I agree with David and Chris. I am in a similar situation. i am a senior in college. I am actually the worship minister of a year old church plant. The church has promised to bring me on full time in five years from the time we planted the church. Well I have prayed about it and I believe God has given me wisdom in the proverb that talks about your gift making room for you. I have found that even though I don’t receive regular compensation from the church, its ok because i know that they can’t afford to pay me right now due to the money we bring in going to the community and our efforts to share the gospel with them. Is that a reason why the church isn’t paying you.
In the first six months It was so hard. the gas alone was killing me. But after being faithful I found that God was using my gift that affected people to cause them to give to me. Coming from a church that just paid me to a church I depended on people to be obedient to God was hard. But I knew at the end of the day or the moment that it was truly God in the decision not inspite of the decision. Make sure God is in your decision moving and working to bless you not moving and working to bless you even though you made the easy or most popular choice that may not have been his choice.

I hope it helps and gives you another aspect.

I agree that sometimes we may feel like a sucker when we are about God’s will for our lives.  I wonder if Jesus ever felt like a sucker for serving his followers without pay for three years.

I know how this person feels.  I have been in a similar situation for five years.  The church we serve was running about 50 when we arrived.  I had been in full time ministry for 30 years but left to move closer to my family so that my son who is an only child could have a history with them after we graduate to heaven.

When the pastor found out about us he offered to allow me to serve with him as a volunteer with the promise that when they grow large enough I would go on full time paid staff.  Five years and 350 members attending later I am still holding down a secular job, volunteering my experience and have seen 3 paid staff added.  I don’t feel like a sucker.  It has been my choice, however, my son has gone away to college in another state and I am ready to return to full time paid ministry.

Any time the decision is made to give to the Lord I think we are planting seed towards a great reward from our wonderful Father. What you have sewn will be rewarded.  It is the church you are helping who will lose when you leave because they don’t see this.

I pray God’s best for you.

It is hard to say “no” to leaders who you trust...even when they do not work in your best interest.  Sucker?  Only if you are not willing to hold them accountable for what they said they would do.  Give them a date and like others have said, get it in writing.  If they decline to do those things, leave right away, but quietly, to get some space.

Scripture makes it clear in 1 Timothy 5 that a laborer is worthy of his wages.  It is precisely this reason some will look at the church in disgust and walk away.

They are sinning against God and your family and they need to be told as much.  To say they can’t afford it, turn off the lights during the day and open the windows.  The staff needs to eat, the building is just a meeting place.

I tend to agree with BeHim on this one (at least his first post today).  May I offer a word to employers, whether in the church or any other business?  Don’t offer a future carrot unless you’re certain you can feed it to the horse.  I’ve had promotions, raises, and bonuses offered to me only to find that when the time to pay up came, business had changed.  And hearing things like, “you’re already doing the work of a Director, I just can’t give you the title” didn’t help much.  That doesn’t mean I was a sucker to stay in the job, but I did learn to take those future promises with a grain of salt.  (In other words, I don’t believe them anymore, and I don’t make my career decisions based on them.  If I’m satisfied at my current salary and my current position, I’ll stay.  If not, I’ll look for a change and possibly use that as a bartering position to get the raise or promo that was promised me.)

A word to employees: Don’t believe the promises, even if the one who makes it is a normally trustworthy person.  Reminds me of when James wrote about not knowing what tomorrow brings.  That trustworthy person may not be around when the time comes to honor the promise he made.  (I’ve had that happen before, too.)

Wow....I’m going to have to remember this....I just entered into an unpaid youth pastor position to gain some experience while still going to school.....The pastor explained that the church is moving buildings and doesn’t have a ton of money right now (as we have to do some major repairs on our new building) but that if I keep the position for a while (he didn’t acctually ever specify how long “a while” is) that I would get some form of pay compensation......I understand that its great experience as has been said above but I really don’t need to be paying $20,000 a year for my college expenses, working at least 10 hours a week spending time with the kids and building relationships and teaching them and working 30 hours a week on the midnight shift for UPS.....its a recipe for burnout.....

Todd, I am really glad that you posted this and I am eternally grateful to everyone that responded because frighteningly enough I am going to be in the author of the note’s shoes here in a year or so...especially getting married next May.....

I don’t think you are a sucker.  You have been serving the Lord and learning and investing in people.  That says a lot about you and your heart for ministry.

I DO say that when a church gets to the point of telling you not to look at offers than they better have one in hand.

Their promises are too vague and it’s time for them to make you an offer you can accept or decline. 

If it were me (and we have done this!) I would put a budget down on paper that outlines all your expenses including the housing in your area, projected expenses and school loan repayment.  Come up with a figure you need to make it and then go to the pastor and give it to him, with a time frame for them to respond.

Ask them to prayerfully consider what they are going to do while you do the same.  After the allotted time, they will either seriously have a proposal for you or you will know it’s time to move on.

If they don’t come up with one, or offer you some ridiculous amount that you can’t survive on (especially after serving for 5 years free!) and you accept or wait, THEN I’d start calling you names.
Jan