7 Concerns About Benefits of Pastors and Church Staff

Episode #206
March 11, 2016
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Podcast Episode #206


We discuss a recent post on pastor and staff benefits. These points come from Richard Hammar’s 2016-2017 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff.

Some highlights from today’s episode include:

  • Too many pastors are retiring and have little to no retirement savings.
  • I’m very concerned about many of our pastors who are in poverty when they retire.
  • If you have an automobile allowance for your pastor or staff, that needs to be a reimbursement instead.
  • Pastors put more miles on their car than 80% of other vocations.
  • If your church doesn’t provide auto reimbursement, you’re essentially reducing the salary of the pastor and staff.
  • Life and disability insurance are very low cost benefits churches should look to provide to staff.

The seven concerns we share about pastoral staff benefits are:

  1. Fewer than half of solo pastors receive any health insurance benefits.
  2. Almost three-fourths of full-time worship/music leaders receive health insurance benefits.
  3. Many full-time church staff receive no retirement benefits.
  4. Almost all full-time staff get paid vacations.
  5. Only six in ten full-time pastors and staff get any type of automobile reimbursement.
  6. Very few full-time ministry staff receive either life insurance or disability insurance.
  7. The parsonage as a benefit has all but disappeared.

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