Salary figure for a pastor

Depends on what you expect from your Pastor.
Some churches are satisfied with just a few sermons on Sunday and Wednesday night.
Some churches expect the Pastor to be there for every event, every occasion, to visit the shut ins, to counsel people, to run the food and clothing closets, etc.

 

If it is a full-time position, I believe the pastor should be paid around the average of what the other men in the church make.

 

I agree---experience of the pastor should be factored in--- as should his educational background---is he a college student---or has he had Master's level courses---doctoral courses??? as well as financial projections of the church tallied in with how much money is being currently brought in at the moment.

 

A pastor has a family he is responsable to take care of, kids to send to school, car insurance, and a grocery bill, just like the rest of us. And I agree with PastorSBC

 

Everything he's worth. But if we really paid pastors that much, they'd have more money than most of us.


Seriously though, it all depends on the church and its demographics. If you're dealing with, say, a 5,000 member congregation (this is the OC, there are several) and the pastor is having to not just be a pastor but also running all the daily business aspects, then 65k or more is probably not out of line (take into consideration that the average house in the OC costs $615,000).

If the church is smaller and requires fewer resources, and/or is in a rural area where the cost of living is lower, 25 or 30k is probably adequate.

Anyhoo, there are numerous upon numerous factors that play into this, not just any one factor. I don't believe there should be a "set" wage for all pastors across the country.

 

JohnV,

I agree with your post for the most part, but living in Orange County while making 65k a yr (If that's the only source of income) seems impossible. Outside of that 25 or 30k a yr. is IMHO a little low, depending on various factors. Is their house or various other expensives paid for?

 

none. no salary. he should work to support his family like everybody else.
having said that, the pastor should not be measured as to his educational qualifications like he's holding an earthly job. Neither Peter, nor James, were highly educated.
The scriptures command that the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor.
so what price can anybody put on the services, trials, responsibilities, and woes of a pastor ?
nothing.
therefore, let his services not be measured by what the church decides to be his worth.
Let the church be generous to her pastor since he is a gift of God to them.

 

none. no salary. he should work to support his family like everybody else.
having said that, the pastor should not be measured as to his educational qualifications like he's holding an earthly job. Neither Peter, nor James, were highly educated.
The scriptures command that the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor.
so what price can anybody put on the services, trials, responsibilities, and woes of a pastor ?
nothing.
therefore, let his services not be measured by what the church decides to be his worth.
Let the church be generous to her pastor since he is a gift of God to them. </font>[/QUOTE]I think you failed to continue the rest of the passage in Timothy...

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

1 Corinthians 9:13-14 "Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel."

 

I disagee. 1Cor 9 says those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. If a fulltime pastor is warranted, a fulltime pastor should be hired, and paid accordingly. A man cannot serve two masters. That includes a pastor and his living.

The education need not be a litmust test, but a consideration, most definitely. I'm always skeptical of a person who claims to be called, but does not do the work to equip himself. In fact, I submit that this has the potential opf being a bad witness to the flock.

As for Peter, James, et al, you forget that Paul was educated (when he went by Saul). Matthew was an educated man. Luke was also educated.

That double honor is in comparison to the congregation. It's not a comparison to the pastor.

Indeed. But there's generosity for being a gift, and then there's also numeration for fulfilling responsibilities. Nothing wrong with both.

 

Nobody can serve two masters. That means a working man cannot serve two masters when he goes to work each day. He cannot serve the world and who should be his master-Christ. A working pastor cannot serve two masters as well. A self employed person cannot serve two masters. Nobody can serve two masters. That includes everyone.

My job is not my master. Christ is. I serve Christ as I work at my job. The facts are that when a man becomes a pastor his contacts immediately get cut in half. So the person who works a secular job as to Christ has double the contacts that a typical pastor has.

 

GB,

Could you expand on your statement of the "contacts get cut in half". What exactly do you mean? Thanks.

 

Amen!

The church my family and I recently left didn't think of this. The pastor retired from his secular job of 28 years. The deacons propsed that the church match what he was making there, plus pay 100% of his insurance, plus pay mileage. All that sounds great, but a church of about 120 (on a good Sunday) was paying close to $70K a year, over 60% of the church's budget.

