OK… Senior Pastors… How Much Do You Make?
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Thu, August 28, 2008
- Viewed 1657
- (76) comments so far
Here’s the rest of the article from the Christian Post...
Here’s a link to purchase the study and compensation results...
If you're a Senior Pastor at a church in the United States, you're probably making about $80,000 per year. That is the finding of the 2009 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff survey of nearly 5,000 churches and 11,000 employees.
Here's the breakdown: If your church averages 100-300 people, the average pay is around $73k (including benefits). If your church has a weekly worship attendance of between 300-500, that number jumps to $88k. And the total compensation average for the senior pastor of a church $103k if attendance is 500+.
I'm wondering... if you're reading this, how are you matching up? Are you within these findings? I'd like to hear...
Comments
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David on Fri, September 05, 2008
Wow Leonard. http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif I really wish you’d not be so short with your answers. he he! My goodness! How did/do you find time to read all these blogs and find time to write such long answers? I feel so sorry for you now.
On a serious note, there are MANY assumptions in your treatise about things I never mentioned. Regardless, I respect the few pastors who really do care deeply about their people and it’s not just a career. They are awesome people.
The idea that every single day is filled with a long list of people screaming for attention and that pastors never get more than three hours of sleep a night etc etc, I think is absurd though. 32, 48, 72 hour days exist, I know, but it sounds as though some would have us believe it’s a never ending life of them. There are still many many people that work much harder physically and mentally for much less pay and benefits.
62k a year? Only 125 people to care for? Aaaahhhh that would be nice.
Now, about this post: “....WHO CONFESS THAT THEY ARE CHRISTIANS BUT DO NOT ANY CONCERNS FOR MINISTERS LIKE US.” Are you a minister? Not appointed out of college I hope. Here’s one of my beefs. One of the things people scream about is, “well, I have a college education! That’s worth something!” “I know how to write because I’ve been to college and/or seminary! “
People that show their inability to write properly (terrible grammar, misuse of words, bad spelling, etc) have ACTUALLY BEEN TO COLLEGE….. AND GRADUATED! They actually paid money for it!
A kind word do you: notice how EVERYONE else is using lower case? That is considered “courteous.”
Mark on Mon, September 08, 2008
Wow. We are no where near those numbers. I knew I was making less than most, but that’s really a reality check. We are averaging 250 in the Sunday AM, I make $50,000, no benefits of any kind.
Keith Bond on Tue, September 09, 2008
Wow! I’m impressed by these salaries. I pastor a church full time with an average attendance of 250 - 300 and I do not make $50,000.00.
I am thankful that God supplies His servants so well.
Keith
Jim Gipson on Tue, September 09, 2008
Dear Frustrated, I’m sorry you are so bitter. Many of us that are serving as Pastors started off without a salary & earned our living outside the church…..Let me tell you, it was hard! I’m the Senior Pastor of a grass roots ministry and church where we help and house homeless families with children in San Antonio, TX. For the first few years there wasn’t any money for me. I currently receive a housing allowance and one of our partner churches has designated $2000 each month for me and my family. Now you may think that is to much, but please keep in mind, there have been as many as 88 people living on site including 49 children at one time. There are over 70 women and children with us now, I’m on call 24 hours per day and I work between 60 and 70 hours per week, and make no mistake, I AM BLESSED! If a church is able to provide their Pastor with a good salary and can afford the staff that is needed along with the volunteers to serve the lost then Praise God! If God is using you, and He has provided a way for your needs to be met without the Church paying you a salary, then Praise God! Let’s not begrudge a Pastor earning a living doing what God has called him or her to do. When our hearts are right, wonderful things will happen, lives will be changed and we will all become more like Christ. Then the people in the world will want what we have, which is Him in us. Be Blessed! Pastor Jim Gipson, Strong Foundation Ministries
Jan on Tue, September 09, 2008
David, you just described our life! Every single day IS filled with people screaming for attention.
And yes we do get more than 3 hours of sleep a night, but we have kids in and out of our house from the minute school lets out to 10:00 at night most nights. And during the summer there is always someone hanging around. My constant refrain is
“Don’t you people have a home to go to?”
You respect “the few pastors who really do care deeply about other people and its not just a career” And how did you come about your numbers? What constitutes “a few”?
Honestly, I think I’ve only met one pastor in my lifetime who wasn’t like that. The pastors I know barely make enough to survive, give a lot of what they have away, and care deeply enough to even not retire when traditionally others their age do, not because of the big bucks (what a joke!) but because they care to much to stop.
My pastor husband used to be in operations management, where he would be supervising the loading and outloading of trucks for a major corporation. He was over 3 plants and worked very long hours. He works a lot harder now then he ever did working his way up that ladder.
RevRich on Wed, September 10, 2008
It appears to me that Frustrated has spent some time reading Barna’s book “Pagan Christianity.” I’ve always liked Barna and have read a good deal of his stuff (since “Frog In the Kettle” days) and found a great deal of it insightful and helpful. As I was reading PC I realized that, while a decent brief church history book, it was noting more than a support for his and Viola’s agenda of killing the institutional church and going to all house churches. The agenda was so heavy and the bias was so think that it left a very unpleasant aftertaste. I always respected Barna for his research that helped me as a pastor to see the state of the country, the church, teenagers, etc. But writing a book and calling it reasearch just to drive a personal agenda disappoints me. ANyway, most of what Frustrated writes here sounds like it was almost word-for-word from this book. I agree that there are some very frustrasting things going on in churches in the US. And I agree that we have some major repairs to do in areas. But throwing the baby out with the bathwater is foolish.
