We start with the fact that church pastors have been called by God to preach the Gospel, and consequently their calling is different from a secular calling.Sometimes, pastors leave behind careers which would have made them rich. Sometimes they leave behind careers that would have paid little above survival. Either way, the driving motive of ministry is not making money, it is love for Christ and his Church. And the great assurance that God will look after them, according to his wonderful promise in Mark 10:29-30.
Many pastors have fallen through a love of money. For example, in 2014 Korean pastor Yonggi Cho was convicted for embezzling $12 million USD in church funds that he bought from his son Cho Hee-Jun.
A pastor motivated by money is in the wrong profession, fullstop. If a man wants to get rich he should pursue a different calling.
Scriptures for personal giving
The obligations of God's people, according to God's Word are to pay those who feed them spiritually and also to give more generally to the work of the Gospel globally.
Leviticus 27:30, "A tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, is the Lord's, and is holy." The 10% tithe is not mentioned in the NT, but like all transitions from OT to NT, the obligations are far higher to people like us who have been blessed infinitely greater.
Think about the OT economy: 11 tribes supported 1 tribe, the twelfth tribe, the Levites who served at the temple. 11 tribes giving 10% of their different incomes (the actual total giving was more than 10% when all considerations have been made, I am told), were naturally and mathematically, able to support 1 tribe: work it out! 11x10%s = 110%. Every ten full-time earners in a church should surely be able to support one full time Gospel worker on an average wage. Especially in our exceedingly wealthy time in history.
1 Corinthians 8: Paul forsook his right to receive payment because in pioneering missionary settings it is not right to burden infant believers, and because motives for missionary work can be questioned thus putting the Gospel reputation at stake. (Many missionary endeavours have been hampered by the missionary living like some high and mighty foreign king.) But the principle Paul sets is that those who sow a spiritual harvest should reap a material harvest. "those who preach the Gospel should receive their living from the Gospel." (v.14).
Galatians 6:6: "Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor." The principle is that no-one should belong to a church, listen to the preaching but not give towards the ministry costs of that church.
Philippians 3:10-19. The church at Philippi clearly supported Paul in his missionary labours. Christians want to give not only to support their local pastors but also missionary work.
So! Every believer should go before the Lord, work out how much they can give sacrificially and cheerfully, using the 10% as a starting guide, and then give as much as they can, knowing that they will reap in line without how much they sow (2 Corinthians 9). We should also periodically review our giving, since from time to time we get a rise.
Four principles for paying your church pastor
(1) The size of the church determines whether he can be paid a living wage
The principle of not being a burden on the church comes from 1 Thessalonians 1:9. Paul's principle when church planting was not to burden young Christians as they began to walk the walk. Once they grew into mature believers then they should be taught to give. But at the start they cannot be expected to give. Although this principle applies in particular to virgin-soil church plants among unbeliever, it is a general principle. Church members should not feel burdened by pastoral pay. If the church is small, then they simply may not be able to pay a full wage.
For example, suppose a church is composed of 10 working people and the church also supports a building and some missionary work. While in a rich land 10 people tithing at 15% may be able to pay a pastor the average of their salaries, if they only tithe 10% of their salaries then they may not be able to pay a pastor their average salary.
If, however, the church has 1000 full-time wage earners, it does not follow that the pastor(s) should be paid far more. In that case, the following principle kicks in.
(2) The average wealth of the church shapes what he should be paid
It would be an offence to the Gospel if the pastor was paid more than the average wage of the church members. For example in a working class church where the average pay of the members is £15,000 per year, pastors should not be on £30,000. And contrawise if the average wage of the church was £30,000 then their pastor should not be expected to live on £15,000. No pastor should expect to live way above the living standard of his average church member. And no church should pay their pastor way below the average pay level of their members.
(3) The diligence of the pastor
A third principle comes in here - a pastor who works hard should be paid accordingly. "The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worth double honour (the word "honour" could also refer to pay), especially those whose work is preaching and teaching." (1 Timothy 5:17). Not the word "well." A lazy pastor - a contradiction in terms and a blight on the ministry - should not be paid as much as an industrious pastor. Elders must consider these things.
(4) The needs of a pastor
There is a principle in 1 Timothy 5:18, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain." The idea is that an ox as it grinds out grain needs to eat to live. It would be a crying shame if the pastor was struggling but unable to say so; if unusual but genuine present needs were not being considered.
The tragedy of some evangelical churches
Some evangelical churches do not regularly talk about the financial needs and requirements of their pastors. Here is a test of a church's commitment to the Word: how much do we give to visiting speakers? I have preached at churches where they have given me £10 or £20 in payment for the Word - sometimes not even enough for the fuel costs. I have sometimes been handed an envelope with words that imply that I do not need to take it if I don't want/need to!
Suppose a pastor takes 15 hours to write a sermon. At £20 for the sermon, that's less than £1.33 per hour. At that rate a pastor would have to work 375 hours a week to earn £500 to feed his family - more than twice the number of hours God actually gives!
How much a church gives to visiting preacher can be a litmus test of how much they value the Word - and value ministers of the word.
So how much should we pay pastors?
In the UK evnagelical community a common pay range for evangelical pastors is the teacher's pay range. That seems a common sense payscale to work with, given all the factors above.
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