In absolutely practical terms I do not
know of a subject that is thought about more and talked about less in public by
the typical pastor and his family then the pastor's salary. Perhaps there are
some saintly men of God whose minds dwell only upon faith, hope, charity, and
the lost souls of the Nigerian people but I do not know any men like that. The
men I know – and I know rather well more than a hundred IFB pastors – live in
the same real world that everyone else does.
Some may say in response that such
subjects are private and that very few people openly discuss their own needs
and salary. While this is true there is one tremendous difference: the pastor's
salary is not private. It is public knowledge arrived at in the most public of
ways. I do not know of a single layman (and please do not hang me for that
term; I do not mean it in any way disrespectfully but simply as a
differentiation) who would be comfortable with an entire church full of people
knowing the intimate details of his salary. Nor would he be comfortable with
that salary and benefits package being determined in a public manner by a large
number of his closest friends and acquaintances. But the pastor accepts this
situation. He must make the best of it and one of the ways he makes the best of
it is simply not to discuss it nor to allow his wife and children to discuss
it. So the elephant just sits there while everyone politely pretends it doesn't
exist.
For the next few weeks on this blog I
am going to discuss this elephant. I will do so primarily from an independent,
fundamental Baptist (IFB) perspective. Not only is this my only real area of
expertise but it is also where the biggest need for an educational increase
lies. I will try to be balanced though that probably just means I will offend
all kinds of people from every angle of the spectrum. I plan to discuss such
topics as the pastor's necessary mindset (today's post), the bivocational
pastor, the causes for an unacceptable salary, the victims of that situation,
what an appropriate pay package ought to include, and how to arrive at those
specific numbers. Along the way I will be fairly transparent telling much of my
own personal history and situation. I wholeheartedly invite you to enter into this
discussion with me either via the comments on this blog or on my own facebook page. I am very interested in hearing the perspective of God's people -
pastors, staff, and lay people. If nothing else gets accomplished perhaps we
can at least agree to stop ignoring the elephant in the living room.
Let me say unequivocally at the outset
that I am not aiming at my own church. In fact, I am not aiming at any
particular church let alone my own. For the past eleven years God has allowed
me to pastor the Maplewood Bible Baptist Church of Chicago. At first
they were weak in this area but over a number of years their understanding
deepened as I sought to gradually and gently teach them their responsibility. I
can honestly write that I do not personally know of a similar size IFB church
that takes better care of their pastor than Maplewood does of me. I have no ax
to grind. They count my position worthy of double honor.
In fact, I do not want to begin with
the church at all. I want to begin with the pastor. There are two absolutely
essential monetary mindsets that a pastor must constantly cultivate in the
Lord's work. The first is contentment and the second is a willingness to
sacrifice. Without these, whether the church fulfills her responsibility well
or not, he will inevitably fail.
Contentment is stressed from one end
of the Bible to the other. The Ten Commandments includes Thou shalt not covet. (Exodus 20.17) Covetousness is, at its root,
a lack of contentment in the circumstance into which God has placed you. I am
not content with my house; I want my neighbor's house. I am not content with my
wife; I want my neighbor's wife. Paul, in an epistle aimed directly at pastors,
would later mention contentment more specifically in a financial context. But godliness with contentment is great
gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry
nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. (I
Timothy 6.6-8)
Practically speaking, this means I am
satisfied with my salary regardless of how measly it is. It means that I am
happy in my parsonage regardless of the crumbling state of its maintenance. It
means I am comfortable with my retirement package even if it doesn't exist.
Contentment does not rule out a desire or effort to better my financial
situation but it does rule in a heart peace with the material circumstances of
my life. I do not cast my eye across town to the senior pastor of the more
established church who enjoys a veritable plethora of benefits. Nor do I roam
further afield and behold with envy my Southern Baptist brethren and the
amazing health plan they enjoy. Instead, as often as necessary, I take my concern,
fear, and unease to the Lord. I ask Him to settle my heart and to let me be at
peace with what He has seen fit to provide.
