What is the proper salary for a pastor?

[Depleted]

My old pastor had a dump truck business on the side, so he only received $20,000 a year as our pastor. Our church members had a big falling out so there weren't many of us to afford a more expensive pastor. We had to turn down a former missionary, who asked for $40,000 per year because of our monetary problems. We were lucky to find the dump truck pastor, though he wasn't all that good as a pastor. He was a better Sunday school teacher, though.

What is expected of a pastor if you think luck had something to do with finding that one?

 

[phil36]

At the end of the day there is no given figure for a salary in scripture but there is a principle and the scriptures have been given above,

It really depends on a lot of factors. One good place to start would be to ask, how much does the person (and his family) need to live comfortably in the area they will be living. What is the average wage for the area etc. that would be in my humble opinion a fair starting point (I highlight starting point!).

On the other hand some small churches just cant afford to pay full wage (stipend), but that would have to be a discussion between them and the candidate minister.

 

[Magenta]

2.2 million people walked out of Egypt.

I am curious to know how you arrived at this number.

According to Exodus 12:37–38, the Israelites numbered "about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children," plus many non-Israelites and livestock. Numbers 1:46 gives a more precise total of 603,550 men aged 20 and up.

 

[MessageOfTheCross]

My wife and I are members of a Baptist Church. Our Pastor is fulltime with a salary of $250,000 a year plus a single family home.

 

[Nehemiah6]

I am curious to know how you arrived at this number.

That question and answer would derail the thread. Never mind about how many millions walked out of Egypt. The question is how many millions are today's false teachers raking in while making merchandise of the Gospel, and preaching the Prosperity Gospel.

 

[Magenta]

My wife and I are members of a Baptist Church. Our Pastor is fulltime with a salary of $250,000 a year plus a single family home.

Holy schamole

 

[MessageOfTheCross]

I am curious to know how you arrived at this number.

According to Exodus 12:37–38, the Israelites numbered "about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children," plus many non-Israelites and livestock. Numbers 1:46 gives a more precise total of 603,550 men aged 20 and up.

Out of the 603,550 that left out of Eygpt, only two entered the promise land. Joshua and Caleb.

 

[BillG]

I'm from a denomination when pastors don't have secular jobs. Pastoring is their job. And since, by very nature, pastoring isn't a secular job, then how do you figure out what they're paid by secular jobs?

Yes we have had that here. We have had people who had secular jobs and left to pastor.

 

[Magenta]

That question and answer would derail the thread. Never mind about how many millions walked out of Egypt. The question is how many millions are today's false teachers raking in while making merchandise of the Gospel, and preaching the Prosperity Gospel.

It is something that was stated as part of the OP...

 

[Willie-T]

Abraham had 318 trained fighting men, alone. And many scholars estimate he had about 3,000 herdsmen, workers and servants, including all their families. They had to be supported some way. (That, plainly, requires wealth..... a whole lot of it.)

 

[Depleted]

I would certainly say that's a good salary! I'm just saying what I have heard before, I'm not too sure on it though or on the denominational differences. I was just always told they didn't get much of a salary, but they do get a lot of perks, like a free house and stuff like that.

And then when they're kicked out, they never had much of a salary anyway, so then what? That, and they're kicked out, so not good on the resume.

Hubby and I took a job that didn't pay well because it came with a free house and food. (Ends up "food" is subjective. I still remember the 10 pound pork roast that melted to 2 pounds while roasting. lol) We got a job as group home parents. It saved us from being homeless, and we did fall in love with a couple of the boys, but it was a hideous job. (Max, two hours of sleep per night, considering the boys would run away in the middle of the night to be picked up and brought home by cops each and every time.) When we quit the job, the only thing we had to live on was our last month's pay. Try and rent an apartment, plus pay bills, and eat on one month's pay, until you find another job. It's rough when you're paid little because, hey "free house and stuff."

 

[Susanna]

My wife and I are members of a Baptist Church. Our Pastor is fulltime with a salary of $250,000 a year plus a single family home.

A Baptist pastor?

Somebody really knows how to.

Lol

 

[beastslayer1970]

Hmm I always thought the clergy didn't get salaries, but to compensate they were given homes and the basic amenites by the church for free and that they were also to be exempted from taxation.

I thought the tithe wasn't so much a salary as it was moreso meant for the maintenance of the Levites as a whole, for instance like you said, to maintain the Temple and its implements and the sacrifices and so forth and so on.

Why should we look for answers in the Old Covenant? Paul was bi-vocational, a tent maker.

The issue we have in the USA is the idea that a church should be a mega church and have hundreds or even thousands in attendance. A church this size then needs a full time paid and salaried pastor and pastoral staff.

