Finances are a difficult area for churches and the presbytery. In your communication with the local congregation, you might want to suggest something like the following.
As you prepare the financial package for your pastor and staff, we encourage you to explore some options that can benefit your pastor but not cost the church additional funds. The presbytery is willing to help you explore these options. For example, there can be an advantage in working with the pastor in offering some “pretax” benefits. A church can offer the opportunity to purchase some life insurance, designate a book allowance, and provide an expense account from which the pastor can draw for reimbursement out of pretax dollars. It doesn’t cost the church any more but simply breaks up the financial package in a way that benefits the pastor with respect to taxes.
It is not uncommon for there to be some grumbling and sniping at pastoral salaries by individual members of the congregation. It might be helpful for the church leadership to educate the congregation by providing some comparative figures with respect to other comparable professions. What is the average pay level for professions that require a master’s degree and two foreign languages? What is a chief executive paid that manages a multiple volunteer staff, has skills in counseling, provides a professional presentation each week, and is the chief financial officer at the same time?
An educational experience can be offered at a church night supper where each table is asked to develop a livable budget for their community taking into account the cost of groceries, mortgage, transportation, education, etc. Those leading the group might have done some research for accurate ranges in some of the more difficult areas. After each table has filled in figures for a blank budget provided them, the totals are shared and an average moderate living scale is developed. This might help people be aware of the financial stress that is being dealt with by their church staff.
Sometimes higher salaries are not available but at least there could be some significant appreciation for the challenge that is facing the pastor and family. It might help some congregations understand why the spouse has to have an additional job to help make ends meet. Please feel free to contact us if we can be of assistance in this area.
