Do pastors owe apologies for getting rich?
When ministers are asking God’s people to give them money for their teachings and their songs, they do need to be cautioned not to live way above the people to whom they minister. When they do live way above them, they create a snare for themselves and they cause other problems.
Scripture has not much positive to say about those that seek to profit from their spiritual gift (think Balaam) or profit through purchasing a spiritual gift (Simon of Acts 8 fame comes to mind).
Paul specifically addresses the issue to his mentee minister in training, Timothy, when he states in I Tim. 6:9 FF “…But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things…”
Anecdotally, I have had over my years of ministry 10 good pastor friends who became quite financially successful in business/ministry while they were pastoring; nine have had to leave the ministry for moral reasons, most of whom were never able to put their marriages back together.
Just some observations.
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Lee
Congregationally governed churches should provide 3 regular documents to membership:
A Budget: Annually … to be voted upon by membership
Income and Expense statement: Monthly to deacons & all members who ask. Quarterly at business meeting
Balance sheet: Quarterly at business meeting
If Christians are personally responsible for the salary of the Pastor (1 Timothy 5:16-18), then in Congregationally governed churches, members should be able to vote on the pastor’s salary
If a pastor has or acquires wealth outside of the ministry (examples: authoring books, inheritance, et cetera), it’s his business
not serving the Lord very well with it? Should middle income Christians apologize to their church for wasting money when their church has needs? Should poor Christians apologize for not working harder?
Having wealth is a unique responsibility that few have to carry and be steward of. Just as ministers have unique burdens others would not realize or understand, those that are considered wealthy have things that could become “snares”. The I Tim 6 text indicates that those “who would be rich” are in trouble because they desire to be rich. Few desire to be stewards. If you desire to be a steward YOU BETTER BE A GOOD ONE. It does not matter if you make $25,000 or $250,000 per year are you being a good steward?
Another problem lies not in the “wealthy” but those who appoint themselves to judge them. Should one that has the opportunity to obtain wealth to use for the Lord’s work forgo that unique service opportunity because some would be critical? If you have ever prayed for God to meet a huge financial need for a church, missionary, Bible college, camp or other Christian cause it is hypocritical for you to be critical of the wealthy steward. How did you think God would meet those needs? Drop cash like manna? Someone had to earn it in order to give it.
Deu 8:17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’
Deu 8:18 You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
The OP question should eliminate “pastors” and insert “Christian”. What matters is how any of us handle what we are entrusted with..if you relate to the OP. That’s a broad question since so many of our forefathers of the faith were wealthy.
As to pastors, there is a much deeper issue. For many of the readers here who are accustomed to small and medium sized conservative churches, the concept of a pastor having wealth seems very foreign. But it is very real. The issue I see with most of the wealthy pastors is that they do so by heavy double or triple dipping within their ministry venues.
How it works: Pastor takes ample study time for sermons. Then has sermons transcribed into books, bible studies, video series, etc. Pastor goes out and promotes them on ministry time. Now he comes back and says I built a house on book/video/conference revenue.
Here’s another version for a pastor not well known enough to be selling books. Pastor convinces leaders he only needs minimal office time. So he only commits to about 8 hours of office time per week. He also convinces church he needs each July off for study. He also goes into cruise control 75% of the December/January holiday season while other staffers handle responsibilities. He also sets himself up as the lone church travel correspondent hopping to various continents around the globe 4 - 6 times per year. Each of these trips and expenses are billed to the church, not to mention the time off. So this pastor of a small to medium sized church doesn’t need a large salary per se, when he works 20 - 25 hours per week and builds 10 weeks off into his schedule.
It’s really a corporate mindset. So many of these “pastors” are simply using the gospel as a product. Package it up neatly each week, sell to ear tickling seekers. Everybody feels good. Everybody goes home a winner.
