I love church. If you’ve been around me for more than 25 minutes you know this is true. Every great thing in my life, if you stretch the threads back, is because of the investment of faithful people in a local church into me. In fact, you’ve probably heard that from me cause I tend to say the same seven things over and over.
So I’m writing this to all the elders, board members, senior and executive pastors out there…with all the love and humility I can after loving and working alongside many churches in my life. Here goes…
Your staff needs to be paid more.
There. I said it. I can say it confidently. I’ve wanted to say that for a long time and haven’t cause I love those people and work for those people and I don’t want to make them angry.
But I type it this morning cause the six people who’ll read this blog know me well, and they know I do care about this stuff. Secondly, I can say it confidently because most churches don’t pay enough.
I’m not here to make a Biblical case for pay. I’m not going to type about market studies, the cost of living, how no one can afford a home anymore, or how a young ministry leader is never going to build wealth. There are other articles and posts about those things.
I’m just here to tell you that your staff should be paid more.
I know I know I know…you doubt your youth pastor, and your worship guy can’t find his shoes most weeks. It doesn’t matter. Give them all a big raise, and then expect better work.
Perhaps in the 90s, we were all so afraid of looking like a TV evangelist or something that we locked ourselves into an unrealistic pay scale and we are now stuck.
Now…if you’re still reading…I’m NOT saying you don’t pay the market wage. You might pay exactly what other churches pay in your town, or in your denomination. I just know that it’s not enough because I’ve read the same studies.
I will tell you I’ve been guilty of adding to this issue. I’ve had thoughts like, “Hey, I started at 18k, lived on those stamps you get from social services for my family of four. I earned it and this generation needs to earn it too.” I’ve had internal thoughts like that that are just stupid. “I walked uphill both ways for a decade and you should as well.” How dumb. How boomer (and I’m not one by the way).
A smarter question for me to have been asking might be, “what did this cost the Kingdom over that decade for all the others who weren’t privileged enough to be in the right place at the right time to keep moving forward?”
How many bailed right when they were getting enough experience to really be fruitful?
Recently, a senior pastor told me that they justified a fifty-thousand-dollar salary for a youth pastor (with 8 years of full-time experience) at their church of 700 because that’s what the study says. At which point I asked him, “why would you compare yourself to other churches?” If Carey, Vanderbloemen, Rich, Unstuck, Intentional, and all the other consultants are correct, most churches are stuck and in decline so why are we comparing to this market in the first place? I don’t know, but we do it and I’m guilty, too.
Perhaps it’s time to compare your pay scale to other young, creative, leadership-intensive organizations in your town. Let’s compare ourselves to the types of places really good talented young ministry leaders go after getting out of ministry. Working at a creative agency, managing a major retail store, or a well-funded digital start-up.
Here’s the deal…ministry roles were 45k to 85k in the 1990s when I began, and they are still 45k to 85k thirty years later (ad 12k for a major metro area). We’re killing ourselves because the lid is too low. Two summers ago I did a very non-scientific poll of fifty churches that average a thousand and are growing. I asked them about salary trends. I found this to be true. With very few exceptions most roles were 45k to 85k.
So, let me be controversial for a moment: this is cultural, and it is normal. The gap between top leaders and their downline teams has widened greatly over the last 30 years. This is true at fortune 50 companies. And it’s true at my church and your church.
Might I argue it’s time for us to be counter-cultural in this way? Let’s lead in this area of pay scale.
This is not an article about macro-worker-pay-scale inequality. I’m not smart enough to write about that. This is a post about how to help a 32-year-old not think about a different career when getting ready to add the third child to the family.
I was in a strat session with a non-profit a few years back and “talent” was in the “missing” column. I asked why this was so. “Because we don’t pay enough.” I asked the room to dream for a moment about paying 25% higher than any competitor. They got excited about the possibilities. The leader went from depressed to hopeful in about three minutes exclaiming, “This makes me re-evaluate who we have! We could really go get some great people.”
They never did it. They’ve since closed.
We all know that culture is shifting in this post covid era. One of these current shifts is the pay scale. I read last week that 80% of all grocery stores are now starting at 15.00/hr. Fast food is 2x the federal minimum wage and many are paying bonuses.
When we see signing bonuses and hourly wages approaching 20.00/hr then the church is competing with these entry-level positions for many downline ministry candidates.
Money isn’t everything. I’m not saying that. For years I’ve talked about the six things we all are looking for, and I tell candidates daily that they’ll never get all six, but I do believe it’s a new day for local churches when they are competing against truly entry level roles.
Seems like we got a problem when 32 hours at Trader Joe’s and then a couple of nights of driving for Lyft compete financially with the next generation of church leaders.
Reasons to not pay your team 25% more than anywhere else:
1. **You don’t have the money.
2. You’ll catch crap from a low earner on your board.
3. People will tell you that “It shouldn’t be about the money they’re in ministry.”
Reasons you should pay your team 25% more:
1. You have a shot at keeping the best leaders longer than four years.
2. Word gets out. Next opening you have you are not going to need me to help you find someone.
3. It decreases worry and stress on your team.
4. Their spouses will feel valued.
5. Your team might make a livable wage.
6. We need more leaders leading after year ten and staying with it. This will help.
Money alone will not attract next-level talent. Money alone will not keep that staff leader from leaving you for what he or she believes are greener pastures, but it removes one of a few topics from the conversation.
** I think you actually do.