 The 600,000 Dollar Pastor
Many of you may have heard that some members of The Riverside Church in Harlem are upset that their new pastor, the Rev. Brad Braxton, is being paid more than $600,000 in annual compensation.
|
How Much Should We Pay the Pastor?: A Fresh Look at Clergy Salaries in the 21st Century
 Competitive, free-market approaches to determining clergy compensation are harming the church and distorting its mission, according to Becky McMillan and Matthew J. Price, Such approaches, they conclude, leave most pastors financially vulnerable, change ministry from a "calling" to a "career," encourage congregations to grow for purely economic reasons, and make it more difficult for pastors to offer "prophetic" leadership that challenges and transforms congregations.
Rather than relying upon the free market for guidance, Protestant churches should instead narrow the salary gap between pastors at small and large churches and provide all pastors with sufficient compensation to enable them and their families to live a decent life-in essence, providing them with a "living wage."
The associate director of Pulpit & Pew, McMillan is a labor economist with a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago and an M.Div. from Duke. The former associate director of Pulpit & Pew, Price is director of analytical research at the Episcopal Church Pension Group in New York City and has a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University.
|
Setting Pastor Salaries and Pastor Compensation
The stereotype of the televangelist with six cars and seven houses has pretty much faded away. When it comes to setting pastor salaries these days, BaptistStandard.com reports that the national average pastor compensation is $77,096.
This average comes from The Compensation Handbook for Church Staff an "industry" survey of compensation. This average is significantly higher than the PayScale median salary of $56,000 for Senior Pastors.
As we will see, the difference is both in the definition of compensation and the scope of responsibility. It never is just about the job title :-)
How does your salary compare to the average pastor compensation? Find out with our salary calculator.
Awarding Salary to the Pastor of a Church
To come up with the average pastor compensation, the Handbook calculates base salary, life and health insurance, housing, and educational benefits.
The PayScale average is for salary only. No annual Christmas bonus, education allowance, housing or health insurance are included. These other benefits could total $10,000.
The other cause of the difference is the variation in pay with church attendance. The Handbook says that senior pastors with an attendance of more than 1,000 people earned an average of $111,052. In contrast, $64,266 is the average pastor compensation paid to those with an attendance of 300 or less.
The distribution of church sizes, and locations, in the PayScale data are different from that in the Handbook. When computing a national "average", these differences will lead to different answers. For example, the PayScale pastors tend to be at smaller churches than those in the Handbook, leading to lower wages.
As will any job with a "pay for performance" component - and isn't filling the pews on Sunday a measure of performance? - there are some pastors of so-called "mega-churches" that greatly exceed the clergy salary averages.
In 2006, the New York Times reported that Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, was earning an annual salary $200,000, but discontinued the pay after the success of his best-selling book Your Best Life Now which sold more than 4 million copies. Osteen might earn up to $13 million based on a contract for his second book Become a Better You. Today, he reportedly lives off his book revenues.
|
| Leader's Insight: 3 Surprises on What Pastors Get Paid
by Kevin Miller | posted 9/17/2007
Our research team here at Christianity Today International just finished surveying more than 2,000 churches, and next month, we'll be releasing the most comprehensive, up-to-date church salary survey we've ever done. While The 2008 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff is at the printer, here is a sneak peek at some results:
1. If you want to earn more, change denominations.
Briefly, if you want to earn more as a senior pastor, become a Presbyterian. If you want to earn more as a youth pastor, become a Baptist.
Presbyterian senior pastors earned the most in our survey-their average salary plus housing/parsonage was $78,000, while Baptist senior pastors earned next to last-$67,000. But virtually the opposite was true for youth pastors. Baptist youth pastors earned near the top-$44,000 in salary plus housing, while Presbyterian youth pastors earned near the bottom-$36,000. Why?
The answer comes from two factors: church income and denominational values.
Our research consistently shows that the biggest single factor in determining any pastor's pay is the church's income. And among churches with senior pastors, Presbyterian churches have the highest-reported church income, so some of that gets passed along to their senior pastors.
But among churches with youth pastors, Baptist churches and Presbyterian churches have virtually identical church income. So they could pay their youth pastors equally, if they wished. Apparently, though, Baptist churches value youth ministry more, because they pay their youth pastors 20 percent more.
2. Female solo pastors earn more than male solo pastors.
Okay, so there aren't many female solo pastors; in American churches responding to our survey, only six percent of solo pastors are women. Still, it's intriguing that female solo pastors reported 10.4 percent higher total compensation. Their average salary was 8.6 percent higher than men's ($49,219 compared to $45,259); and better housing and retirement benefits made up the rest. Why the difference? Why do female solo pastors earn, for total compensation (includes hecaptionh insurance, retirement, and continuing education), $62,472, when their male counterparts earn $56,558?
My first hypothesis went like this: "Since there are precious few women hired as senior pastors-only 2.5 percent, in our research-women stay in solo pastorates longer, and their longevity leads to higher pay." But that hypothesis doesn't hold up: for solo pastors, the number of years served makes next to no difference in pay.
The more-likely explanation is regional. We know that solo pastors receive the highest pay in the New England and Pacific states (not surprisingly, given the higher cost of living in these regions). And these regions probably have the greatest cultural acceptance of women serving as solo pastors. Thus, women solo pastors tend to find work in regions with a high cost of living, and consequently, get a higher salary.
