On Laying Up Treasures
Among the recent criticisms of Bob Jones University, one of the strangest is that the university’s teachers are poorly paid. One critic even prepared a chart showing faculty salaries from independent four-year colleges and universities throughout South Carolina, locating Bob Jones University at the bottom of the salary scale. The (anonymous) critic took this lack of munificence as such an obvious scandal as not even to require comment.
Plenty could be said about the survey itself. Comparisons of this sort are rarely as helpful (or, in this case, as damaging) as they are meant to be. The variables are simply too significant for direct evaluations to be made.
A larger issue is at stake, however. The fact is that the published salaries at Bob Jones University are not greatly out of line with faculty salaries at most Fundamentalist institutions of higher learning (especially if regional cost of living is taken into account). Professors in Fundamentalist institutions are paid far less than their peers in comparable secular colleges and universities.
This situation extends further than just Fundamentalism. Many broadly evangelical schools do not pay their professors much more. I have degrees from two large, evangelical seminaries. In one of those institutions, a tenured professor told one of my classes that, in order to support his family, he had to make $10,000 to $15,000 of outside income every year. A recent reporting instrument shows that institution paying an average salary of only $25,000 per year, less than the reported average for the Bob Jones faculty.
While average salaries are low for Christian professors, they can be even lower for pastors. Many pastors receive no more compensation than professors at Bob Jones. In fact, many receive substantially less. Smaller churches frequently offer salary packages that virtually require pastors (or their spouses) to work outside jobs.
The people who take these positions—these professorships and pastorates—are obviously not taking them for the money. Some other concern is in play. That concern can be expressed in various ways: ministry, serving the Lord, the care of souls. Jesus called it “laying up treasures in heaven.”
When I was thirteen years old, my father left his management position with a major airline to go to Bible college. Over the next several years I watched my parents live by faith, dividing time between schooling, work, family, and, eventually, ministry. In time, I saw my father take pastoral positions without ever asking what his compensation would be. He was convinced that, if he trusted the Lord, then God would supply our needs. God did.
Years later, my own college complete, I attended seminary at an institution where salaries were not only low, they were regularly in arrears. My professors went and found second jobs so that they could continue their ministries in the classroom. These were talented, bright individuals with good educations. They could have gone elsewhere and made plenty of money. But they were committed to the ministry that the Lord had given them. As they saw it, they were serving the Lord. They were caring for souls. They were laying up treasure in heaven.
Episodes like these have affected me deeply. It does something to you when you know that your professor spent the previous night working as a janitor so that he could have the opportunity to be in class teaching you in the morning. Consequently, I am aware that my education is not simply a product that I have purchased, much less an entitlement. It has been given to me as a gift by men and women who have made willing sacrifices, partly because of their love for the Lord, and partly because of their hopes for me. What I have received is something like a trust, committed to me in the hope that I would be able to communicate it to others in turn. To misuse this gift for personal advancement or worldly gain would be a betrayal of the trust.
Not that I am an ascetic. Far from it. I am grateful, not only for the daily provision of needs, but also for a fair number of creature comforts. These I take as additional gifts with which God has seen fit to entrust me. These material things are good, and I rejoice in them. They are not, however, the reason that I choose to minister.
Now, I am embarrassed to have spent these past paragraphs talking about myself. The point is not that I am a wonderful person (much as I wish that were true!). The point is that my own life has been irrevocably altered and bettered by people who did exactly what the faculty at Bob Jones University is doing. By virtue of their sacrifice, I have been made immeasurably richer in the ways that matter most.
What I am trying to do is to describe the attitude that leads highly talented and educated people to settle for salaries that the carnally-minded see as laughable. As a teenager, I saw this attitude in my parents. As a student, I saw it in my professors. As president of Central Seminary, I saw it in colleagues (both staff and faculty) who petitioned me to lower their compensation so that the seminary could prosper.
Because I have been an administrator, I also understand the responsibility that an institution bears toward such self-sacrificing people. Precisely because they can be taken advantage of so easily, they are a sacred trust. God will hold the institution and its leaders responsible for their treatment. My sympathies are with every administrator who struggles with decisions about raising salaries versus meeting other institutional concerns. Professors are not well served if they receive higher compensation (which they surely deserve) for a year, only to see their institution close its doors.