I have nothing against paying the pastor well. But when he makes twice what I do, and I have a good wage plus overtime, something is out of whack.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

If double honor is due a pastor, does that mean that he should make double what the average head of household in his church makes??

I don't think that anyone has to worry about their pastor being overpaid.

Doesn't the IRS say that a pastor cannot be paid in excess of $100K per year?

 

Tell that to Joel Osteen.

 

I believe a pastor should be taken care of by the congregation. Many churches pay for the pastors home and transportation and all expenses associated with each, plus a salary.

I believe that salary should be the average of what the members get plus or minus depending on what he does.

 

I don't think it is merely a matter of symantics but I think a better idea is that we provide support instead of a salary. A salary says that he is your employee (irregardless of IRS rules) while support recognizes that he is his own man and doing what God has called him to do like an independent contractor and we either approve of his work or we don't. A good pastor does what he does and we esupport him so that he has the time to do it.

 

A pastor with a 5000 member church should get 100,000 easy.

 

none. no salary. he should work to support his family like everybody else.
having said that, the pastor should not be measured as to his educational qualifications like he's holding an earthly job. Neither Peter, nor James, were highly educated.
The scriptures command that the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor.
so what price can anybody put on the services, trials, responsibilities, and woes of a pastor ?
nothing.
therefore, let his services not be measured by what the church decides to be his worth.
Let the church be generous to her pastor since he is a gift of God to them. </font>[/QUOTE]I think you failed to continue the rest of the passage in Timothy...

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

1 Corinthians 9:13-14 "Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel." </font>[/QUOTE]None of what I said contradict those scriptures, if you will honestly, very honestly, examine them.

And in the same manner, those scriptures do not necessarily state that the pastor should have a fixed salary just like any other worldly job.

The pastor's job is way above in status of that of the President of the United States, or any civil servant, whose salaries are fixed and taken from the taxes and whatever earnings the citizens pay.

It is way above in status of that of a big corporation's president whose salary is based on the productivity of the companies he heads.

The pastor is God's servant, not the church's mercenary.

In the final analysis, whatever the church gave him is what God gave him, and can be directly proportional to how he teaches his congregation on the principles of New Testament giving, which is based on love for the church's Lord, and love for his servants, and New Testament giving does not include tithing, which is an Old Testament rule for an agricultural economy.

The pastor must be dependent solely on His Lord, even for the secular job that he holds. Paul had a secular means of income, just like everybody else in his time.

The pastor's salary is taken out of the tithes, not the offering. I know because I used to be a missionary Baptist.

Teaching tithing AND offerings encourages people to feel relieved of their responsibilities to the Lord and his servant AFTER they have given their tithes, because offerings are taught to be purely 'from the heart' and 'voluntary', so most people stick to just giving their tithes and go home feeling they have not been remiss in their duty to the Lord.

In fact, the New Testament rule for giving goes way beyond tithes only. There is nothing in the New Testament, when properly examined and interpreted contextually, that says the New Testament church, composed of Jews and Gentiles, ought to tithe regularly.

They are to give, generously and cheerfully.
If tithing is to be imposed also on the Gentile Christians, then Paul and Peter and James should also have instructed them to wash their hands before eating, or to have themselves circumsised, or to offer the various offerings required of the Jews.

But the New Testament believers are no longer under the ceremonial laws, of which tithing is.

 

I think most Pastors are underpaid.
I have seen a few, really good Pastors, that I did think were overpaid.

The reasons I felt he was overpaid are as follows:

The average University Professor in the area earned $40,000.00 annually from which they must pay all their living expenses. This is actually a tad higher than most employees in the area earned.

The Pastor earned an annual salary of $65,000, was given a brand Chrysler New Yorker as a gift from the church, and was given an additional 30,000 annual housing allowance.

I considered the presentation of that a little "sneaky." If they were going to give him $95,000 a year, why not just put that into the budget instead of listing "pastoral housing allowance" vs "pastoral salary."

The Pastor ended up living in one of the wealthiest subdivisions of the city, while Pastoring an inner city church in one of the biggest slum areas of the city.

It just seemed wrong.

This church was able to do this, not because most of the congregation was in that range, but because a very select view of extremely wealthy attended the church. If that group left, there were absolutely no way the church could have continued making those kind of payments.