The acid smell of July 4th firecrackers is out of the air and the minds of
multitudes of Louisiana Baptists have turned to planning their churches
budgets.
Among the numerous considerations churches must undertake, salaries of staff
and employees may be one of the most important, and contentious items.
The acid smell of July 4th firecrackers is out of the air and the minds of
multitudes of Louisiana Baptists have turned to planning their churches
budgets.
Among the numerous considerations churches must undertake, salaries of staff
and employees may be one of the most important, and contentious items. Some
committee members will be committed to paying “good” salaries, others
will be committed to paying absolutely as little as possible. Unfortunately,
many discussions about salaries will not be generated by facts but emotions,
personal prejudices and preconceived ideas.
When the committees and eventually the churches come to the point of discussing
salaries, hearsays and “I guarantee you” will probably be in greater
supply than hard facts. Gathering facts on how much churches of comparable size
and budgets pay their staff and employees often takes detective work on a professional
level. And, even when such facts are available, they may be discounted by committees
because they do not fit preconceived ideas.
For committees, and later churches, who want to strive to make sure their staffs
and employees are compensated somewhat fairly, there is a repository of facts
available.
LifeWay Christian Resources (formerly the Sunday School Board) has gathered
significant information on staff and other employee salaries and put them in
easy to obtain, easy to understand form. This massive survey is available on
the Louisiana Baptist Convention website, lbc.org.
Actually, there is good news for Louisiana Baptists on the overall scene painted
by the survey data. The average compensation for full-time pastors in Louisiana
Baptist churches is comparable to average salaries across the Southern Baptist
Convention. Full-time pastors average compensation across the Southern
Baptist Convention is $43,566, and in Louisiana the average compensation is
$43,865.
The average “pay package” that includes compensation plus protection
coverages such as Social Security, retirement and other insurances are about
the same in Louisiana as across the national convention. The Louisiana average
pay package is $51,276 and nationally $52,252.
It is important to note that the “pay package” reflected in this
survey does not include any ministry-related expenses that are paid by the church
using an accountable reimbursement plan. These items include travel (car allowance)
expense, expenses for conventions and continuing education, expenses for ministry-related
books, tapes and periodicals or ministry-related hospitality expenses.
Another important category of compensated ministers is that of bivocational
pastors who staff up to 40 percent of our churches. Again, Louisiana Baptist
churches are slightly ahead of the rest of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Nationally, bivocational ministers have an average compensation of $13,880 with
an average pay package of $15,077, and in Louisiana, the average compensation
is $15,780 and an average pay package of $16,776.
The average ministerial staff members compensation nationally is $42,241
with an average pay package of $50,283. In Louisiana, ministerial staff members
have an average compensation of $42,495 with an average pay package of $48,779.
Full-time office personnels average compensation nationally is $21,551
with an average pay package of $25,655. Louisiana office personnel average $20,758
with an average pay package of $24,167.
The survey also shows the average, high and low compensations broken down according
churches resident memberships. There are even compensation scales based
upon a pastor or staff members education and experience.
Many factors bear upon a churchs compensation for its ministers and other
employees. The combination of these factors varies from church to church. But,
every personnel committee, budget committee and church body should make sure
that each person compensated by the church is paid “worthy of his/her hire.”
Compensation and care of all church employees should be just and generous.
A handful of members motivated by emotions stemming from who knows what or
where should not be allowed to torpedo efforts to adequately compensate a churchs
employees. Churches should do the right thing, including their care of those
who care for them.