I celebrate the professors at Bob Jones University whose lives do not consist in the abundance of their possessions. I rejoice over teachers like them in Christian institutions all over the country, teachers for whom ministry is more important than wealth. I honor and esteem pastors who sacrifice personal financial prosperity in order to shepherd souls. These people truly are laying up treasure in heaven.
Lord of the Worlds Above
Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Lord of the worlds above,
How pleasant and how fair
The dwellings of thy love,
Thine earthly temples, are:
To thine abode my heart aspires,
With warm desires to see my God.
O happy souls that pray
Where God appoints to hear!
O happy men that pay
Their constant service there!
They praise thee still; and happy they
That love the way to Zion’s hill.
They go from strength to strength,
Through this dark vale of tears,
Till each arrives at length,
Till each in heav’n appears:
O glorious seat, where God, our King,
Shall thither bring our willing feet!
God is our Sun and Shield,
Our Light and our Defense;
With gifts his hands are filled;
We draw our blessings thence.
Thrice happy he, O God of hosts,
Whose spirit trusts alone in thee.
Kevin T. Bauder Bio
This essay is by Dr. Kevin T. Bauder, who serves as Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN). Not every professor, student, or alumnus of Central Seminary necessarily agrees with every opinion that it expresses.
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Pastor Mike Harding
Compensation issues are always a difficult topic and there is no way that the limitations of a forum like this can provide for an adequate discussion. I’ve spent the last 25 years trying to navigate this administrative ministry minefield and its myriad facets of consideration and will quickly admit that I have never been satisfied for a single day with where we were. The one thing that IS essential in the process of human resources in a ministry setting is clear and transparent communication and a sound financial policy which follows industry standards of percentages, budgeting and ratios. When we turn these policies and practices into a political tug-of-war, issues for contention, unbalanced or unfair assignments or something that is addressed by ongoing and frequent turnover, then we have abdicated responsibility and invited scorn and wounded/devalued feelings from those who so faithfully serve.
Dan Burrell Cornelius, NC Visit my Blog "Whirled Views" @ www.danburrell.com
In addition to faculty, I also had a lot of contact with staff workers, especially maintenance staff. I worked seven years on the maintenance staff in the summers and Christmas vacations. These guys didn’t make much, but they also could make a good bit on Saturdays on side jobs. But they were committed to the mission of the school. They loved the atmosphere for the most part. Many got free Christian K-college education for their kids. That’s not a minor detail. For those who really believe in the value of Christian education, that benefit was priceless to say, a brick mason who would have no way to pay for such education working a different job.
Neither I nor my parents would trade the experience of a unique environment for children to grow and flourish. But I did see some downsides to earlier forms of “socialism” (as Stephen Jones rightly named the old system). Over time, a mentality developed that every good and perfect gift came from the Bob. Some were trapped in the system to the point to where, if they left it, they wouldn’t reap the benefits of sacrifices they had made for decades. The wider society used to have workers that worked all their lives at one company. Now it’s different. We now work a few years at this job or that, then move on. BJU is now dealing with that reality and what employees demand because of that reality.
[Lee]Lee put his finger on a real point here. As an IT/DB manager for a small nonprofit, budgets aren’t always as clear as buildings or salary…do you invest, say, in the software to make the employee’s jobs easier or do you take that money and put it into training and education to make the older software last longer? Do you upgrade the three/four year old PC or just buy a new one? In a BJU’s case, do you build the desperately needed parking garage even though the pianos in the music building are badly out of tune and the maintenance department needs to repaint and recarpet all the dorms? And if you do the dorms, can you still pay for the internet switches and routers that are running at 98% capacity on a 10/100 network and didn’t get replaced last year?[sbradley] I can’t speak to the Bob Jones situation - I just don’t know enough. But it does break my heart when ministries, whether they be colleges or churches, build multi-million dollar facilities while they expect their staff to scrape along poverty level salaries. People first, facilities later.I agree with the sentiment; the reality, however, is significantly different.
