Something my wife learned about drove me to the classified ads for ministers recently. She was at a smaller church for a ladies’ function and got to meet the young man who was their minister and his lovely wife. She liked them immediately. Shortly afterwards, one of the ladies who splits her time between that congregation and ours told her that the young man was paid so little that his wife had to take a job cleaning the church just to get by. Still, it was hard to pay all the bills. Dates, movies, and eating at restaurants was an impossibility. To pour salt on the wounds, one of the older ladies of the church follows the minister’s wife around, pointing out what she missed or did wrong in her cleaning. How outrageous. How reprehensible. How unchristian and unloving. 

I went to five different sites advertising for ministers. All of them were strictly Church of Christ sites. Having heard that we have a chronic preacher shortage (fair enough, I’ve heard that all my life) I was surprised that there weren’t hundreds of listings; still, there were scores of listings at most of the sites. More than half of the congregations wanted a retired man or someone right out of school; in other words, someone who could live on a tiny salary with no benefits. Some of them even said the new minister would have to bring some of their salary with them. Others insisted on a retired man who has a retirement income already; they would provide a church house. Anyone who has ever lived in a parsonage knows that it is not really a benefit. You don’t build equity, the congregation considers it their house so your privacy is severely limited, and you can’t change it without drawing the wrath of some of the members.

Even some larger congregations (over 100, less than 350) were offering salaries that were way below the average of their members. I did some checking on websites that showed the average income of people in different cities, adding in the factor that ministers are usually well educated, checked on the neighborhoods in which the ministers lived and found… in most cases, the new minister would not be able to live in the community where the building was located because he wouldn’t be paid enough. No wonder many of my friends have left ministry over the last decade. They are selling insurance, teaching school, or running other businesses. They are paid better, have definite periods where they are off work, and have great benefits.

I’ve talked to many ministers who are slipping into deadly levels of debt because they don’t have enough money to keep their family going. Many (most?) live without adequate health insurance and very, very few have a retirement program. They are on call 24/7 and expected to enjoy living in a fishbowl, enjoy going out in the dead of night to patch up a family that has imploded for the umpteenth time, clean the building, maintain the baptistry, write and print the bulletin, do the work of the elders so that they are released to serve as a supervisory board, do the work of the deacons, and still have a wife who is eager to teach classes every week (often more than one), and have perfect children. Oh, and it would be great if he could do counseling, coach neighborhood sports, join the local service organizations such as Kiwanis and Elks, have personal Bible studies every week with people he has found and recruited… and if he asks for a raise he is made to feel small, mercenary, ungodly.

That is tragic and it is wrong. A local Methodist minister tragically died way before his time. Because he is part of the Methodist church and they take care of their pastors, his family were heavily insured and they are provided for. They have their expenses taken care of, income coming in, etc. One of the ministers in our religious tribe died recently. He was within six years of age of the Methodist minister. His family had to move back home to his widow’s parents’ house. They’ve got nothing.

This is sinful. Some of it is due to the way we look at ministers. Campbell felt that all ministers should be self-supporting and he made fun of those with advanced degrees in theology and ministry. The CoC branch of the Restoration Movement sometimes reveled in the fact that their ministers weren’t college educated. Once they became college educated, they still paid them as if they weren’t. In the larger churches, this is changing as people begin to understand that their ministers are professionals with huge burdens, a diverse set of skills, and the crushing responsibility to lead God’s people.

When I visit other churches, I become an advocate of the local ministers. I talk to their elders about what they are paying them and how they are treating them. Almost always, this is welcomed. Perhaps that is because I have reached a certain level within our profession and I am at a certain age so I am taken seriously. Perhaps it is also due to the fear that some churches have that I have a pile of churches wanting preachers in mind and I can take their away by making him a better offer. (almost never true) Regardless, it is good to finally have the chance to speak up for the ministers of small churches; those who bear the greatest burden in our fellowship and who are never on the lecture circuit, never invited to our large gatherings, and whose names never grace the latest bestseller. Without them, our religious tribe would collapse. In the same way junior enlisted men are the backbone of the military, these men and their families are the backbone of our movement. They should be treated honorably and sacrificially.

Some have told me that the root of this problem might have once been in our southern heritage, our anti-educational mindset, and Campbell’s teachings but that it is now much more rooted in the average member’s refusal to give as they have been prospered. I know that that is a HUGE part of this. In my own wonderful congregation, a third of those who attend give between $0-20 a week. I know many of them make salaries over $50k but they rationalize away their lack of giving by saying they don’t always agree with everything the church does, or they have debts, or they are sending a kid to college. Since they don’t put their treasure in the church, their heart isn’t there, either.

That kind of rationalization has consequences, here and in the hereafter. Jesus told us to honor those who labor among us. His apostles told us the same thing. God told us that it was wrong to keep an ox from eating the corn he was treading! He was working, so he deserved a part of the profits. Church members need to look at their own souls and then step up and honor those humble men and women who are serving them. If not, judgment awaits.