what about a job as a PASTOR?

[vash]

along the same lines as CANTDRV55's thread about an elementary school teacher's salary. my cousin, got a degree in something..education, i think. he worked for awhile and just quit. he signed up for seminary school and is pursuing a job with a higher calling. he met up with a girl in school and married her. nice enough girl, kinda high on herself for pastor material, but i digress...anyways, they are both looking for work in the "spreading the good word" department.

my mom says my aunt is worried about their financial future. if neither become big time TV evangalist, what is the standard of living like?

this thread isnt about the existance of God, or the Devil...this is about Salary.

[VincentVega]

In that line of work I hope salary isnt the reason for your career choice.

To some people, I hear, work isnt just about the $$.

[Tishabet]

I would never recommend becoming a pastor to someone unless they truly felt "called." It's more than a job.

Here in suburban Boston, we compensate our pastor via salary, housing stipend and car stipend. Total compensation is around $65k/year for a church with about 100 actual members, probably 30-40 regular Sunday attendees.

[teenerted1]

i dont think your aunt gets it.

[daepp]

A good pastor around here can make close to 6 figures.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by teenerted1

i dont think your aunt gets it.

Agreed. But I will add, my wife was an accountant at a methodist church for a while. The church had 3 pastors (why I don't know), but the head pastor made right at $100k. His housing allowance paid for his $250k-ish house, and he also was provided with sufficient money for a new car payment. The lowest pastor made $60k-ish. None of the full time church folks made bad money.

[s_morrison57]

I couldn't and wouldn't do that job, I have no calling but just being nice to people all the time would kill it for me, I swear to much, I drink too much, and I think dirty thoughts when I talk to women.

[911Freak]

Originally Posted by Tishabet

I would never recommend becoming a pastor to someone unless they truly felt "called." It's more than a job.

Here in suburban Boston, we compensate our pastor via salary, housing stipend and car stipend. Total compensation is around $65k/year for a church with about 100 actual members, probably 30-40 regular Sunday attendees.

Ditto for our pastor in Venice.

I don't know how they make ends meet at 65k, but they do

[vash]

Originally Posted by teenerted1

i dont think your aunt gets it.

my aunt is a chinese buddist woman............

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by Tishabet

I would never recommend becoming a pastor to someone unless they truly felt "called." It's more than a job.

Here in suburban Boston, we compensate our pastor via salary, housing stipend and car stipend. Total compensation is around $65k/year for a church with about 100 actual members, probably 30-40 regular Sunday attendees.

Sounds pretty close to my old church in every respect - membership size, pay, etc. It's important to emphasise (at least in our case) that part of the "compensation" - the house - is church property, and stays with the church. So whatever we valued its monthly mortage at, adding it to his salary package as "compensation", really was not. So, for that house in our area, figure an easy $1500-$1800/month mortage (assuming 10-20% down, etc.) and the "compensation" drops dramatically.

Interestingly, the last pastor that was there while I was still an active member (I rose to Council President, Treasurer, and Secretary at one time or another) was an engineer. He had worked at John Deer for years before "hearing the call" and going to sem school. As our pastor, he was working for significantly less than he would earn had he remained in his first career. Plus, he had five kids and his wife stayed home to watch them (along with several other little kids from the congregation, so she pulled in a little bit of money from that). Yet, in spite of what we would all see as a very "frugal" (to be nice) lifestyle, he was never happier of more fulfilled. There are more ways to be paid than monetarily...

It does seem some of the bigger, less traditional churches pay their pastors quite well. It is reported that some locally are well into the six figure income range. These churches are run more like a business than a church; not that there is anything wrong with that, but they has the feeling that making money is more important than spreading the gospel. Lots of glitz and little substance, but it does get the parishoners - and their money - in.

[widebody911]

I guess if you have a thing for little boys, go for it...

[TechnoViking]

Churchin' is good business if you know how to do it. Just look at the multi-million dollar mega churches in just about every city.

If I thought I could pull it off with a straight face, I'd seriously consider it.

[MRM]

My family is Methodist and we have been blessed with some wonderful pastors over the years, as well as some not so good. I also have an aunt and uncle who are Luthern pastors. They sometimes serve the same congregation, sometimes she's worked at the church headquarters in a corporate role. My aunt and uncle live quite nice middle class lives. They don't drive Porsches but they have Hondas and Mazdas, have a perfectly respectable Brady bunch split level in a nice suburb, and are getting close to enjoying retirement with an adequate, if not generous pension.