I think a small [50-100], med [100-200] should have a bi-vocational pastor and an avg sized church [200-400] should have a FT salaried pastor I also believe a church should offer a retirement saving plan of sorts for pastors and medical/dental benefits.

 

[maxwel]

Doesn't help. What does a church governing board know that no one else knows? And what is their base in deciding? Shouldn't we actually know what a pastor should receive? (And I ask that from a place of sheer ignorance on what a pastor should receive.)

And if you want to ask about mega-churches, you can, but that's not my question.

Hey Lynn,

I realize this is an important topic, and I realize Marc's answer doesn't feel very satisfying...

but the problem is, that seems to be the only answer we have.



In the business world, the pastor of a church would be equivalent to the president or ceo of a nonprofit corporation.
Most pastors, at least the honest ones, make far below whatever their equivalent would be in the business world.
Just something to think about.

Also, I think you've been dealing with this question very honestly, and fairly, and I appreciate that.

 

[BillG]

And then when they're kicked out, they never had much of a salary anyway, so then what? That, and they're kicked out, so not good on the resume.

Hubby and I took a job that didn't pay well because it came with a free house and food. (Ends up "food" is subjective. I still remember the 10 pound pork roast that melted to 2 pounds while roasting. lol) We got a job as group home parents. It saved us from being homeless, and we did fall in love with a couple of the boys, but it was a hideous job. (Max, two hours of sleep per night, considering the boys would run away in the middle of the night to be picked up and brought home by cops each and every time.) When we quit the job, the only thing we had to live on was our last month's pay. Try and rent an apartment, plus pay bills, and eat on one month's pay, until you find another job. It's rough when you're paid little because, hey "free house and stuff."

I think pensions are paid into

 

[Nehemiah6]

Abraham had 318 trained fighting men, alone. And many scholars estimate he had about 3,000 herdsmen, workers and servants, including all their families. They had to be supported some way. (That, plainly, requires wealth..... a whole lot of it.)

What does wealthy Abraham have to do with pastor's salaries? Talk about Paul, who took no salary and worked harder than any preacher does today.

 

[trofimus]

My wife and I are members of a Baptist Church. Our Pastor is fulltime with a salary of $250,000 a year plus a single family home.

The average salary in my country is $18,000 a year.

And prices are almost the same.

This is crazy. No wonder that the position of a pastor in the USA attracts so many corrupted people. Most modern times heresies are from the USA. Coincidence?

 

[Ezekiel8]

And then when they're kicked out, they never had much of a salary anyway, so then what? That, and they're kicked out, so not good on the resume.

Hubby and I took a job that didn't pay well because it came with a free house and food. (Ends up "food" is subjective. I still remember the 10 pound pork roast that melted to 2 pounds while roasting. lol) We got a job as group home parents. It saved us from being homeless, and we did fall in love with a couple of the boys, but it was a hideous job. (Max, two hours of sleep per night, considering the boys would run away in the middle of the night to be picked up and brought home by cops each and every time.) When we quit the job, the only thing we had to live on was our last month's pay. Try and rent an apartment, plus pay bills, and eat on one month's pay, until you find another job. It's rough when you're paid little because, hey "free house and stuff."

Well then they can become apostles.

 

[Depleted]

Scripture admonishes us to not muzzle to ox that treads out the grain and that a worker is due his hire.

How much is enough and how much is too much depends on the man and the church that he ministers to on a daily basis. The church should not go in debt to have a pastor nor should missions or ministry to the needy in the church be neglected to support a pastor. That said it would be a poor testimony if the pastor was not paid enough to support him an his family. Compensation can be structured to include housing and auto expenses.

I rather suspect that the good men who are pastors are more likely to be under paid and not over paid. The few mega church pastors that are over paid make a bad name for the good men whom God has actually called to the ministry.

For the cause of Christ
Roger

Sooo, you're just winging what the salary should be too?

BTW, there are a lot more mega-churches then you can imagine. By definition a mega-church has 1000+ members. I'm sure that would include the parent-church in every Presbyterian denomination that is started in any major city in the US. And to be clear, there are several variations on "Presbyterian," so that's roughly 4-5 "mega-churches" per city just for the presbys. I'm guessing the Baptists and Lutherans can say the same thing.

What is a proper salary for a pastor of a mega-church? You didn't really answer the question... at least biblically based.

 

[Nehemiah6]

Most pastors, at least the honest ones, make far below whatever their equivalent would be in the business world.

Why are you comparing apples and oranges? How about comparing a pastor's (spiritual shepherd's) salary to what an actual shepherd makes out there looking after his actual sheep? The trouble is that Christians have allowed their pastors to become CEO's instead to insisting that they remain shepherds. And that is why we have the apostasy that we have in Christendom today.