This is a sensitive subject. Pastors fear misunderstanding or accusations of a personal gripe and so rarely address it. Yet, because it is not properly addressed, many churches fail to look after their pastors. I believe this is through neglect and thoughtlessness, rather than a deliberate policy of keeping the pastor ‘poor and humble’. 

Care covers a wide area. I refer here to some practical issues that are relevant. Care must include not just salary and accommodation but expenses for travel and study, pensions, holidays, length of working week, workload and opportunities for fellowship with other pastors. 

Writing about this to Timothy, Paul says teaching and preaching elders are worthy of double honour (1 Timothy 5:17,18). Even if this is not double salary (gasps from the church treasurer!), many pastors could have their salaries doubled and still be below the criteria I propose. The quotations Paul uses to expand what he says indicate, firstly, generosity (don’t muzzle the ox as it treads the corn) and, secondly, a proper appreciation of the work done (the labourer is worthy of his hire).

So what should the pastor’s salary be?

Many churches try to equate their pastor’s salary to that of a state school teacher (currently £15,000-£35,000 depending on a wide range of factors, including age, experience, responsibility and effectiveness). However, teachers’ salaries have fallen back over the years and are not necessarily a reliable guide. It must be admitted that some pastors would welcome a teacher’s salary, as their own net income is rarely above the minimum taxable level (currently £4,385 per annum, about £84 per week).

Should pastors be expected to claim additional income from the State? I would suggest that, whatever the extenuating circumstances, this is not what Scripture means by double honour. The current threshold for ‘working family credit’ as it is now called (assuming a family with two children under 16) is £275 net per week. A family receiving less than this sum per week is entitled to claim this credit.

My own view is that, in the UK culture, the pastor’s remuneration package should equate to the average income of member families in the church he serves. Thus in a wealthy area with high property prices, the pastor should not one of the ‘poor relations’. Conversely, in a lower paid area, with more modest property prices, the pastor should not expect a higher standard of income than his flock. This diversity can be seen in the same town or within a few miles of other similar churches. Average church family income takes into account pensioners, students, highly paid or unemployed.

Many wives of church members work to supplement family income. Pastor’s wives do not always have this option as they fulfil a supportive role to their husbands providing hospitality; chaperoning women members or enquirers who come for counsel or instruction; or looking after children. Some churches regard the pastor’s wife as an unpaid church assistant with an undefined role but require her availability (another subject, worthy of research!).

Many churches provide free accommodation for pastors. This can lead to underpayment as there are different opinions as to what the accommodation is worth. I suggest, as a guide, that the pastor’s pay can be calculated from the theoretical mortgage amount likely to be paid for the manse, should it have been purchased. A mortgage repayment should equal approximately a third of the total salary. So if a manse worth £75,000 requires a 100% mortgage of £600 a month to service its repayments over 25 years, then a salary should be £600 x 12 = £7,200 x 3 = £21,600, of which two thirds is salary unrelated to mortgage, ie £14,400 per annum. This example can be used for any part of the country to reflect property prices and salary required to service this in the UK property owning culture. (There will always be exceptions, such as an ancient 6 bedroom manse whose size and value exceeds present requirements or the pioneering scenario where a church is not yet formed or is very small.)

As 67% of UK households own their own property it is an unresolved question as to why pastors should be excluded from acquiring an asset that most take for granted. If a manse is provided and the pastor’s salary adjusted in the light of that, how can a pastor ever afford a mortgage? The mortgage provides property for the pastor and his wife in their retirement. This is the most pressing issue that pastors have to face. They are willing to sacrifice earthly possessions, whilst in the ministry, but are frequently forced to forego them in retirement also. Many in this situation have seen the Lord’s intervention and provision, but that does not justify churches’ neglect of this issue.

When did your pastor get a rise?

One pastor told me he had his first rise in five years, last year. This is clearly wrong. Even pensioners have modest annual rises. The salary should also reflect a pastor’s enlargement or responsibility – a growing church, an assistant to supervise. Areas that in commercial life would give occasion to a rise should also be considered. A pastor did not accept his role for commercial considerations and he may not wish to accept the rise offered, nevertheless it should be offered.

The remuneration package should also include expenses. No pastor can operate effectively without a car. Rises in fuel and car maintenance costs often exceed inflation. The most effective tax position is for a pastor to own his own car and charge mileage allowance to the church. A realistic expenses allowance can remove a particularly worrying area of outgoings.
 

Pensions and life insurance

The care of your pastor should extend to the provision of a retirement pension. A lack of forethought here means many pastors cannot afford to retire. A percentage of income or a minimum of £1,000pa should be put aside for the future as the state pension continues to wither in the amount it can buy.

Life insurance is also necessary against the risk of premature death or injury particularly where a family relies on the pastor as the sole source of income. 

Holidays

The pastor should have opportunity to enjoy the same entitlement as his church members. I suggest that four weeks per annum is the current average. This is in addition to other Sundays preaching elsewhere. The pastor should have sufficient income to enjoy a holiday abroad with his family, if that is what is the norm in the church. Why should the pastor be different in these matters? 

Workload

If your pastor works more than 48 hours a week (as I expect he does), then he must sign a waiver under the ‘working time directive’ of the current employment regulations. No specific wording has been designed, but the pastor and one of the church officers should sign the mutually agreed document.

Is the pastor given at least a full day off each week, when he and his family are not disturbed? This is essential to the health and wellbeing of the pastor and ultimately the quality of his ministry.

In addition, the church officers must regularly review the pastor’s workload itself. Is he overworking? Is he delegating? Is he spending his time on matters outside the church? How many committees is he on? Does he accept too many outside engagements? The pastor has to be accountable for these matters.

The church may be willing to accept that their pastor has a role to play on a regional, national or international level. Such situations are best dealt with openly before being entered into. There is usually a price to pay for such ‘extra curricular’ activity, unless thought through and covered in advance. 

Disaffection

Sometimes there is disaffection between pastor and people generally, not sufficient to cause the pastor to leave, but enough to create an atmosphere of unease and loss of confidence. It may be the pastor’s ministry has become boring, predictable or dry, but no one is prepared to say. It may be the pastor needs a break or someone to confide in. Church officers must be alert to such matters as part of the mutual care of each other. The pastor should not be ‘punished’, through his remuneration package: by a failure to upgrade or review, or the removing of a ‘perk’.

Disaffection or the loss of confidence should be addressed openly in the scriptural way, if necessary with witnesses and the matter laid to rest or resolved by mutual consent. Brooding silence over perceived grievances makes mountains of molehills. 

A way forward

In summary, from my own limited perspective, I am aware that many pastors do not enjoy the level of remuneration I have suggested. Many rely on the charity of family and friends outside the church, which is against the grain of Scripture. I am not convinced that even the modest proposals I make here answer the definition of ‘double honour’.

Many reading this would respond, ‘but we just cannot afford to pay our pastor in this way’. This may be true now. But this is not an issue to be settled in one stroke. Start by reviewing the situation; determine a target and a strategy to get there and take it one step at a time. A real holiday this year (not a ‘busman’s holiday’), an above inflation rise next year, a sharing of the onerous task that would give the pastor more time with his family or an evening. It can and should be done.

The task of pastoring is difficult enough and a pastor is more vulnerable than most to Satan’s attacks. The pastor is an undershepherd of Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church. He deserves to be encouraged and supported to such a level that he and his family do not worry constantly how to make ends meet, but can carry out that role to the honour and glory of the Lord and the blessing of his church.

Back to main articles page

Top of page