Shaun on Fri, October 03, 2008
town of 55,000. Church of 500+ (700 or so sunday attendance). 62k a year including benefits and I feel like I am waaaaaayyyy overpaid.
David on Fri, October 03, 2008
Shaun,
Your two sentences were short and to the point, but like a breath of fresh, spring air…a glass of cold, cold water on a hot summer day….IN SAUDI ARABIA. There may have been others, but you are the first I’ve seen to say exactly that. I don’t personally know your heart (of course) but a statement like that, if made in honesty, is the mark of Godly humility. Biblical humility. The attitude of a tent maker.
Thank you thank you thank you. This dark cloud fell over my heart when I went to a church gathering & fell into a kitchen conversation with the pastors, youth pastors etc I was flabbergasted by their casual discussion about their benefits, housing, income. The tone was almost as though they deserved it all and so much more.
Thanks again for the great attitude.
What????? on Sat, February 07, 2009
HAHA! Yeah right!
If my Dad made that much…maybe we could actually afford to eat out once a month!
Does ANY Pastor really make that much??? We lived in a town of about 7,000 for 7 years…i am one of 5 kids, we had a congregation of about 300, he made around 60k a year….
now we are at a different church, around 150 people in a big town, and my dad makes around 40k
David on Sat, February 07, 2009
Yes, What,
There are quite a few pastors that are VERY well off. Not a large percentage, but quite a few. There’s something wrong with it too. If a pastor is shepherding a small congregation and a small amount is all they can give, I understand. However, there are two extremes. One: a pastor who makes just enough to get by & could easily be on food stamps etc (your case), and the pastor who makes six and seven times that and MORE who owns a 1.3 million dollar home, etc. Both are wrong. The latter is very wrong if the person claims (sometimes with crocodile tears) he’s so passionate about saving the lost of the world.
I think of people like you every time I pray.
Jacob on Sat, February 07, 2009
David, why do you hate me so much? Just because my Dad is a Pastor doesnt mean you have to tell me whats wrong with the world and churches in America…
I’m not exactly a fan of Pastors that drive cars that are more expensive thatn my house, but HEY! It’s not up to me….
God has a different calling for each Pastor(to serve the poor, like us…to serve the rich…like them…and many others.)
Just because YOU have had bad experiences with Churches and know other people who have, doesnt mean everyone else has.
Oh, by the way, talk is cheap…So if your going around telling people Pastors make too much money, and America is spiled rotten because it has to much food and were all fat(no offense) Then go do something about it! Go feed the poor! Go do Missions work! Go try to Pastor a church for a couple months and see if you can make it!
But PLEASE STOP HATING!!!!! You RUINED my day :-(
David on Sun, February 08, 2009
Wow! You have shown me more reason to pray for you and your family. There seems to be some deep-seated emotional issues. I’m sorry I ruined your day by empathizing with your plight.
I have been involved in the type of ministries you mention when my travel allows it, and will be in the future. God requires it. Thank you very much for the suggestions though. It is good admonition.
Please review my post. You will find no reference to Americans or any “bad experiences” with churches. When you review my message, you will find that I stated that some pastors make too much money while others make too little (like yours). Something you might want to work on is allowing things outside of you to effect your entire day. He is our peace and we should draw upon that shalom every day no matter what the enemy throws at our shields.
I have peace regarding this matter knowing that the wealthy pastors of this world have already earned their reward with transient, temporal value while the pastors who are barely making it have imperishable, everlasting reward waiting for them in eternity.
May god bless you as you feed the poor and do missions work.
Jimbo on Mon, June 15, 2009
Catholic priests live on peanuts and they are on call 24/7. Salt of the Earth!!!
Rollo on Tue, July 07, 2009
Good Day. He attacked everything in life with a mix of extrordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.
I am from Portugal and , too, and now am writing in English, give true I wrote the following sentence: “Credit debt consolidation getting those unsecured debts taken care of! By jared mcdermottwhen you discuss credit debt consolidation you are really dealing with credit card debt.Money lenders are no longer allowed to charge sky high penalties for late payments on credit cards, store cards, mortgages, loans and overdrafts.”
With love :(, Sondra.
Josh on Fri, January 15, 2010
I completely understand the rage by �frustrated by this�. I am currently an MDiv student. Until about two weeks ago, I was planning on entering full-time paid ministry. I checked out all the �usual suspects�� 1 Tim 5:17, 1 Cor 9, etc. In no single instance do I find the early church supporting a single pastor in an ongoing basis.
I do see that apostles had the right to be supported (1Cor 9). Because they were traveling in order to start churches, they could not settle down and keep a job. Even then, I�m not sure it was a permanent stipend. It seems more like food and shelter as they stopped in your town.
If 1 Tim 5:17 means a salary, then you should have widows on your payroll (1 Tim 5:3). They would presumably make half the senior pastor�s salary. Also, each NT church has a plurality of elders, so you should never just have one pastor making the big bucks.
I agree with �frustrated by this�, but instead of cursing the darkness, I wish to follow the example the NT and plant a church that returns to an Early Church financial practice.
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