Salary

I think ministry salaries should vary between 30,000-60,000 a year depending on where they live at (much more expensive to live in California/NY). I think it also depends on what type of ministry they are doing, how many people they are over, etc. We should pay ministers so that they can actually have something to live on e.g. Pay a mortage, have a car, phone, and some creature comforts. Financial Poverty is not a fruit of the Spirit!

I think salaries have ruined many ministers. Some are afraid to preach because they don't want to lose their salary or get it cut back. If their were no such thing as salaries for ministers, how many would minister? I am not against it. Not at all. How many small church pastors work a job outside of the church and are just as spiritual, know just as much, and are just as close to God? I think if you didn't have a job outside of the church you should be a spiritual powerhouse from all the prayer, fasting, and studying you would be able to do. How about measuring their salary according to that?

I think if you didn't have a job outside of the church you should be a spiritual powerhouse from all the prayer, fasting, and studying you would be able to do. How about measuring their salary according to that? Oh, preach it Preach! It is very interesting how this particular subject is coming up of late... Actually, how could you measure that brother? Far as I am concerned they ought to be recompensed handsomely, one of the very reasons being that they could be trusted and the likelyhood they would put it right back into the work anyway... Regardless "Great are their rewards in Heaven". I am of the opinion that much of the 'teaching' out there on stewardship and 'tithing' and so forth is way out of whack, it just seems to be completely out of order in priorities... If the heart was converted more.... can't find a word for it, (sufficiently?) and the emphesis laid there, it just seems this would be more natural, like the saints in the book of Acts.. spontaneous. Joyfully!

My best friend is a lay A/G minister and he holds two other jobs in addition to his pastor responsibilities. I'm not sure how he has the time to pray over the flock. It must be quite difficult for him.On the opposite end of the spectrum is my pastor at the church I have attended for about 15 months now. He hasn't had a salary or any visible means of support for the last 15 years.He and his wife, also a pastor simply pray (and wait which is the most painful part) and God has met their needs for this entire period of time. In fact, another ministry affiliated somewhat with ours paid their rent for 8+ years.The bottom line is that Jesus pays for what He orders. I don't think any job, including a secular job, should be about the money at all.

Honestly, I think the minister should be blessed tremendously by the lay folk. But so so so many take advantage of this and just go play golf.

As a full time pastor I have asked this very question many times -- I have in the past asked for a raise only becasue of cost of living. Currently I am making $31,200 a year. plus the parsonage and utilities are paid by the church and a health insurance benefit (although it does not pay much unless we get really sick). So I guess I am doing well, but I also see it as an obligation to be a man of the Word and prayer as well as ministry. The church is only aobut 45 people so it does not require a lot of time to administrate. So the extra hours go to prayer and study along with reading books (mostly about revival right now). Plus listening to other sermons from sermonindex ;-) because I need to be preached at too. Considering my last church tried literally to starve me out, I guess God has balanced the scales a little.I believe a pastor that is full time should have enough to meet needs and live within his means. Good stewardship is about money managment and pastors should be examples of this. If you don't have a lot of worldly pursuits, you don't have a lot of expenses. If your not dominated by the -- 'I have to have that now' bug you won't have a bunch of debt to pay off either -- learned that one a little late but not too late.I agree that those who are full time should be giants spiritually - -they should be men of God in every sense of the Word. Such men of genuine prayer and uncompromised peaching are worth their weight in gold and as such their salary as well.Blessings.

I onced worked a job in a small sized city, at a food production factory, on the production level - the job 90% of the employees do. Doing that I made approximately $32,000 a year with no overtime. The educational level needed was only high school. If people in America/Canada make that much money at entry level production jobs (not even a physical type one), with no responsibilities of major proportions why do we fall short and cheap of supporting ministers of the Gospel in many cases? A soul is of eternal more significance than anything a factory or plant can manufacture for example. Those that preach the Gospel should make their living from the Gospel. I do not see how churches don't see the importance of pastors preaching and teaching strictly as their means of income. How else can they devote everything they have to their flock (and family)?

There's deffenitely a double-standard when it comes to employing our preachers. But rather than asking if we're paying them too much or too little when comparing to ourselves, it should be considered how we're often indulging ourselves.Paul worked for a living. He was also such an instrument of God. But it should be clear that he wasn't living for riches. More than likely, he denied a wealthy family (look at his education and history), in favor of the life he took for Christ.Now, some of the most humble men that I've seen serving the Lord were those who were alright using the same suit every Sunday, and needed little more. If you were to offer a pay increase, it would go to good use- they would spend it on serving the Lord in another way.This should be an example for how we look at ourselves. Do we deserve the fruits of our labor, even with our jobs? Sure, if that's what you're focused on. But how much better could your extra be used?I'm not saying we should demand pastors who live in practical poverty, but just as we often realize that others might not need all of the indulgences they have, we should be examining ourselves. Hopefully, your pastor knows that- it's a good sign that they really are living for God, and not serving the church like it's a wage-deserving job.Grace and Peace...

