February 24, 2003

Economic system of church pushes pastors up the ladder
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___"Is it to reward good preaching? Is it to attract a much-sought-after visionary? Is it to pay a professional for ministerial services rendered? Or could it simply be to provide hospitality and a well-lived life for persons and their families who are compelled by a call from God to proclaim the gospel?"
___Catholics approach these questions from an entirely different perspective than Protestants by removing financial incentive as a motivator for excellence in ministry. The variation between compensation for Catholic priests varies relatively little between larger and smaller parishes.
___That allows Catholic priests to move more freely between parishes of different sizes, the authors note. But on the other hand, the relatively low pay of Catholic priests may discourage young adults from entering the ministry.
___Likewise, connectional Protestant churches are more likely than congregational Protestant churches to offer clergy a living wage minimum. The down side of that policy, however, is that some smaller connectional churches go without clergy because they cannot pay the minimum salary required by the denomination.
___For example, in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1999, 62 percent of churches with membership less than 100 were without pastors.
___Another reason clergy salaries may be higher in connectional churches than in congregational churches is the typical economic status of those churches. "Churches within connectional polities also happen to be on average larger and richer, and they hire clergy with higher education," the study explains.
___The researchers applied their data to compare what a particular pastor might expect to earn in a congregational church versus a connectional church and in churches of various sizes. This John Doe has 20 years' experience in the ministry, an earned seminary degree and serves a church with an average lay income of $49,000.
___Relatively speaking, the smaller the congregation, the better off financially the pastor would be in a connectional church. The larger the congregation, however, the better off he or she would be in a congregational church.
___Under this model, in churches under 100 in attendance, the pastor would earn about $35,000 in a congregational church and about $40,000 in a connectional church. At about 180 attendees, the salary offered by the two kinds of churches meets at $52,000. From there, the projected salary in the congregational church soars much faster than in a connectional church, so that in congregations of 1,000 attendees, the congregational church would pay about $35,000 more than the connectional church.
___Among other findings:
___ Clergy salaries correspond much more to church size than to years of experience held by the pastor.
___ Median salaries for clergy have grown to become comparable to those of teachers and social workers. The gap between clergy salaries and those of other professionals such as doctors and lawyers has widened.
___ African-American churches are more likely than Anglo churches to offer pastors less than a livable wage, although some African-American churches have broken through this barrier. On average, African-American pastors earn two-thirds of what white clergy earn, even though African-American laity are more likely to tithe and report similar income levels to white laity.
___ Female clergy on average earn $6,500 less than male clergy, although average household income for female clergy is higher than for male clergy households due to working spouses.
___McMillan, lead author of the study for Pulpit & Pew, is a labor economist and United Methodist minister. She holds a doctorate in economics and a master of divinity degree. Price is an Episopal layman who holds a doctorate degree in sociology. He is a researcher for the Episcopal Church Pension Group.
___The complete report, "How Much Should We Pay the Pastor?" is available at www.pulpitandpew.duke.edu.
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Median salary for pastors and priests
Polity	Average Weekly	Percent of	Median
	Attendance	Pastors	Salary
Catholic	<100	10%	$20,883
	101-350	34%	$24,170
	351-1,000	35%	$24,735
	1,001+	20%	$26,633
Connectional	<100	56%	$36,000
	101-350	38%	$49,835
	351-1000	6%	$66,003
Congregational	<100	63%	$22,300
	101-350	32%	$41,051
	351-1,000	5%	$59,315
	1,001+	0.5%	$85,518
Source: Pulpit & Pew National Pastoral Leader Survey, conducted in 2001. Salaries are for 2000 and include housing allowance. Based on a random sample of 883 pastoral leaders from 81 faith traditions.

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