NASHVILLE, Tenn. —
Compensation for full-time Southern Baptist pastors is rising slightly faster
than inflation, but the mounting cost of benefits is forcing churches to
provide fewer pastors with medical insurance.
These and other
findings are part of the SBC Church Compensation Study, a survey of 11,674
staff positions in Southern Baptist churches. LifeWay Research conducted the survey in cooperation with
GuideStone Financial Resources and Baptist state conventions through June 2010.
All the data acquired by the study has been compiled into a web-based tool that
will help churches as they begin planning staff compensation packages for their
2011 budgets._ь_ь
Compensation
Adjusting for church
size (see Methodology below), the average full-time Southern Baptist senior pastor’s
compensation (salary and housing) rose 0.78 percent between 2008 and 2010. That
rate of change was only slightly higher than the compounded 0.67 percent
inflation rate for the same two-year period, according to figures supplied by
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index.
With no adjustments for
church size, compensation for other full-time staff ministers increased 3.08
percent between 2008 and 2010, while compensation for full-time office personnel
increased 7.86 percent.
“Not all churches
have paid non-pastoral staff, especially small churches,” explained Scott
McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research. “Churches with these
positions gave larger salary increases than the average church gave their
senior pastor over the last two years.”
While salary and
housing compensation rose by only 0.78 percent between 2008 and 2010, the value
of the entire pay package for the average full-time senior pastor rose by 6.69
percent — far outpacing inflation. That’s because churches are trying to keep
pace with the rising cost of benefits.
“Difficult economic
conditions have been compounded by higher costs for the same benefits the
church provided in prior years,” said McConnell. “Churches have kept salary
increases to a minimum, but their care for pastors is seen in increased
spending on other benefits that include retirement and insurance.”
Benefits
Still, the survey
revealed that fewer full-time senior pastors receive medical insurance from
their churches today than in 2008. Sixty-one percent of churches partially or
fully pay medical insurance for their full-time senior pastors, compared to 65
percent in 2008. These reduced benefits occurred at the same time churches were
being impacted by the economic downturn and as the U.S. Department of Labor
indicates the cost of medical care rose 3.2 percent and 3.4 percent in 2009 and
2010 respectively. _ь
Ten percent of churches
provide at least partial medical-insurance funding for the pastor alone, while
17 percent fund coverage for the pastor and his wife, and 33 percent supply
coverage for the pastor and his family.
For senior pastors,
churches fully or partially pay for the following benefits:
-
Dental insurance — 26
percent
- Vision insurance — 11
percent
- Life and/or accident
insurance — 34 percent
- Disability insurance —
28 percent
“Consumer prices
actually fell in 2009, allowing ministers’ dollars to go a little further, but
inflation has resumed in 2010, meaning churches must consider cost-of-living
raises to avoid decreasing the real value of the salaries they provide their
staff members,” McConnell said. _ÑŒ
Robert Henry, director
of relationship services of GuideStone Financial Resources, commended those
congregations that are trying to make sure their staff members’ compensation
and benefits keep pace with inflation. “Although the economy has certainly
tested the mettle of churches, many Southern Baptists have dug deeply into
their pockets and supported their pastors and staff members throughout these
challenging times. It’s a tribute to the faithfulness of God’s people.”_ÑŒ
(Methodology:
Southern Baptist state conventions invited each church’s staff to respond to
the survey, and 11,674 completed surveys were analyzed. For the purpose of this
article, senior pastor responses were weighted to account for lower response
rate among smaller churches and to match the distribution of the size of SBC
churches. When using the online tool, national totals may be somewhat higher than
these weighted totals. Viewing the results by church size categories within the
online tool minimizes this impact. When running customized reports online,
error can be minimized by selecting criteria that allow for larger numbers of
participants. Part-time and interim designations in the survey did not take
into account the number of hours worked or other factors that may affect the
comparability of these averages.)