When it comes to a pastor’s relationship with his church, the issue of pay can tend to be a touchy subject.
Most pastors don’t want to come off as greedy in what they ask for by way of compensation, and most compensation teams take their fiduciary responsibility to the church very seriously.
At the same time, personal relationships can make matters complicated and keep churches and pastors from thinking clearly about everything that should go into determining a pastor’s salary.
Here are four common mistakes churches make when setting a pastor’s salary that can result in unnecessary relational tension.
1. Not Paying Pastors Enough
This seems obvious, but churches need to be paying their pastors a livable wage. Unfortunately, many compensation committees and elder boards simply do not set the salaries of their pastors high enough. As a result, they cause their senior leaders to struggle unnecessarily.
If your pastor has a humble, servant’s heart, as most good pastors do, he is not likely to express often or even overtly that he is not being paid enough. Nevertheless, he is likely to become discouraged and experience stress and even conflict at home because of financial pressures.
Overall, he will be less healthy both personally and professionally if he isn’t being paid enough.
If you are part of the team that sets your pastor’s compensation, I urge you to err on the side of generosity. Pastors don’t go into ministry for the money—a few notable exceptions being prosperity preachers with thousand dollar suits and private jets. But that’s just the thing. Those cases are notable because they are the exceptions.
Paying your pastor slightly too much isn’t the fiduciary catastrophe you may imagine it to be. Worry more about not paying him enough.
That being said, don’t simply pull a number out of thin air. Consider the size of your church, the education and experience of your pastor, the cost of living in the area where your church is located, the rate of inflation year-over-year, and how your pastor’s salary will match up with other pastors in your area or one like it who lead a church of a similar size and ministry profile.
But when in doubt, don’t go straight for the lower end of the range.
2. Paying the Pastor Well While Other Staff Members Financially Struggle
Maybe your church doesn’t struggle with paying your lead pastor well. But he likely isn’t the only paid staff member leading your church and its various areas of ministry. In the same way that you don’t want to underpay your lead pastor, don’t neglect the staff that works under his leadership either.
Certainly, the burden of leadership rests most heavily on the senior leader. And so there isn’t anyone on your staff who should be making more than the lead pastor. Nevertheless, the pastor shouldn’t be paid well while those who serve under him live in financial squalor.
Many times, church staff, whether they work in youth or children’s ministry, worship leading, or administration, are asked to complete far more work than is possible within their allotted “paid” hours. And because the line between the personal and professional is often quite blurred in a church setting, many of them regularly go above and beyond the call of duty, pouring themselves into the ministries of your church, often operating under stressful circumstances but approaching their work with passion and joy.
They deserve to be paid fairly. If you fail to do so, it is to the detriment of their physical, emotional, and sometimes even spiritual well-being.
Again, this requires research into all the relevant factors described above. Just don’t skimp.
3. Increasing a Pastor’s Salary Based on Tenure Alone
The longer your pastor’s tenure, the higher his salary should be. As he continues to faithfully serve your community, to learn and grow alongside the members of the church and to cast new vision as the world continues to change, his salary should reflect the track record he has established over the course of time.
But the number of years your pastor has been at your church shouldn’t be the only determinant when considering giving him a pay increase. A number of other factors may be at play.
For instance, has your church grown (whether larger or healthier) since the last time the pastor received a pay increase that went beyond a regular cost-of-living adjustment? How healthy is your church’s giving? Is your pastor continuing to meet or exceed the expectations of his job role and in his leadership?
Are there other members on the staff who deserve and could use a pay increase, and would increasing the lead pastor’s pay by a certain percentage constrict the budget too much to award those other pay increases? Does your church need to hire more staff right now, and does your income reflect a healthy amount of margin that will enable you to do so?
Sometimes, the finances of the church are such that it is not the wisest course of action to increase the pastor’s salary by a certain amount, as those resources are needed for more pressing budgetary or staffing needs.
Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that the church cannot adjust the pastor’s compensation package in more budget friendly or even non-monetary ways, such as awarding an increased number of vacation days. Further, a “no” to a pay increase beyond the cost of living today ought never to be a “no” forever, especially if you have a pastor who has served you well for many years and you hope will continue to do so for many years more.
4. Not Having a Job Description
Many times, misalignment in pay arises from a lack of clarity when it comes to expectations. Having a clear and accurate job description for your pastor and all members of your church staff will go a long way in alleviating this misalignment.
Lay out everything that your pastor is expected to do on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis in a way that is reflective of what he actually does, as well as what is reasonable given the size of your staff and congregation.
Sometimes, simply laying out everything your pastor does on paper will reveal that his compensation is not reflective of the scope of effort he undertakes. Other times, an accurate job description serves as an indicator that your pastor is being fairly compensated and avoids frustration on the part of the pastor, the compensation team, or both.
Your Pastor Cares for You. Return the Favor.
One major theme of the New Testament is reciprocal generosity and service. As Paul says, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).
Pastoral pay is important. While it isn’t always a make-or-break factor in a healthy relationship between a pastor and his church’s governing boards, it is nevertheless an important one.
Your pastor is intentional about the way in which he leads your church in its mission. Be equally intentional in how you compensate him for his service.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.