Churches do without full-time staff
OTTAWA, ON - Full-time clergy salaries tend to be both modest and consistent across evangelical denominations. However more churches are doing without full-time staff.
These were the findings of a recent Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) study looking at congregational staff compensation between 2003 and 2009.
Rick Hiemstra, director of research and media relations for EFC, says the research found that most Canadian evangelical churches tended to spent between 32 per cent and 54 per cent of their overall budget on staffing, with a median of around 43 per cent.
“It was fairly consistent," Hiemstra says, “with larger congregations tending to compensate their staff better than smaller ones, and urban congregations tending to be more generous than rural ones."
The research was based on the charitable information returns from more than 5,000 congregations across Canada, whose denominations were affiliated with EFC. Hiemstra adds that while they regularly receive phone calls from churches asking what pastors should be compensated, the vast majority of denominations do not have salary tables.
“One of the interesting things is that most pastors aren't making huge salaries," he says.
He adds most salaries tend to be “clustered" around the $40,000 mark for total compensation, including health benefits and housing allowance. This often leaves a base salary of well under $30,000.
“Modest salaries," he says.
The study also found that the percentage of congregations without any full-time staff grew from 18 per cent to 28 per cent in rural congregations, and 11 per cent to 17 per cent in urban areas, while churches in both areas reported an increase in part-time staff.
He adds that a growing reliance on part-time ministry leaders raises interesting questions about what training churches look for in leaders, and what continuing training they make available for staff.
“How are we raising up these part-time people up?" he says. “How are we supporting them in those ministries? Say there's someone who's talented in [leading] worship. It probably isn't reasonable to send them for three years of theological training. But if there isn't a course tailored to help them with their gifting, they may just forgo it.
“So, how can we configure a course in our institutions of higher education which meets the needs of those people who are in ministry part time, many of whom don't have the resources to do a full-time theological education?
“I would just encourage churches to be as generous as they can," he adds, “because a pastor who is well looked after is better able to look after their congregation."
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