Perhaps you had to read the title of this post more than once. Typically, salaries paid to church workers (both lay and ordained staff) are not large. In this post, I consider the latest information on how large churches compensate those they employ based on the Leadership Network / Vanderbloemen 2014 Large Church Salary Report, which was written by Warren Bird.
Large churches continue to be far more likely to be growing than smaller churches. This data finds that roughly 3 in 4 large churches have grown in recent years, including 29% that grew 11% or more annually (p.6). The human resources that power these complex non profit organizations account for just under half of their total annual budgets (p.18). And, these employees had raises that were more modest than the growth rates (Last year 75% of these folks received a raise between 1 and 5%).
As you might expect, salaries for top leaders increase as the size of the worshiping congregation increases. When compared to the senior/lead minister the next highest compensated positions are
- Executive Pastor/Church Administrator – 70%,
- Senior Associate Pastor – 62%,
- Operations – 59%,
- Teaching Pastor – 58%,
- Administrative Pastor – 56%,
- Worship – 51%,
- Generosity – 50%,
- Assistant Pastor – 50%, and
- Family – 50%.
The following graph (p.8) illustrates how much the top three positions on this list are paid at varying sized congregations (note that salary here includes salary and any housing allowance paid, but does not include benefits).
So What?
While large churches average spending just under 50% of their budget on human resources related costs, the actual range of such expenditures varies significantly depending on the congregation’s staffing model. Somewhat surprisingly, the research also found that the larger the church the more paid staff per attendee.
- Why do you think large churches continue to be more likely to be growing than small or moderately sized congregations?
- Do you feel the pay gap between the senior/lead pastors and other top staff is appropriate or not? Explain.
- What percentage of your church’s annual budget goes to human resources related costs? Do you feel that number is too high, about right, or too low?