With educational and camp ministries primarily in mind: Let’s be honest, in our culture to have credibility in either one of these endeavors requires both sufficient (even “elaborate”) facilities and people. The problem is that, except for the rarest occasion, the funding limitations will demand prioritizing one before the other. Facilities require absolutely hard funding. People, on the other hand, due to their commitment to the cause, pioneer spirit, or other factors, can, and many times must, be funded “softer.” The trick is to balance them properly and in a timely manner. And postulating “that’s not the way it should be” is not going to change the reality. It’s like sunrise—that’s just the way it is.
I’ve also sat on church boards where we had lengthy discussions about COLA/HSA/other compensation for the pastor - and in another church where the budget that I helped work on came under loud criticism because the pastor’s compensation was perceived as being more extravagant than the people in the church, and a proposed motion for a 5% raise (I think) nearly caused a fight. I wish I had the ability to fund every initiative and give fat bonuses, but that’s not reality, which is where passages like John 10:13 come into play.
It’s tough, and whoever leaked that salary data made the financial/accounting side much harder. I think Bauder was wise to address this issue, even in he and others can’t necessarily provide solutions.
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
“The workman is worthy … .” is a direct quote from Scripture. If we believe Scripture is what it says it is, then there is little point in dancing a jig around what God plainly expects. That the idea of being in Christian ministry for low pay—or even no pay—can be justified by saying it “is just the way it is” while pastors and administrators enjoy the fruits of their labors and educational qualifications at the same time those under them should count themselves fortunate that they get paid at all does not follow. Softer funding is a euphemism for something else.
Is it that Scripture applies to those it is preached at, but not to those who do the preaching (leading)? If one is in a position of authority, does that authority entitle them to wrest the Scriptures and sidestep its teachings … just because they are the leaders? Sauce … for the goose? I have seen pastors argue the same rationale for poverty teacher wages in their schools (softer funding), while they drive around in a Cadillac, Lincoln Continental, or Mercedes Benz. The teachers in their schools work 2nd jobs just to afford a used car. Pastors and administrators live in nice homes worth 6 figures and dabble in personal real estate investments while the teachers in their schools must share a cheap apartment or buy a mobile home. Call it “softer funding?”
It is almost tragically humorous to read of leadership boards coming to fisticuffs over giving raises when not a one of them would work for what they pay their teachers. While they rake in six figure incomes from their secular jobs, to then get in a fistfight over giving the teachers in their school a 4% pay raise—what is 4% of a $15,000-$17,000 starting salary anyway? Compare that to a 4% pay raise on a $75,000 salary! Then to justify such behavior by saying that is “just the way it is” … what does that say about the God we claim to serve. Is He not an involved party with a vested interest? The teachers are told they must live by faith, but few of the church leaders have a clue what living by faith really is. I know there are exceptions, but for crying out loud—when poverty level salaries are the norm across the board in most Christian ministries while the leaders enjoy comfortable competitive wages and benefits for their labors? I think those leaders will one day explain to God for that. After all, He says the workman is worthy of his hire.
There is no balance in such a skewed rationale. It boils down to simple double-talk.
TBD
Facilities require absolutely hard funding. People, on the other hand, due to their commitment to the cause, pioneer spirit, or other factors, can, and many times must, be funded “softer.”This is a solid point. I’d add that faulting an institution for spending lots of money on facilities tends to also be a short-term thinking problem. If you expect to be influencing leaders for generations, part of that package is that your institution becomes meaningful at every level. Buildings have meaning. Institutions that throw together ugly boxes—and are content with that—are clearly not looking comprehensively at their potency in the pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness.
I would never say “buildings before people,” but it’s also simplistic to say “people before buildings.”