This is such a necessary element for a
pastor especially because discontentment will not remain isolated to the
financial arena. Soon I will want a larger ministry. Soon I will covet some
other church building. Soon I will find that ambition, pride, and a striving
for mastery rule in a heart that once wanted nothing more than to be spent in
God's work however He might choose. I realize the ditch of fatalism and
cynicism exist on this side of the road. But I cannot, however, justify an
envious, unhappy, discontented spirit with the excuse that I am simply
maintaining a passionate desire to advance the cause of Christ.
I will speak more of this later but I
began the ministry by living in a room that was five feet wide and seven feet
long in a building that had neither shower nor bathtub. In His grace He has
allowed me to enjoy a four bedroom, three bath house for the last eleven years
but if He wanted me to remain in those cramped conditions that is His right. I
am a servant in His vineyard. If he wants to pay me a penny a day for eleven
hours of work or a penny a day for one hour of work it is completely His
prerogative.
Contentment is not just resignation
either. It is an active faith that says I believe the Lord will meet my needs.
My father was a pastor for thirty-eight years. Upon entering the ministry he
opted out of Social Security. Along the way he never developed a plan to replace
it. We could and should discuss the merits of the wisdom of that approach but I
know him exceedingly well. His heart was simply to serve the Lord. When the
time came a few years ago for him to retire he expressed a child-like trust in
the Lord's provision. Guess what? The Lord has and is providing. Whether your
church grasps the necessity of its financial responsibility in the area of you
and your family or not you can and should cultivate contentment.
It is not unusual to find such a
spirit of sacrifice in young men freshly entered upon ministry. It is more
unusual to find it in the mature pastor, in the seasoned servant of the Lord.
Often, with that transition from young to old comes the accompanying idea that
our time of sacrifice is over. There is only one problem with that – God never
implied such, let alone stated it, and we have no right to infer it. Certainly
a church should strive to make such financial sacrifice unnecessary in the life
of a pastor but just as certainly he must be always willing to undertake it.
An applied corollary of sacrifice is
the foundational principle that I must not damage the church. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor
to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God. (I Corinthians 10.32) The church
has a responsibility to provide generously for my financial needs but that does
not mean I have the right to demand that generous compensation. Especially if
in so demanding I hurt the church.
I am thinking at the moment of two
specific gospel preaching churches that used to be located within a mile of our
church here in Chicago. They no longer exist. In the first case the pastor
inherited a large, crumbling building with a congregation of only thirty. He
led them to sell the building and the parsonage. I saw the wisdom in that. But
what he did next was not wise; it was predatory. He pushed them to buy him a
condo, a "summer parsonage" in Michigan, and jack his pay up to over
$100,000 a year. Meanwhile his church drifted down from thirty to less than
ten. For about five years he milked the situation until the money ran out and
then he rode off into the sunset. I full well understand the high cost of
living in the inner city and while I do not make $100,000 a year it does not
bother me if a pastor does. Unless in so doing he hurts the church. Which is
precisely what he did. In the second case a man of great experience (which
means he was getting old) refused to relinquish the pastorate even as he
entered his declining years. He had been there for thirty years and, like my
father, had made no provision for retirement. Unlike my father, however, he
hung on like grim death. As his health, energy, and mental faculties declined
he presided over a corresponding decline in his church. An IFB church that once
ran 150 in Sunday School could muster only a dozen or so at the end. Finally,
unable to pay the bills, the congregation voted to sell the building, close the
church, and give the proceeds to the pastor to live off of in retirement. I
applaud that aspect of the church's approach but the hard truth is the church
should never have been placed in that position. The pastor's selfishness and
fear – hard words, I know, but true – murdered a church in order to ensure his
own financial security.
Sacrifice says, 'If the damage must
come to either the church or myself let me be the one to suffer loss.' A pastor
who is unwilling or unable to believe that in his heart and practice it with
his life is unworthy of the position.
In this series I will make no bones
about what a church ought to do financially in relation to a pastor but if that
pastor allows discontentment to breed in his heart a sufficient paycheck will
not solve the problem. And though a pastor should not have to undergo serious
financial damage in order to ensure the stability and future of his church he
must always be willing to do so. Always.
Nice start. I like your foundational truths. Looking forward to more.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insight, I could not agree more. I look forward to the next post.
ReplyDelete