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.
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522 Comments
As a Pastor of a small church the members are on SS or retired and can’t afford to pay me and collections are rare since funds are not there so we are an unfunded church, I work full to keep a roof over my families head and food on the table with bills barely not always paid.
I am what some have called a Bi-Vocational pastor because I am on call 24-7 (My work accepts this and is ok).
What about those of su who get no pay and things needed are either donation or out of our pocket. I am part of an association with many pastors like I am mixed with others who get paid and you can always feel tention and see the divide when we all get together.
Dr. Rainer,
I appreciate the information in your blog. I wish that more church members would actually participate in reading and studying information about being a help to all of their ministerial staff. As a Worship Pastor for 30 years I have never felt “overpaid” by a church. On the contrary, I have often struggled to make ends meet. It seems as though church members are less educated and less involved in the budget process than at any other time in my life.
The issue of salary versus cost of living (COL) increases has weighed heavily on me in the past few years. We live in a very high COL part of the country. Because of COL increases, I now earn less than when I started at my current church 7 years ago. Throughout my ministry we have made a personal choice to do without many things (TV, second car, vacations, new clothes, etc.) so that my wife can stay home with our children and homeschool them through high school, but that decision is becoming more and more difficult. And I am on staff at a church that runs almost 1000 on Sundays.
What I make is up to God and his church, but I have to admit that I have struggled with the sin of envy often throughout my ministry: not only from what others outside of ministry have, but even from what Senior Pastors have. It has never been easy to see the Senior Pastor drive up in a new vehicle every few years when we have a 20 year old clunker, or to hear about his fishing boat and jet ski when we cannot even afford to visit the dentist but once every 5 years or so, or to listen as the Senior Pastor requests that the church increase the Cooperative Program giving from 20% to 21% because he doesn’t need a raise this year when I am considering leaving the church because I cannot afford to live in the area any longer.
I hope that churches will take an honest look at the salaries of their associate pastors and support staff. Adding another position just because the church has grown is not always the wisest thing to do if the church cannot faithfully support their current staff financially. Creating an environment of stress among staff due to financial strains leads to unhealthy church staff relations and in turn an unhealthy church body.
An excellent post.
Besides modest salaries, SEMINARY HAS BECOME INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE. When I got my MBA, my student load burden was about 2/3 of my expected annual income.
My wife just graduated from seminary and got ordained. Her student loan burden is three times her expected annual income.
My wife and I just started seminary, and I’ve been struggling over wanting to be a full time pastor. I want to pastor in order to love and care for the Lord’s flock…but I have a hard time coming to peace about receiving full time pay for this. Would love to come to a place where I could pursue this calling without these types of anxieties. For some reason, just wonder if its selfish that I want to be full time vs. bi-vocational?
Young Seminarian –
Take a first step and go bivocational. I think you will get a sense of God’s leadership in that context.
Thank you! I think I may have opportunities like that while in seminary. It’s difficult to explain the anxiety I have about it. All the pastors I’ve ever had have all been full time and I have absolutely no problem with them being full time either (I think I was blessed because of it actually). I wonder if because of these reservations I have, this is the Lord’s way of leading me to bi-vocational ministry. On the other side of the coin, I have absolutely no desire to be bi-vocational. My personality-type, I really like to pursue one thing and really put my best into it. The idea of trying to balance family, pastoring, work, and even my own soul seems like it would be an overwhelming task that would be more of a burden than a joy. Any thoughts?
Dear Young Seminarian,
Two pieces of good news:
1. First, you don’t have to work everything out in advance. You just need to keep taking the next step in being faithful to God. Many men beginning down the path toward pastoral ministry waste a lot of time and emotional energy on all sorts of what-ifs about the future. Don’t be one of them. You know and are known by the Living God who holds the future in His hands. Psalm 23 isn’t just a great Psalm to read and to teach to other people. It is part of God’s word to you. It will remind you that the Good Shepherd will be with you for your good wherever you go.
2. Second, the LORD has given people to help you think through these choices. These people include your pastor and the Elders from your local church. They both know you and know about the demands of pastoral ministry. I’m sure that they would be happy to talk with you and to pray with you about how you are answering God’s call upon your life.
In Christ,
David
Great advice
Remove their salary and see how many will stay.YOU rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets will not prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the LORD. “No harm can come to us,” you say, “for the LORD is here among us.”
All I can say after reading all these posts is I’m glad I’m a United Methodist Pastor.
This very thing happened to me and was a big reason I made a quick move from one church to another. A search committee gave me a proposal in writing that my pay would be a certain amount, and that I would work with the finance team to break down a larger number to reflect a good package that suited me. The committee could never get their hands on a real church budget, so acted in good faith I was being told the truth. Long story short, my pay ended up being about $17,000 short… with line items being lumped into what was considered my pay that I would NEVER be able to use or use up. A few line items are shared reimbursement line items that staff and deacons could get reimbursed from as well.
