Salary Package Amounts? What is your pay?

[Hope of Glory]

I was actually commenting more on the emphasis on money than the lack of people and lack of money.

There are many, many churches in the US that are in areas with small populations that have only 20 members, if that many. Very few are interested in preaching there because the benefits package isn't all that great, not to mention having to be bivocational. There are many churches here where I live that are in villages with populations under 200 that can get all sorts of missionaries to go there to evangelize, but no one is willing to move there to preach and teach.

Emphasis on numbers and money is a problem in the Church today, and also in many churches. It's just another form of worldliness.

(This is not to say that I disagree with a good salary and benefits if the church can afford it; it's just that's not where the emphasis should be.)

 

[Hardsheller]

Originally posted by Hope of Glory:
I was actually commenting more on the emphasis on money than the lack of people and lack of money.

There are many, many churches in the US that are in areas with small populations that have only 20 members, if that many. Very few are interested in preaching there because the benefits package isn't all that great, not to mention having to be bivocational. There are many churches here where I live that are in villages with populations under 200 that can get all sorts of missionaries to go there to evangelize, but no one is willing to move there to preach and teach.

Emphasis on numbers and money is a problem in the Church today, and also in many churches. It's just another form of worldliness.

(This is not to say that I disagree with a good salary and benefits if the church can afford it; it's just that's not where the emphasis should be.)

Another form of worldliness is to expect a pastor and his family to live at a lower standard of living than his congregation is willing to live.

 

[Hope of Glory]

Who said anything about expecting him to live at a lower standard of living?

 

[Hardsheller]

Originally posted by Hope of Glory:
Who said anything about expecting him to live at a lower standard of living?

I was just adding to your post another pertinent fact.

 

[TomVols]

Okay folks. Keep the gloves up and stay on topic.

 

[gb93433]

Originally posted by Hope of Glory:
Well, I think I can see why so many small churches can't seem to find pastors - not enough money to lure them in.

I told one church I pastored that I would get a regular job and pastor for free if they would get to work otherwise they did not need a pastor. They got to work and are doing very well today.

 

[TomVols]

Well, I think I can see why so many small churches can't seem to find pastors - not enough money to lure them in.

Given the wealth of our country and most of our churches, that's hardly the problem.

 

[Ashleigh]

$115 weekly + parsonage + utilities - phone.

avg. attendance is 30.

I am well blessed in serving the Lord. He has provided me with a position which affords me a satisfactory (not large) payrate and benefits a;ong with time to study.

 

[j_barner2000]

sorry my daughter did not log off and i did not check I answered in ashleigh's log in.

 

[PJ]

$600 weekly + phone expenses, bivocational. We also take up a love offering for their family several times a year.

Our pastor took the offered buy-out on his job October '04 and hasn't felt the pinch until recently. His wife works two part-time 9-month jobs (her choice; not because they can't live w/o her monetary contribution), equaling full time but w/o health insurance. He has not preached tithing for the 10 years he's been with us and the church's finances are not overwhelmingly good (yes, we do reap what we sow). We only recently raised his salary to this amount and agreed to revisit budget and need at the end of this fiscal year.

Our pastor doesn't seem interested in seeking employment now that his year of unemployment has ran out. Raising his salary was a huge leap of faith (something like 70+% of our total budget) but we're trusting in the Lord completely.

I did not intend to sound like the voice of doom in this post, just speaking matter of fact. Our pastor is my brother-in-law and of course, I only want what's best for he, my sister and their children.

 

[ScottEmerson]

I am a student minister at a church that averages over 1,500 in worship a week.

Here's how my salary balances out:

Salary - $29,700
Housing - $10,800
Insurance - I get full benefits for me and my wife, but I'm not sure at all about how much that is worth. I probably should, but I don't.
Retirement - $4,050
Cell phone - $480

I think that's about it. I thought it was pretty good until I went to the kybaptist site and saw that I was under the median by a good bit for a church our size. Well, I still think I get paid pretty well, especially because I love what I do!

 

[j_barner2000]

Originally posted by Hardsheller:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Hope of Glory:
I was actually commenting more on the emphasis on money than the lack of people and lack of money.

There are many, many churches in the US that are in areas with small populations that have only 20 members, if that many. Very few are interested in preaching there because the benefits package isn't all that great, not to mention having to be bivocational. There are many churches here where I live that are in villages with populations under 200 that can get all sorts of missionaries to go there to evangelize, but no one is willing to move there to preach and teach.

Emphasis on numbers and money is a problem in the Church today, and also in many churches. It's just another form of worldliness.

(This is not to say that I disagree with a good salary and benefits if the church can afford it; it's just that's not where the emphasis should be.)

Another form of worldliness is to expect a pastor and his family to live at a lower standard of living than his congregation is willing to live. </font>[/QUOTE]Some communities have majority of the people living on Social Security. 800 monthly. At 40, with 3 daughters, I could not live on 800 monthly that most of my congregation get from retirement. However, like I said, I am happy to work a secular job to provide for my family. I am thankful that God allows me to serv Him.

 

[MikeinGhana]

Hello dianetavegia

Did your church ever get the pastor position filled? Good to see you again on the board.

 

[RandR]

I honestly don't know how much I make because of how the church breaks it all down. Every January, I tell them how much to earmark as housing allowance. They pay 10% to the Annuity Board on my behalf. They pay my health benefits, but I must pay for my family's. I also get a SS reimbursement. After adding in the SS reimbursement and taking out what I pay towards my family's medical, my bringhome is around 5k a month.

At 31, I make less than most of my friends in the "real world" but more than many pastors, some twice my age, in my association. I also have a beautiful wife, a house with a picket fence, 2 kids (one of each), and a dog. Other than high cholesterol, I have little to complain about in life.

I also know that if I were to leave to go just about anywhere other than a church that runs over 500, I'd take a significant pay cut. If I leave to plant a church, we're looking at 30% cut or so.

So here's a question for all to ponder, is it possible to become "institutionalized" after several years at the same church and several years of 2-4% increases? Maybe God IS calling elsewhere, but the family couldn't enjoy the same standard of living...that's the situation I'm working through and I bet I'm not alone.

 

[Joseph M. Smith]

As I was preparing to retire, our people were saying that they would not be able to replace me for the salary they were paying (about $58K, including housing and SS offset, plus family medical and 10% to the Annuity Board). I reacted then and do so now that they were not giving my brothers and sisters in ministry enough credit for spiritual motivation. If someone feels called, s/he will not feel it urgent to get the salary up beyond a reasonable level. But our people, a number of whom have human resources jobs in the federal government or in industry, always seem to think about "What will it take to get him?". Even when we were tossing around names of potential revival preachers, they would want to set aside the names of some prominent preachers, saying, "He'll be too rich for our blood." How do we know that? And if he is we don't want him anyway &lt;grin&gt;!

Now that my successor has been called, I understand that he has accepted even though salary has not yet been discussed. Brave man? Or foolish? Or Spirit-led?!

 

[RandR]

All 3!

 

[Joseph M. Smith]

I have just heard about a local pastor and the expectations he laid out for compensation: [1] that instead of a stated salary he be paid 10% of each Sunday's offering (it's a large church of professional people where a Sunday offering can reach $50,000), and [2] that the church deed over its old parsonage to him so that he can sell it and apply the proceeds to a new house, whose price is $1,700,000, a price steep enough that he wants additional help from the church to purchase it. Notice that he would own it when all this is done! The church has turned him down on both proposals, as well they should. Why do some of us think we can demand so much for a role that is supposed to be essentially SERVICE?!