Featured Should Pastors Live in Extravagant Homes?

Here's my take on this.

While in school and pastoring, we had rented a house. No one had a problem with it, and it was actually bigger, newer, and valued higher than the house we bought after living there.

After college we bought a house, and our payment for this house was somewhat less than the rental property. Guess what? People now began to complain about us 'buying' a house that was older and in worse shape than the other, and not as valuable even if remodeled. People can be petty like this.

I've also seen believers complain about the things others have &c. Although there can be legitimate rebuke for this in some cases we should also be aware that those who do not have much can be as much or more covetous than those who do have things. Having things doesn't equal covetousness or sin.

We now live in a 4500 square foot house. My wife drives a Tahoe, I drive a duramax diesel Silverado crewcab. The cost of living here is lower than where I am from. We find gratefulness in what we have, but we know joy and happiness do not come from these things, they come from our relationships and our salvation.

 

I am not a pastor. Saying that, I would not criticize my pastor for living in a large house. Good grief, why would I be so little a person to worry about that?

 

Not quite. The church and his books are intertwined. He promotes his book from the pulpit. The church buys 1,000's of his books at a discount, the church promotes his book. There was a promotional tie-in whereby if you bought a copy of the book, the church would give you a free kids backpack (with church name and logo printed on it.) The church provides free advertising for the book in their publications.

Anybody that looks you in the eye and says, "you want to know something crazy? Some people think I'm building some great house or something--it's not that great", when talking about a $1.7M property on 9 acres shouldn't be trusted.

 

You seem to be saying that we should examine the house he's living in now before we can determine whether or not a 16,000 sq. ft. house is "all that great?" Is that correct?

I don't have a problem with a pastor having a large house--and 16,000 square feet is a large house--but for him to flippantly say "it's not that great" is either arrogant, stupid, insensitive, or all a combination of all three.

Wonder what kind of house the King Carpenter is building him in Heaven?

 

I can see both sides of this argument. Pastors of large “Mega” churches are also leaders, managers, and essentially CEO’s of multi-million dollar non-profit corporations. Shouldn’t they be compensated on a similar scale to corporate managers who are doing the same thing? Well my short answer would be NO, they are still pastors and there should be a difference, if there is no difference you should look for a new pastor.

To effectively minister to a congregation I believe that a pastor should be in the same social and economic class as his congregation. Now those of you who know me know I am bivocational and my calling has always been to working class, blue collar, rural churches. If I was called to minister to millionaires perhaps I would be one, but I don’t see that happening. (not trying to limit God hereJ)

Look at the congregation. What is the average family income? That should be close to what the pastor is paid.

Some may argue that the pastor needs a large house to entertain and “minister” to the church. Sorry I don’t buy that for a second. That is what you have a church building for. I see no need for the pastor to have church members coming to his home, his home should be a sanctuary for his family and life away from his job. That is the reason for getting a private home instead of a parsonage that belongs to the church.

When I see a pastor with a 1.7 million dollar home I can’t help but think of other places where that money could have been used. For the record, I would think the same thing if the church had a 1.7 million dollar addition or 1.7 million dollars in a bank account. God does not give us riches to spend on our own lusts, he gives us tools we can use to minister to others.

 

What would Jesus do?

Matthew 8:20 (NIV)
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Not saying pastors should be homeless, but this stands in stark contrast to the bishop of Germany that relieved of duties when the extravagant home he was "remodeling" became more then local knowledge. They had taken to calling him the Bishop of Bling.

This runs deeper as there seems to no accountability at the church

 

I think we (Americans) all have been sold a lie in believing we must have the biggest and best houses. I have seen some palaces that preachers live in and I'm ashamed. I even feel guilty at the house I now live in, although it isn't that great. I think Satan loves that we are so materialistic and especially us Christians.

I'm sure many in here are like me and feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit when confronted by the needy. How can I go home and eat a meal fit for a king and walk right past a beggar. How then can a genuine pastor preach from his pulpit each Sunday to faces in his congregation knowing he lives in a 1.7 Million dollar house? I couldn't.

 

There's a relation between your size and your worries, is there? How little do you have to be to worry about Republicans,?

 

Here is an article that relates to this subject

http://www.christianpost.com/news/who-are-the-megachurch-leaders-who-decide-elevation-church-pastor-steven-furticks-secret-salary-and-influence-his-ministry-107741/

Asks some pretty good questions

 

At this point, I agree with annsni on this one.

 

No doubt context is key, I think our folks in Japan could testify to that. In reading the article, there seems to be other underlying issues with accountability at the congregation. Not really my business, if folks want to go to a church where one or very few people call all the shots, that's up to them. It just seems there is a real lost opportunity to squash the whole "churches just want your money" criticism.

It may not be a fair criticism for all, but we sure aren't helping ourselves any with things like this.