I can’t tell you how awful I felt about pay being an issue… I never bring it up. I did work up the nerve to bring it up to our deacon chair… who told me I should feel lucky just to have a job in this economy. To my wife and I, this issue coupled with some others really spoke to the heart of the church, and so we decided to move on after precisely one year.
I learned a lot in that experience… what questions to ask, etc. However, since I am pretty and that was my first time in the role of senior pastor, I struggle with how I will explain this to another church down the road if I am ever called to explore my options.
I wish more search committees would look at blogs like this and seek help from associations or state conventions.
Maybe another topic for a different day is to discuss why you think smaller churches have such lofty requirements. I interviewed at a church of 35 that wanted me to have or show proof i was working toward a doctorate and 7 years of pastoral experience, with the pay being about 20,000 a year. I spoke to a much larger church that had requirements, but not nearly as rigid as those. Maybe I should study that complexity for my doctoral work!
Thanks again for your great post.
I am pretty… but I left out a word. I am pretty young!
LOL….don’t short-change yourself. you’re probably pretty too. j/k
We are in the middle of packing to move away from a congregation that brought us here under false pretenses. They lied, plan and simple. Made us believe they could pay my pastor spouse a fair living. However, after we were here, we find out their history is to keep a pastor (underpaid) for three or four years and then drive him/her out because they’ve run out of money. Tired of being lied to by congregations.
I’d like to know why our housing is added to his salary also. If there is a parsonage, which in my experience is always a rundown mess, we have to pay income taxes on the fair rental value. How can this be fair when we’re forced to live in THEIR house for THEIR convenience? What other job owns a person and his/her family, controlling every moment of their lives? Who in their right mind would put up with these conditions. I wish my pastor spouse would leave the ministry and all of it’s stress.
Quick question about #1: What is health insurance?
Raising 3 kids and a disabled wife on 31,200 a year. (While trying to pay for grad school).
Had to move out of the parsonage to get my kids into a school where their life wasn’t n danger (long story). Started programing to pay for rent and other expenses.
I have spent more than 50 years in churches throughout the US. I have seen pastors who were barely getting by and I’ve seen some who lived VERY comfortable lives. I have seen pastors who were on-call, 24/7 seemingly, who taught a SS class and preached Sunday AM, PM, and Wednesdays and were also at Thursday night visitation. I’ve also seen pastors who preached one sermon, Sunday morning, had an associate take care of any hospital/home-bound visits, and turned his Sunday morning preaching duties over to various ordained lay members in the congregation about 8-10 times a year.
The latter pastor is the pastor of the church I attend now. His compensation package is around $70K, to include benefits. His wife works outside the home at a bank and makes around $35-40K a year. So, the pastor is getting a $75K compensation package for preaching 40 or so times a year. He isn’t involved in any of the church ministry outreaches (has never accompanied church members who go out to feed the poor or provide meals at a local “safe house), spends only a few hour each week at the church (two 4-hour days) and when he is there, stays sequestered in his office the whole time, and has little to no contact with the church body outside of his Sunday morning service. He recently announced to the church that this would be his last pastorate (he’s in his mid 50’s) … that he plans on staying here until he is carried out in a box.
We have an AWANA program and Wednesday Night Bible study that are both led by lay members. The pastor doesn’t attend the Bible study, feeling his time is better spent wandering the halls and speaking with AWANA parents and church members who are in the area.
Nice work if you can find it.
Dear Jared,
1. First, and most importantly, the Internet is a totally inappropriate place for you to be talking about your pastor. Please bring your concerns to your church’s leadership in private.
2. Second, seventy-five thousand dollars per year (including benefits) is the equivalent of around $50,000 to $55,000 per year in a salaried job. Let me be blunt: That is a terrible salary (and this isn’t for someone starting out as an Assistant Pastor – this is for someone who would be considered to be in his prime earning years in the private sector). I say that this is a terrible salary even though I know that it is more than many other pastors are making. Why? Try to imagine any business anywhere in the United States advertising: “Help wanted. Must have three years of graduate school. After 20 or 25 years of service you might eventually make $55,000.” I am not suggesting that pastors should be paid like business executives, but by what rationale do you conclude that paying your experienced middle aged pastor meaningfully less than a 28 year old Army Captain makes somehow constitutes a lavish salary that allows him to live a “VERY comfortable” life? BTW – I was a Captain in the Marine Corps in 1989 so don’t try to tell me I don’t know how difficult being a military officer is.
3. You mention that the pastor’s wife has a job. Why? Whether she works at home or at a paying job is none of the congregation’s business.
4. Please realize that you have no idea what your pastor is spending his time doing. You are just filling in the blanks with your own imagination. You might be surprised to know how much time your pastor spends doing marriage counseling that you will never know about because he is rightly protecting the confidentiality of your fellow church members.
In Christ,
David
David,
Goodness. Lot of ire, wrongful speculation, and outright accusation in your reply there, pastor. Seeing you know nothing more than what you could glean from my posting, you sure didn’t have any trouble jumping to a lot of conclusions. But, having looked at other replies you’ve made in this forum, that’s not to be unexpected.