"If people in America/Canada make that much money at entry level production jobs (not even a physical type one), with no responsibilities of major proportions why do we fall short and cheap of supporting ministers of the Gospel in many cases?"Agreed brother, and I like your name.A pastor friend of mine told me he made $25,000. My eyes welled up. How do you get by with 25k living in Montreal? Should you be punished for serving God? I don't want my pastor to get another job. I want my pastor to glow in the dark. I want to tremble with conviction every time he opens his mouth. I want his knees to look like mashed potatoes. I want him to pray 3+ hours every day.Ok, now who wants me in their congregation? ;-)

I know of a congregation out here in California where the senior pastor was paid $70,000 a year. The elders dismissed him on the grounds of questionable personal life issues. This same pastor then has started a law suit in which he is sueing the congregation for over a million dollars.I know of another pastor in an adjacent community of Little Saigon in the OC that is paid $18,000 a year. He has asked for an increase in pay but the church does not have enough money because they continue to sink money into the church building. They are buying new pews, carpets, and video projection systems to keep up with the Jones. Money seems to always bring division and strife into the congregation.In ChristJeff

I personally feel for my pastor. He does ok for a congregation of about 70, making about $30,000 a year, and lives in a old paid-for parsonage. However, because a few pillars in our church recently left it, taking their money with them, my pastor and his wife have recently taken up part-time jobs as substitute teachers in the public schools to better help make ends meet. I really feel for them. I wish they did not have to do such. They make about $60 each a day when they sub for the school system. My pastor also plays a little bit in a blue-grass gospel band, which allows him to make about $100. My pastor and his wife have 2 kids, one in college, and a daughter that is 12. My pastor is one very much dedicated to prayer and study, and I hate to think that he is having to take away from such in order to help make ends meet. Granted, things might would not be so tight if our church didn't take annual trips to Uruguay S. America, of which he has to set aside about 5 grand for this work which God has called he and his family to do. Even then, things would be somewhat tight.

I think in repect of salary you would have to look at if you are paying the whole family or just one man. $30,000 for one person isn't bad, but for 2 combined it is.

If money is the motive for us to do what we do then we are nothing more than hirelings and shepherds that feed off the flock. It is God that supplies all our need. God help the person who won't do the commission because it doesn't pay enough.I'd sooner look at the lives of Christians like John Wesley or George Muller who had fortunes go through their hands as they obeyed the commission that the Lord sent them into than the ones who live lavishly off the widows mite.If the Lord blesses us with a large salary, we had better realize that we are responsible for what we do with that income. Whether we have a large or small income we will be held accountable for what we do with it. Every day we have the choice to live for self or to live for the Lord. When life is over, we will have been either a sheep on one hand or a goat on the other.In Christ,GaryE

Martymill,Ok, now who wants me in their congregation? I think I would definitely take you ;-) How much to you pray?Truthfully I think much of what has been said has been good. There are three major problems with money in the church:1) Pastors who view themsleves a white collor professionals who are worthy of a lot of money. Mercenaries for Hire who will be shocked when all that money they make hangs like an anchor around there neck as hey fall into hell. (Is that too strong?) I do not consider myself as white collar -- I am gold collar from God -- I will not tarnish it with materialism.2) Churches who do not take care of their pastors and families becasue they have the bug of materialism. New buildings, renovations, technology all have been substituted for well -- PRAYER. I believe a building should look as nice as possible -- we are to be good stewards, but I personally think it is overdone -- I mean how many tracts would those new rose bushes along the side of the church buy? It is a terrible thing when people in the pew think that what attracts people is astetics instead of the Holy Spirit. Often in such cases the pastors salary is just another item for the chopping block to get that new sound system. Things over a person -- HMMMM?:-( I wonder how the early church did it without all that technology?3) Debt -- Hey just read proverbs. When churches or pastor go into debt for stuff it is stupid. 'Godliness with CONTENTMENT is great gain.' If I was not in as much debt then I could afford to give much more (it pains me how stupid i have been) or take a pay cut for the church so they could have more for ministry or missions.Now I love being full time because it allows me to do the two things I love the most all the time -- pray and preach the Word. But if someone sees these things as having no value I guess they would say I am overpaid, but if they do see the value of these things then most of them say I am underpaid. I personally just need enough to take care of my family as best as possible and devote my life to God. Wesley has become my hero of sorts when it comes to money. I want to die with one suit of clothes to wear to the grave, my Bible placed in my hand, and enough money to hire six guys from the street to be my pawpearers with six tracts to place in their hands. Everything else given to God.To get their though is going to take some work.Blessings.