Where serious effort to raise faculty salaries pays long-term dividends is that the institution has the ability to draw from a larger pool of applicants and to free their faculty up more to pursue their passions. If hirers have chosen well, those passions tend to go in directions that enhance the influence of the faculty and, therefore, of the institution much more than “Well, I have to feed my family so I guess I’ll try to publish a book” does.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Through the years our budget has been tight, but I can honestly say that my wife’s frugality is what has allowed us to stay in Christian work throughout our whole adult lives. The tuition benefit for our children was a huge plus, especially since we obviously are convinced of the importance of Christian education. By God’s grace, our kids have become well-adjusted adults who are serving the Lord out of hearts of love. There were aspects of being faculty children that made some expenditures impossible, but my kids never complained or felt deprived. In fact, they thanked me that they were able to finish four years of college and start adult life debt free. Also because of the Lord’s leading in my life, my kids were able to go to Europe at least 5 times (our youngest went 6 times) as my wife and I led summer missions teams to France. How many children of teachers in Christian schools can say that?! :-)
Everyone’s situation is different, and through the years I have tried to be careful not to judge people who have had to leave ministry because of finances. Everyone handles money differently, and every family’s needs are different. But it’s been so neat and faith-growing to see the Lord provide in unusual ways as we’ve depended on Him. It’s especially rewarding to see our kids trying to be frugal in their own homes.
I guess I just want to say that the Lord has been so good, and I would choose the same teaching positions again in a heartbeat if I could live my life all over again! No regrets.
Private school is more and more becoming out of reach for the average church family. The cost of private learning has increased dramatically over the increase of average people’s incomes in the last 20-30 years. State sponsored education is most folk’s only alternative. Private Christian universities, like BJU, have to think different than traditional methods. Will the economy improve? Yes, but not like in past. Schools need to plan for that reality.
For years BJU has tried to be ALL things to ALL people ALL over the world. It thought since it has all these majors that there is no reason anyone, anywhere should attend a secular undergraduate program. If, by chance, there is a field of study that wasn’t taught at a Christian university, then it’s not God’s calling that the student be in that field of study. As a result, BJU has now only 3-4K students yet provides 90 majors? That’s clearly financially unsustainable because you are paying faculty for majors that have a handful of participants; therefore, having to lower salaries for all faculty to meet budget constraints. Not only is it financially unsustainable, it waters down many majors and makes them substandard in the market even if the school obtains accreditation, leaving parents and students frustrated that much resource was spent with not alot to show for it. Parents can’t afford to be frivolous when it comes to spending $75K over four years of education.
BJU needs to take an honest look at their different programs and weed out ones that a. Do not have alot of student demand and b. Viewed substandard in the marketplace. Usually the two go hand in hand. School of Religion, Undergraduate Business, Education, Nursing, and certain Fine Arts programs seem to be solid BJU offerings for the marketplace. There may be others I’m not mentioning, but all need to be scrutinized and eliminated if the quality is lacking in order to save the good programs and give the remaining faculty better compensation. Point is, BJU needs to strive to not be THE only choice for all Christian students, but a good quality choice for some, depending on their field of calling.
So what do Christian parents do when their child wants to pursue an area where Christian universities do not excel? This is what me and many parents of teenagers are struggling with. I would love to send them to my alma mater and study, live, and befriend other Christian young people. To sit under wonderful Bible professors for classes I thoroughly enjoyed and have benefitted. But can we afford $75K of education when most likely they’ll need to pay out to a secular institution later to be accepted in their field?
I almost wish the University had some type of Bible Institute program where parents can send their children for a year before they go off to their secular field of study. One year of solid Bible classes, 18 hours a semester and living with other Christian students. I know there are online Bible courses they can take, but it’s not the same as being there in class, learning and interracting with other young people.
i apologize for my rambling..
227The Deuteronomy passage teaches that under the Mosaic Law even the needs of the working animals were to be a priority. Earl S. Kalland explains the passage by stating, “In the threshing process oxen or other heavy animals (especially donkeys) were led around a threshing floor, sometimes harnessed to a central pivot. The stalks of grain were laid on the floor, and the hooves of the animals and sometimes a sledge drawn by animals would separate the kernels from the stalks and hulls.” Earl S. Kalland, “Deuteronomy.” in EBC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 3:149. Paul applies this verse to the responsibility of the local church to care for those who minister the Word (1 Timothy 5:18, 1 Corinthians 9:9). This does not preclude Christian workers from exercising their right to give up that rightful compensation. This is what Paul and Barnabas did according to 1 Corinthians 9. This is what several of the elders do at Southeast Valley Baptist Church. They volunteer their time and energy as elders yet choose to work a secular job to meet the financial needs of their families. That does not make their position any less honorable. If anything it adds to their honor. The church’s commitment must be to pay what the servant needs and is worthy of. The servant may exercise the right to do without and supplement through other employment. That is very different than a church that chooses to ignore its responsibility because of a larger commitment to the “pyramid” or the “box.” To see clear evidence of this failure amongst contemporary ministries, especially within the context of Christian education, see the work done by Jeffrey P. Tuttle, “An analysis of Christian School Compensation Patterns In Pennsylvania” (D.Ed. diss., Bob Jones University, May 1988).
