Yesterday I was sitting down with a ministry friend of mine who stated that the average American makes $50,000 a year, while a Sr. Pastor’s average salary is $87,000. While I’m not sure I agree with the numbers without seeing the statistics (probably from Barna), I did go away from there wondering where I stand on the issue and what I believe is fair and equitable when it comes to church work.
My first thought when it comes to this issue is that a pastor (associate or lead) is paid based on education, church size and local demographic. Most pastors have at least a Master’s degree and many have doctorates. So based on education, many are paid less than their counterparts in the community who have the same equivalent. Given the cost of education in a private bible college where most pastors are trained, education (especially if there are loans) need to be considered when a pastor’s salary is being scrutinized and justified. And although a good education could be had at many lower-cost state schools, many churches won’t even consider a pastor unless he has the right academic pedigree and has been trained to teach a certain doctrinal perspective; so education from the private bible college does matter. Many church search teams also look at the more education a pastor has, the better suited they are for that congregation.
Second is the church size. Now, I have been fortunate to have served in a medium-sized church (150-250 attendance), a large church (2500 in attendance) and a mega church (10,000 in attendance plus a 10 million person television viewing audience per week); no matter what they say, size does matter. Size matters on a couple of areas: salary and resources. In the smaller congregation I served in for 11 years I made a basic salary and had a budget of $2500 per year, which was offset by many gracious people in the church so that all our needs were met. When I left there and went to the mega church and became their Pastor of Student Ministries, I was making as much if not more than the Sr. Pastor at the smaller church and had a budget of $15,000 per year; although not that many people stepped up to help with any additional needs because they had their pet ministries they supported that did not have any budgets. At the large church I worked in, my part-time salary was equivalent to what I was making (if you broke it down per hour) at the mega-church; plus I had a $25,000 annual budget. You can see some of the differences and they don’t always make categorical sense. What I will say though, is that the Sr. Pastor difference was huge between the three pastors at these three churches. The pastor at the large church I worked at probably made over double what the smaller church pastor made and the pastor at the mega church probably made 5 times what the larger pastor made (if not much more). So size does matter and many pastors will be attracted to larger ministries because it means more financial freedom and security for them and their families. It also means more influence and many pastors are attracted to the career of ministry because it is a position of influence, but that’s a talk for a different day.
Lastly, a pastor’s salary is tied directly to their local demographic. With the exception of those notable churches that became large and the neighborhood around them changed from affluent to something different and the people still attend there even though they have moved to a new zip code; most pastors I know make about 80% of what their church’s average salary is. Now if a pastor’s church is in south Orange County where Saddleback is located, the median family income is about $105,000; so the pastor of a medium size church would make about $83,000; if the church was smaller, probably less, but if it was bigger, probably more. That could be a lot of money and when broken down to what they do, are they really worth it? I do believe they are.
From the outside (a lay person’s perspective) a pastor could be seen only teaching on Sundays; but to someone on the inside, a pastor has a much bigger role. A pastor first of all leads leaders; if they aren’t leading leaders, there’s a good chance they are in the wrong position. Now they can have the gift of evangelism or teaching, but a pastor is different; they teach and they lead. Identifying and empowering leaders is a necessity when it comes to the long term success of a ministry. Next, they strategize the direction of the church (at the Holy Spirit’s prompting); what will be the hills they will die on and what will be the dialogues they engage in but sometimes let’s others win? This is important because it determines where the church is going. Next they preach and it has to be effective and it has to be correct doctrine; if it is not engaging with the people or it is false teaching of God’s Holy Word, it will be damaging to the church in the long run. Sometimes a pastor has to counsel, sometimes they have to prepare and defend budgets, sometimes they have to recruit volunteers for ministry, sometimes they have to raise monies for special projects; so the job is much bigger then preaching on Sundays. These things need to be kept in mind when thinking about a pastor’s salary.
So to me, the issue is bigger than just how much they make. Yes, there is a good chance they make more then some of their congregants, but they probably make less then some of their people as well. Pastors work hard and their job is difficult much of the time. With the expectations before they get the job and after they get it; it’s not an easy career choice, but I am glad for those who have chosen to follow that calling and have had a rich impact on my life.
The idea of a pastor salary is really not in line with what we see in the scriptures. Elders, leaders in the church were SUPPORTED. The difference lies in that a salary infers employment. The concept of a pastor being an employee is foreign to the original intent. What we have is the development of an entire church culture in which pastors are hirelings who consequently have an obligation to please their employers – which could be elders, deacons, the board, or in some cases the congregation. I don’t recall any cases of hiring or firing pastor/leaders in the NT. Matter of fact, these leaders either emerged through the local congregation or were sent by the apostles or elders.
The business model has stricken the current church culture and turned God’s leaders into employees. Employees always have to submit to whomever has power over them and must always compromise what the Lord wants them to do in order to maintain their livelihood. Those who would justify their employee/leader role would argue that God “called” them to their situation and that their compromises are part of his plan for their position. This is really just another way to avoid the agony of doing the hard things and even (gasp!) working a an actual job to support one’s self in order to avoid compromises and minister in freedom.
In Acts 20 Paul commends the elders to care for the church, then commits the elders to God for their care – all in the midst of talking about how he worked to support himself and his compadres. God is who cares for the elders, not the congregation. True, Paul was SUPPORTED by many throughout his ministry, but he still worked an “outside job”, and supported many others by it.
I think it’s time for pastors to gut-up and make a living without the presumptive burden on the congregation. If the church chooses to SUPPORT the pastor, awesome. That turns him from employee to leader and unshackles him to do what the Lord is telling him to do no matter who it angers or offends. It also enables the pastor to live within his gifting and not be forced into a role he was not designed for.
Of course this begs the question of pastoral accountability, but thats another conversation. For now, its enough to entertain salary/employee versus the support/leader. Maybe the rub is the misunderstanding of sacred versus secular. For the Christian there is no division – it’s all sacred…