Mar 15, 2009

How Much SHOULD Pastors Get Paid?

I just finished writing two articles about pastor pay for Suite101 Protestantism. As the Feature Writer-Columnist for Protestantism, I thought pastoral compensation was a worthy topic for an article. It turned into two articles.

**See "Baptist Pastor Salary Guidelines" and "What Should a Church Pay its Bivocational Pastor?"

Even though the articles were just recently published, I've already gotten feedback. A "Connie" wrote to tell me that $80,000 was too much money for a pastor to make. She also added on a few personal attacks against me, for being a pastor, even though she's never met me nor corresponded with me. (Of course, Connie didn't leave any contact information. It was one of those hit-and-run criticisms so common in today's uncivil climate of debate and discussion, especially on the Internet).

The $80,000 number comes from a US survey conducted by Christianity Today International (CTI). That survey found that American pastors - from all denominations - earn an average of $80,000 in total compensation. According to Connie, this is too much.

Never mind that some pastors lead churches with several hundred or even several thousand members and are literally on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Few people can relate to the day-in, day-out emotional wear-and-tear that a pastor deals with. But, I can tell you, that given the amount of work pastors put into their jobs, $80,000 in salary and benefits is not unreasonable.

Of course, not all pastors make that. Many don't even come close to that. Pastors of small churches often don't make more than $20,000 or $30,000 a year. I know of one bivocational (part time) pastor that makes about $15,000 a year. And a church I interviewed with (before coming to Ohio) was offering me $10,000 a year. (I didn't take that church).

I know some people don't think pastors should make much money. This is not the sentiment we find in Paul's writings, however. Paul says pastors who do their job well are worth "double" the value that most churches give them. And Jesus says that the laborer is worthy of his wage.

It's not wrong to make money, and it's not wrong for pastors to make money. It IS wrong to be greedy for money and to make that one's priority. But providing for yourself and your family is something that each of us is expected to do, and that includes pastors.

Take care of your pastor.

**Care for another perspective? Check out "Should a Pastor Receive a Salary?"