For whatever that’s worth - Straight Ahead!
jt
Dr. Joel Tetreau serves as Senior Pastor, Southeast Valley Bible Church (sevbc.org); Regional Coordinator for IBL West (iblministry.com), Board Member & friend for several different ministries;
The leaders often have a large portion of their daily expenses underwritten by the church. Teachers in the Christian school, on the other hand, must pay for their own utilities, car, personal insurance, house payments, etc. The Christian school teacher has the same financial obligations to support his family as does the pastor and school administrator, but often must do it on a paycheck that is half or less than what those in leadership make. To burden the teachers with having to work additional jobs to support their families, yet then simply excuse it as part of the self-sacrifice of working in a ministry actually detract from the effectiveness of their ministry. Time they must spend on a second job to make ends meet is time and effort they cannot use for preparation and development in the ministry to which they are called–unless they become “workaholics” and sacrifice all upon the altar of a particular ministry. Working until they lose their health, their position, and sometimes even their families—to say nothing of their joy and passion for the ministry. How many have burned themselves out of the ministry and what does the ministry they served in such a manner do to help them now? They suffer alone and forgotten.
Wiser ones have recognized the fact that they cannot support a family as teachers in Christian education and have thus left the ministry for something that would enable them to do so. A few have had the blessing of going into a related field, but most have not. Many excellent and gifted teachers have become salesmen, business men, electricians, builders, or re-trained for something entirely new. Christian education as a cause has suffered great loss as a result of its unwillingness to address this issue. God cannot be pleased with this either, no matter how we, here, may seek to attempt to justify the situation with other explanations.
The people who serve the Lord not just as a side-ministry, but as the means to put food on the table and support their families are worthy of their hire. Trying to skirt the issue by making it more complex than it really is doesn’t wash for me as a former Christian educator who now sits here semi-retired with nothing to show for the dedication and love and self-sacrifice given without reservation or question in those earlier years. When one can make as much being a greeter at Walmart as one can teaching in a Christian school … something is very wrong with such a picture. Pastors and administrators don’t want to see that and refuse to really do anything about it. Why?
1. They don’t really believe the Bible that the Lord will provide for their ministries. They feel compelled to balance their budgets on the backs of those who serve under them.
2. They really don’t believe God is able to provide for the needs of His own work, thus limiting His working through their ministry because of a lack of faith on their part.
3. They are hung up on the false security of their own authority and don’t really believe they will be held accountable. They forget that their teachers may be crying out to God for help as they work extra jobs to pay bills while their leaders don’t have to do that—they are well-taken care of. The Bible assures us that God HEARS those cries and will eventually act.
To say this is just the way Christian education is may partially explain its current demise. K-12 Christian education is now but a shadow of its former “glory” as increasing numbers of Christian parents either opt for homeschooling or the public schools. Many who led the cause of Christian education have really dropped the ball … badly. And—they have no one else to blame except themselves.
TBD
[Barry L.] Private school is more and more becoming out of reach for the average church family. The cost of private learning has increased dramatically over the increase of average people’s incomes in the last 20-30 years. State sponsored education is most folk’s only alternative.I would strongly disagree with this statement. It’s not out reach as much as it is out of priority. The question is really how important it is. If you want late model cars, and to own your own house, and cable, and electronic gadgets then you probably won’t be able to afford private school. However, if you believe training your children is one of the highest callings you have, and you believe that public education is detrimental and contrary to training up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, you will absolutely find a way.
