibilities to the underutilized church members. My question to those of this school of thought is, “how many of you are willing and able to volunteer at least 3hours of your day EVERYDAY to the church?”- and not only in the evenings AFTER work, but at 1pm in the afternoon when that sister who went through that thing that time urgently needs help, or when it’s freezing outside at 10pm and you are all cuddled up with your spouse but your attention is urgently needed in the church. Can you combine a 9-5 with these demands? How do you then expect someone else to? What percentage of the congregation are matured enough to handle a lot of the stuff Pastors handle. There is so much judgement, unforgiveness and backbiting in the body of Christ that, the problems of many are only safe in the hands of very few.
You’ve talked about how a few of the new Testament apostles had secular jobs, but do you not see the difference between being a tent maker(probably working your own hours) and walking a 9-5 job in an office somewhere where you might be required to work even longer hours? Or because (s)he is a pastor means (s)he should take secular jobs with more flexible hours? Ignoring the fact that these jobs are often characterized by their instability meaning s(he) could very well be out of a job in the blink of an eye.
I am neither a Pastor, nor am I even closely related to one. But as an active volunteer in church, i see the work my Pastor puts in, especially with a congregation as large as ours- over 20,000 people. He delegates a lot of stuff, but as volunteers increase, so does the size of the church. I volunteer as much as i can, but because i work a regular 9-5, and don’t get home till late due to the horrible traffic situation (something that more than half of the congregation experiences), i am not ABLE to do all I’d like to do. Even if the other half of the congregation wanted to volunteer to cover the shortfall, when do we take into consideration the fact that they may not have the right skills or calling to do so?
Taking a closer look at the scriptures some have used to back up their points……..
Matt 10:8 (AMP) “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely (without pay) you have received, freely (without charge) give.”
This does not mean a Pastor should not be adequately compensated by the body of Christ, but that (s)he should not charge to allow the power of God flow through him e.g. refusing to cast out a demon unless a certain fee is paid.
What’s more interesting is that no one reads the verses after…… Matt 10:9 (AMP) “Take no gold nor silver nor [even] copper money in your purses (belts);And do not take a provision bag ora wallet for a collection bag for your journey, nor two undergarments, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the workman deserves his support (his living, his food).” The support talked about here is FROM THE CHURCH! From YOU! So if you are not willing to let Pastors be paid fairly, then you should be willing to house them, cloth them and provide 3 square meals for them and their families. LUKE 10:7 (MSG) Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don’t move from house to house, looking for the best cook in town.”
1 Tim 5:17-18 (AMP) “Let the elders who perform the duties of their office well be considered doubly worthy of honor [and of adequate financial support], especially those who labor faithfully in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain, and again, The laborer is worthy of his hire “
And in the Message translation – ”Give a bonus to leaders who do a good job, especially the ones who work hard at preaching and teaching. Scripture tells us, “Don’t muzzle a working ox” and “A worker deserves his pay.”
Malachi 3:10a (AMP) “Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, “
Numbers 18:21 “I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting. “
The barest minimum a Pastor should receive is the tithe YOU pay. If God leads you to give extra, then so be it. But the bible clearly states that the tithe YOU pay is to feed the Pastors for the work they are doing in the house of God.
God bless
There are a variety of problems with arguing that a pastor should not be paid. I’m sure most pastors would love to be able to live without a salary but for the vast majority of them this would require them to sacrifice the care of themselves and their families. If the Lord calls a family to that so be it. But, men do not have the right to place that on others.
Many of these comments are also making a mistake of creating a sacred and secular divide when it comes to work. The Lord’s first command in the garden is to work. Scripture is consistent in defending the rights of the worker and the pay of the worker whether that is the farmer or the priest. Yes, being a pastor is a different job from engineering but both are work. Many on here are arguing that if a pastor really loved God and people he would work for free. In the same line we could then say that if a doctor really cared about his patients he would work for free. Being in the care industry does not require a person to not receive compensation and care for themselves.
I am well aware that many ministries and churches are not in the financial position to fully support their workers. And if the Lord calls that minister to sacrifice in that way for the gospel then praise God for their faithfulness and give additional prayers for preservation. But, for a congregant to not even have the desire to care for their pastor reveals much about their heart. You want them to care for you but you don’t even have the desire to do likewise? In the states we often do a really lousy job of submitting to those in spiritual authority to us.
Instead of being so worried about the bottom line… maybe Christians should start being more concerned about their brothers and sisters in Christ…. even if they are a minister.