And before we assume that the church runs counter to the still-prevalent cultural practice of paying women less than men for comparable work, women were paid less than men in every other church position surveyed (except for secretary). On average, females earned approximately 80 percent of the compensation of males. Or, in other words, males earned about 30 percent more than females.
|
|
About Us
... You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. (Isaiah. 58:12)
Kinetics mission is to develop new ideas that work to strengthen social movements within the African-American community; providing them with the tools and skills to pursue justice and better address the needs of those whom they serve.
Kinetics is a project of Fusion Partnerships, Inc.
Programs
Faith in Life Speaker Series
| |
Advertise or Sponsor
$25 a month!
If you would like to sponsor or advertise on our eNewsletter or website please email us at [email protected] |
The Rev. Dr. Brad R. Braxton
was selected to be the sixth Senior Minister of the Riverside Church on Sunday, September 14, 2008.
Salem, Virginia native Dr. Brad Braxton hails from a family of spiritual leaders. His father and life-long mentor was a Baptist pastor for 46 years. His understanding of the ministry literally started at his father's knee, and he has since followed in his footsteps, not only in profession, but also in spirit.
Dr. Braxton won a prestigious Jefferson Scholarship to the University of Virginia, where he received his B.A. in religious studies. While there, he was selected at the age of 21 to be one of a handful of the nation's Rhodes Scholars. While completing his Master's degree at the University of Oxford, he worked closely with Professor Christopher Rowland, one of the world's leading New Testament scholars. Together they embarked on a research project on a topic that had always fascinated Dr. Braxton: racial reconciliation.
It was while doing research for the project that Dr. Braxton took his first trip to Africa, a life-changing event that would eventually form a central part of his ministry. While sitting near the shore of a major slave-trading port, he recalls thinking of the line from Galatians, "You are no longer a slave." "What would it be like," he asked himself, "if all African-Americans began to believe that they were no longer slaves?"
After returning to the United States, the 24-year-old Dr. Braxton started work on his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies at Emory University. During his doctoral studies, he was appointed Senior Minister for the historic Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore, a post he received at age 26. He completed his Ph.D. in 1999, while working full-time as Senior Minister of Douglas Memorial.
At Douglas Memorial, a church noted for its emphasis on social justice, Dr. Braxton helped lead this historic, urban, interdenominational church into a period of spiritual and economic revitalization. During his five-year tenure, he began a series of Bible study classes, complete with a syllabus, reading list and exams, and established an interfaith dialogue with the city's Jewish community. He launched an outreach program for families affected by HIV and AIDS, a prison ministry, and a "Mercy Store" that provides donated food and supplies to the needy. In addition, he created a training institute for church lay leaders, supervised a half-million dollar renovation of church facilities, and oversaw a $750,000 annual budget.
Dr. Braxton left Douglas Memorial in 2000 to join the faculty at Wake Forest University as a founding preaching professor in their new divinity school, which was established to provide a training ground for moderate and progressive religious leaders. While at Wake Forest, he took a second trip to Africa, where he was introduced to the presence of the African ancestors and the notion that even when people die, they still surround us and intercede on our behalf to empower us.
In 2004, Dr. Braxton left Wake Forest to become Associate Professor of Homiletics and New Testament at the divinity school at Vanderbilt University, one of the most progressive theological schools in the country. He is also a member of a team of scholars who have created the first African American lectionary. This resource is an on-line, ecumenical preaching and worship lectionary.
On the basis of his research and publications investigating cultural and religious aspects of trans-Atlantic slavery, Dr. Braxton was chosen to be one of the distinguished Bray Lecturers in 2006-2007. The engagement was part of the bicentennial celebration of the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire. As part of the lectureship, Dr. Braxton visited Ghana and met with religious leaders, and preached on the role of religion in the oppression and liberation of people of African descent. He also preached a sermon in Westminster Abbey on peace and non-violence. As testament to the enduring love and loyalty Dr. Braxton inspires, more than 20 members of Douglas Memorial Church flew to London on their own expense to hear him preach.
Dr. Braxton has published three books, and countless articles and sermons, in addition to preaching across the country and around the world. He has carved out a reputation as a man deeply committed to pastoral work and the theological academy who is able to move seamlessly between these two communities. Dr, Braxton is also renowned for his passion for justice and inclusion as well as for his experience in interdenominational, interracial, international, and interfaith contexts among persons of all ages.
While Dr. Braxton's work has taken him all over the world, he has never forgotten his roots, his home, and his family, who have sustained and inspired him throughout his life.
Dr. Braxton's partner in life and in ministry is his wife, Lazetta, to whom he has been married for ten years. A certified financial planner, she is principal and CEO of her own financial planning firm. They have a three-year-old daughter, Karis.
|
|
Fellow Kinetics Faith & Justice Network member, Dr. Eric McDaniel, is researching the degree to which churches actively discuss various health issues ranging from heart disease to domestic violence. The survey will ask questions in regards to the actual activities of the church, such as programs or message sent to the congregation or community. It will also examine pastor's attitudes towards these issues and their perception of member attitudes.
We are looking for 800 pastors who would be willing to participate. The survey will be made available via the internet this coming Fall. If your church is interested in participating in this survey please email me at [email protected] . Please include name of church, pastor, and your contact information.
Please support this valuable research and our brother. In love & service,
| |
