The context and concern
The greatest asset that your church has is your ministry team. These are the folk at the cutting edge of much of what goes on in, and through, your church as they lead the church forward. Whilst we readily acknowledge their importance, do we honour them in thinking well about remuneration levels and in communicating well about matters of pay?
This blog comes from a concern that many ministers are undervalued by their churches if value equates to remuneration. Past salary-related surveys suggest that around one-third of churches pay less than the ‘position merits’, which correlates to a similar percentage of church ministers who consider their salary levels to be ‘less than adequate’. We do not believe that this situation has improved. In fact, there is anecdotal evidence that some ministers are taking on debt simply to cover normal living expenses. This is neither honouring nor a good witness.
Trying to set a pay structure for your ministry team that enables them to live to a reasonable standard is not without its issues. There are no readily available comparable pay scales to hand, and even for the larger denominations suggested stipends make little allowance for size or location of church, nor for the skills, experience and qualifications of the incumbent team member. Getting this right may not be straightforward but it is important.
What might you want to think about?
Conclusion
Getting this right is not easy, but we owe it to our ministry teams to do the best job that we can to pay at levels that:
Helpful links:
Stewardship's Payroll Bureau Service
Raising the Standard: Transforming the Culture of Money in the Church
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blogs by the Stewardship team and selected guest writers.
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