Our family drives ‘97 and ‘01 vehicles. We rent our home. It’s been about five or six years since we could afford a vacation. I delivered pizza for several years. But my wife is a stay at home mom who homeschools our 11, 6 and 4 year olds because we believe the eternal value of what our children get is far more important than any temporal thing we could afford with a second income. It certainly can be done.
Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?
In response to Bauder’s “The Christian School” article here: http://sharperiron.org/article/christian-school
- If a church can partner with other churches to have a regional school, DO IT! This is superior to a single church hosting a school (Exemptions for churches over 500 in membership)
- If you cannot pay teachers an adequate salary plus benefits (like a health care plan and a 403(b) plan), DON“T START A SCHOOL! I’ve seen poor teachers at the near end of retirement who faithfully served in near poverty! Shame on the schools who treated them like slaves!
- If you cannot host a school with teachers who have degrees in the area in which they are to teach (Math teacher has a math degree or a math / teaching degree, et cetera), DON“T START A SCHOOL
- If you do not intend to seek accreditation, DON“T START A SCHOOL
- If your church is not financially sound, DON“T START A SCHOOL
- If you cannot honestly answer this question “YES” - to a church member, “It is your decision as to where to send your child to school. If you decide to send your child to a public school OR home school, we will still regard you as an equal in our church! And your child will be regarded as an equal in youth group!” - If cannot say “Yes” to this question … DON“T START A SCHOOL!
I think I would agree with all of your points except the first one. If a church starts a school, it can only be because they see discipling children in this way as part of their ministry (a point of discussion in and of itself). I do not agree with taking church ministry away from the church and giving it to parachurch organizations. The whole point of a parachurch ministry is supposed to be come along side a church and help it fulfill its ministry, not replace it. I think independent schools fall into this replacement category (and, yes, I mean at all levels).
Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?
[Chip Van Emmerik]I was referring to private college and university when I mentioned schools, not K5-12. The costs for those have not escalated as the cost of colleges and universities.[Barry L.] Private school is more and more becoming out of reach for the average church family. The cost of private learning has increased dramatically over the increase of average people’s incomes in the last 20-30 years. State sponsored education is most folk’s only alternative.I would strongly disagree with this statement. It’s not out reach as much as it is out of priority. The question is really how important it is. If you want late model cars, and to own your own house, and cable, and electronic gadgets then you probably won’t be able to afford private school. However, if you believe training your children is one of the highest callings you have, and you believe that public education is detrimental and contrary to training up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, you will absolutely find a way.
Our family drives ‘97 and ‘01 vehicles. We rent our home. It’s been about five or six years since we could afford a vacation. I delivered pizza for several years. But my wife is a stay at home mom who homeschools our 11, 6 and 4 year olds because we believe the eternal value of what our children get is far more important than any temporal thing we could afford with a second income. It certainly can be done.
I would like to add a perspective to one already expressed; that “it certainly can be done” is not really the point. It can be done. It would be a different story if, in order to do it, one had to pay the going rate for professionally degreed and certified professionals along the way. The only reason it “can be done” is because a lot of people along the way sacrifice as much or more so than the parents to get it done. Those folks deserve better than all the complaints and backbiting they usually end up enduring in addition to a tiny paycheck.
I taught briefly in one Christian school that paid a salary competitive to what I could earn in a public school, but they charged nearly $10,000 tuition per year ($3000 more than what I was paid my first year as a Christian school teacher!) And, because of their testimony and credibility in the community, they drew a good deal of financial support from outside sources as well. However their clientele was mostly one of wealthy Christians…I mean wealthy. They not only had multiple children in the school, but their up-north “cottages”, wave runners, 4-wheelers, vacation cruises–-my word, some of those folks spent more money on their daughters sweet 16 birthday party than the average person spends on her wedding! Those parents don’t want any teachers who live in mobile homes teaching their kids. Of course, all teachers—including me—held graduate degrees or were working on them, and were state certified. The school was accredited and its educational program is as credible as any of the local public schools. Smartboard technology is now in most if not all their classrooms. That is what a quality school requires and churches who do not have such resources and support from their clientele should not have schools.
TBD
Discussion