My experience covers everything from a tiny small town church with maybe 50 members, most attending weekly, and a very part time pastor who was usually retired and working for little more than expenses, to a pretty large chuch with 200-400 people attending services weekly and something over a thousand total membership. All of the full time congregations I have been in paid their pastors well, but not extravagantly.

Our current church is the large one, and the pastor oversees a budget of more than a million dollars and staff of 20 or so. He graduated from Duke with his doctorate, and would be a success in any enterprise he took a fancy too. He probably earns close to $100,000 and is one of the most underpaid men I know, and loves what he does more than anyone I know. Pastors at any decent sized church work 6 days a week with Mondays off, and spend almost every weekday evening at church (in addition to a full day during regular business hours) with committees and organizations and classes and activities. I am constantly bugging my pastor because I think he does too much and is wearing himself out.

Sure, you're not going to get rich being a pastor or a teacher, or even a college professor. But are you going to get rich being a middle manager, an engineer, a service manager, or what have you? Not bloody likely, that's why they call it rich. You'll be middle class like the rest of us, pretty much regardless of the career you choose. But if you have a good life and an ncome with which you can support and provide for your family, what is there to complain about? We should all have such failures for children as teachers and pastors.

[svandamme]

why should it matter what the pay is? It's supposed to be a frigging calling...
Roman Catholic priests here work their nuts off and generally live ok but for hardly any pay...
they live in or near the church(churches have often a house built next to it, to one side of the crossshaped church, nothing fancy for todays standards), have a layperson as a house keeper, and serve in three or more parishes... drive around all the time for last rites , marriages, funerals... there's a shortage of RC priests here... I dont' believe in what they believe in anymore, but in general, i believe they work really hard ,and do a lot of good for those who do...And it certainly ain't about the money...

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by widebody911

I guess if you have a thing for little boys, go for it...

Pretty low-hanging fruit - I was waiting for the first childish crack like that. This one shows neither imagination nor an understanding of the differences between a pastor and a priest.

For your edification: A pastor serves a Protestant congregation, which includes pretty much everything Christian that is not Catholic. They are in "protest" (hence the "Protestant" designation) of the Catholic Church's authority and structure. Pastors serving these congregations are typically family men; they have taken no vow of cellibacy. They marry, raise kids, yadda yadda yadda. There has generally been no trouble of the sort you allude to within this group.

Priests, on the other hand - or more accurately Catholic Priests, are an entirely different kettle of fish. These are the guys that take a vow of celibacy. They don't marry, raise kids, or anything like that that the rest of us consider to be a normal family life. It's within this group that we have seen the problems with little boys... small wonder...

Just wanted to set that straight. Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

[HHI944]

My pastor drives a Cayenne Turbo and an SL55. I could be wrong, but I'm willing to bet he does alright for himself.

[Tishabet]

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Pretty low-hanging fruit - I was waiting for the first childish crack like that. This one shows neither imagination nor an understanding of the differences between a pastor and a priest.

For your edification: A pastor serves a Protestant congregation, which includes pretty much everything Christian that is not Catholic. They are in "protest" (hence the "Protestant" designation) of the Catholic Church's authority and structure. Pastors serving these congregations are typically family men; they have taken no vow of cellibacy. They marry, raise kids, yadda yadda yadda. There has generally been no trouble of the sort you allude to within this group.

Priests, on the other hand - or more accurately Catholic Priests, are an entirely different kettle of fish. These are the guys that take a vow of celibacy. They don't marry, raise kids, or anything like that that the rest of us consider to be a normal family life. It's within this group that we have seen the problems with little boys... small wonder...

Just wanted to set that straight. Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

"Pastor" does not mean protestant at all... it's a Latin originated term for "shepherd", later evolved to describe a church leader... If anything it carries more catholic meaning then anything else, they started the use of it..

[adrian jaye]

totally agree,

some are called, some arent

thoes that arn't beware of

Originally Posted by Tishabet

I would never recommend becoming a pastor to someone unless they truly felt "called." It's more than a job.

[M.D. Holloway]

I would love to be a Pastor but my Wife forbids it saying that would make me the biggest hypocrite of all time...