Grossly Exaggerated Headlines About Pastors Salaries

Churches Pay the Average Senior Pastor More Than $80,000 Per Year OK. I'm real fired up about this. Tell me what other job, when we talk about what someone "makes" or what their salary is, do we use the total compensation figure? When we say a teacher makes $45,000 or a corporate VP makes $100,000 we are referring to their cash salary, and we all understand that employers also make contributions towards retirement, cafeteria plans, health care, continuing education, FICA, etc -- all of those are ON TOP OF the $45,000 or $100,000. For some reason that doesn't apply to clergy? The headline screams "Churches Pay the Average Senior Pastor More Than $80,000 Per Year". Those filthy rich clergy! But read the first paragraph of the article: CAROL STREAM, Ill., Aug. 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- A recent national survey of pastors and church staff shows the compensation and benefits paid to the average Senior Pastor has risen to $81,113 per year, with the highest 25% of Senior Pastors making more than $97,000 each year. This annual survey, conducted and compiled by the Your Church Media Group at Christianity Today International, is based on a staff member's total compensation package, including: salary, housing allowance/parsonage, retirement, life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance and continuing education allowances. Senior pastors aren't making $80,000 a year. More like $50,000 after you do the math. Not that that's a bad salary, but the headline was extremely misleading.