Growth Points with Dr. Mc

Pastoral Salary Schedules

There are four main ways that churches develop pastoral salary packages.

The Flat-Rate Model: Using this method, a church board assigns an arbitrary salary to a pastor with little regard to experience, training, cost of living, or other critical factors. It is a simple method to use, but usually results in irregular evaluation, which may allow a pastor to go years without much of an increase.

The Experience and Role Method: This approach is built on the assumption that those with the most years of experience and greater responsibility deserve the highest compensation. It is a better approach than the flat-rate method, but may lead to inequity between staff members doing similar work.

The Comparable-Worth Method: This method is developed by comparing a pastoral staff position to a secular job that requires similar training, experience, and responsibility. Local public schools are the comparable model used by many churches. For example, a high school principle’s compensation package is used as a guideline for paying a senior pastor, while a high school teacher’s salary is used as a guideline for an associate pastor. It is a good model to use, as public school salaries are regularly updated to reflect cost of living and local adjustments. However, pastors work year round, while teachers may only work nine to ten months a year. Thus, adjustments are required.

The Base-Salary Method: This method requires the development of a cash salary scale beginning with the lead pastor position. Once an equitable cash salary is determined for the lead position, then other pastor’s cash salaries are indexed to it. For example, an associate pastor might receive 80% of the lead pastor’s salary, an assistant pastor 60%, and a director 40%, etc. Supplements to the cash salary are then added to reflect experience, education, and other factors to make up an entire package.

A base-salary method is recommended as an equitable way to develop a pastoral compensation plan. It has several advantages over the other methods.

It provides guidelines for advancement. A new staff person may be brought in at one level and then, after gaining experience, advanced to the next level based on a well thought out schedule.

It provides incentive for effective ministry. The clear steps of promotion give pastoral staff an added incentive for fulfilling their role. As their ministry grow, so will their position and salary as they advance from director to assistant pastor to associate pastor.

It provides objectivity for salary negotiation. Real or imagined inequities between staff persons doing similar work is eliminated.

Which method is your church currently using? How well is it working? What could you do to begin using a base-salary method?

If you found this blog helpful, please share it with your friends and network.