There is no need for my going to the church leadership. The pastor is it and I’ve been to him on more than one occasion regarding his lack of participation in church ministries and his unwillingness to conduct more than one service a week. I also know he’s relayed to me what his week is comprised of, so your charge that I have no idea of what he does – or that I’m “just filling in the blanks with your own imagination,” – is incorrect. Again.
I made no mention of this pastor’s salary being lavish or even VERY comfortable … if you re-read my previous comment, you’ll find you’ve again jumped to the wrong conclusions. Interesting.
And you’ll also notice that my comment about his wife working had only to do with the extra income she brought into the household and nothing to do whether or not she should be doing that – or whether or not it was the congregation’s business. Again, you jump to a wrong conclusion. Seems to be a trend developing here, no?
I’ll go back to my original posting … there are some pastors who do VERY little pastoral work and get paid well for the little they do. Nice work if you can get it. I will also add, there are some pastors who are so blinded by their own prejudices/biases that they can’t correctly render an accurate reading and assessment of a posting.
I found the formula for a pastors salary:
Take the value of your marriage, family, peace, self worth, wisdom, comfort, courage, health, etc. Oh and let’s not forget your SOUL. then multiply it by the number of people in your church. When you come with the number. Then consider the Pastor is called to be the” WATCHMAN”FOR ALL OF IT. Hebrews 13:7
All the promises of God are received by faith, faith come by hearing, HOW CAN THEY HEAR WITH OUT A PREACHER Romans10:14. ….pay the pastor
There is a pastor of a church who is well taken care of with salaries and benefits, considering the size of the church which is only about 250. But, the problem is, this pastor has some personal financial stewardship issues that puts him in a negative cash flow inspite of his generous salary. Now he applied to another church because they offered him a higher pay. Is this a right reason for a pastor to do?
During times of economic hardship, the church elders took out a loan so they could pay the pastor. Is this permissible, and does this follow generally accepted business practices? And, most importantly, is this biblical?
David –
Borrowing to pay salaries is not a best practice, but it sounds like there may have been some extenuating circumstances.
I am a new elder, ordained and installed in January. Going over some budget items, there is a loan outstanding from a commercial firm that was made because there was not enough offerings coming into the church. The pastor is a full time pastor, with about 80 people in regular attendance on Sunday. During hard economic times, there were not enough offerings coming in to pay the pastor. A commercial loan was taken out against the assets of the church property, so that the pastor could be paid. The pastor is also the treasurer.
Does this follow generally acceptable business practices? Are there red flags that I should be concerned about? Was what was done conform with biblical principles? Should an outside, independent audit be conducted of the church books?
Any information would be helpful.
David –
See my earlier response.
Dear David,
1. The pastor should NEVER be the treasurer. This doesn’t mean that your pastor has done anything wrong but it does mean that the church hasn’t safeguarded against the appearance of impropriety. I would encourage you and your fellow Elders to elect someone unrelated to the pastor to be the new treasurer as soon as possible.
2. The Bible forbids us from assuming that that something has been done wrong without having clear evidence to that fact. Instead of worrying about red flags, why not ask the Elders who were already serving to explain why they pursued this course of action? Keep in mind that you cannot undo the past you can only learn from it.
3. You present the issue of the loan as though you discovered this matter when you became an Elder. As a pastor, I want to encourage you to share this type of information with the whole congregation. There are many matters related to counseling which Elders must keep in strict confidence yet there are others, such as the financial condition of the church, that the congregation should be kept fully informed about. The failure to disclose those things which the Elders should be sharing with the congregation will erode the confidence that the congregation should have in its leadership. Most congregations wish that their Elders would communicate more with them about the state and direction of the church.
4. A church of 80 people should not require an outside audit. Your books should be sufficiently simple that an audit committee made up of people from the church (other than the pastor and treasurer) can easily see that all the money has been appropriately accounted for.
Best wishes,
David
Thanks, David Booth, for a more comprehensive response.
Dear David,
Thank you for the help. I appreciate your insight.
The reason for my concerns is that the pastor is the treasurer, and he was the one who took out the loan. The reason he gives is that several years ago, during tough economic times, there were not enough offerings coming into the church. Bills had to be paid, and there was not much left over to pay the pastor. The pastor took out the loan so that he could put food on the table.
There were two elders who agreed to the loan. One died a year and a half ago. He was the pastor’s father in law, who resided with the pastor. The other is a man who does not know how to say no.
There were two additional loans taken out, one for a lawnmower, and the other for a copy machine. Both of these loans are outstanding. I’ve been contacting Crown Financial Ministries, as well as Resource Ministries for their advice. I can find no where in Scripture where it is permissible to go into debt to purchase stuff.
I am now in the process of working up a budget, as well as getting our church out of debt.
Thanks for your help,
David
David who ordained you as an elder of the church, was it the pastor? If so he obviously trust you. If you have any question try asking him first. So there is mutual trust. Why assume when yo can just ask. I’m sure he knows your looking at books right so he knows you see the loans . If your motive is pure then other shouldn’t be any problem just asking him for clarity.
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