I think the questions hinges partially on how the pastor got rich. If he is collecting a salary from the church that far exceeds the income of the majority of the members, then yes, I see a problem. If he is living wisely, within his means, on a salary established by the church and in line with the average member’s income, and he handles his finances well gaining wealth from investment, no, I don’t think he owes anyone an apology. Same thing with proceeds from a book deal. If he short-changed the church in order to carve out time to write the book, there is a problem. If he burned the midnight oil and weekend hours pecking away at his book around his fulfilled church responsibilities, he cannot be blamed for working above and beyond his responsibilities and reaping the benefit.
Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?
This whole issue is another reason why I prefer to be bi-vocational. No one can complain that I’m being self-serving or making too much money when I teach / preach on generous giving, even if I make more than the average church member.
If pastors make significant money from their investments or outside activities, I’d recommend (not request) they forego their church salary to silence the complainers, but I’d not begrudge them their wealth.
How all too often it really works these days.
http://www.pajamapages.com/how-steven-furtick-turns-mediocre-books-into-mansions/
How all too often it really works these days.
Out of curiosity, Wayne, how often does it work like this? Can you give an us idea of how many pastors are doing this? Maybe a percentage or something?
I don’t think I’ve ever personally known an overpaid pastor
It seems in most cases either the church is very tight with raises or otherwise nickels and dimes him
In my mind the pastoral compensation should:
- Enable him to buy a house (get a mortgage … 30 year)
- Have sufficient funds for his needs - be considerate about his family size and the extra needed for a larger family
- Have an auto allowance (or mileage allowance)
- Allowance for other expenses
- Provision of a nice laptop and printer - with replacement plan every 36-42 months)
- High speed internet to the church for his office
- Either and IPhone or Android phone
- 3-4 weeks of paid vacation
- Church side of Social security paid
- Plus perhaps another 3% matching for an IRA
- A book allowance of $ 50 per month
- Et cetera
- Also pay a substantial amount toward his health care insurance
it would be good for the deacons to appoint a subcommittee to work with the pastor on his pastoral compensation package. These men should be sympathetic and generous of heart
And here’s a good tradition: take up a love offering for him and his family every Christmas
Consider providing your pastor a Christmas gift every year! These are God’s servants and should be honored
When it comes to the benefits package for pastoral staff, I’ve found this site tremendously helpful: http://ssfoundation.net/
Under the “The Pastor and His Benefits Package,” SSF recommends the following:
- Pay his salary based on a fair and livable wage (the principle of generosity).
- Fringe benefits should include:
Full family medical insurance
Retirement plan (403b)
Disability insurance
$100,000 of term life insurance (add value of $50,000 as income) - Reimburse pastor for all professional expenses out of general fund category not compensation.
- Church should pay portion of pastor’s social security obligation as a taxable bonus.
- Help pastor buy his own home.
- Give pastor and wife opportunity to attend three church conferences a year at church expense.
- Church should give pastor four weeks of vacation per year including four Sundays.
[Larry]How all too often it really works these days.
Out of curiosity, Wayne, how often does it work like this? Can you give an us idea of how many pastors are doing this? Maybe a percentage or something?
As a percentage of all pastors, I would imagine it is a tiny fraction. In terms of celebrity mega-church pastors, it is becoming the way to do things. Furtick, Noble, Young, MacDonald, Jakes, etc. etc. That matters, because those are the names in the public eye.
[T Howard]When it comes to the benefits package for pastoral staff, I’ve found this site tremendously helpful: http://ssfoundation.net/
http://ssfoundation.net/pastors/?qa_faqs=the-pastor-and-his-salary-pack…
I’ve seen few churches that provide a salary package this generous
As a percentage of all pastors, I would imagine it is a tiny fraction.
Then it would probably be best not to say that it happens “all too often,” when it fact it happens very infrequently.
[Larry]As a percentage of all pastors, I would imagine it is a tiny fraction.
Then it would probably be best not to say that it happens “all too often,” when it fact it happens very infrequently.
You will have to forgive me for completely disagreeing with you. When it is widely known and in the media regularly, and the enemies of the Lord can point to many well known examples, it is beyond “far too often.” I was being measured in my expression earlier. It is worse than that.
Discussion