This is a guest post by Joe Floris. With over 20 years of experience in full-time church ministry, Joe currently serves as the teaching pastor at Community Alliance Church in Butler, PA. His passion for both personal and pastoral finances has grown alongside his calling to shepherd others in their financial journeys.
If you are reading this, it is likely you are a pastor. Which means you probably you have been through the candidating process at a church. You meet people. Eat food. Answer questions. Eat food. Ask questions. Eat food. Give a sermon. Eat… well, you get it. Eventually, the tricky topic of pay comes up. That was where I found myself newly married, in my late-20’s, at the end of the interview process for a local church staff position. The church offered me the job, but my number crunching showed it would take some gymnastics to make the salary meet our budget. Timidly, I asked the Senior Pastor if there was any way to stretch a little further with the offer, and he graciously explained there just wasn’t. My wife and I prayed about it and ultimately decided to accept the position. It was so long ago I don’t remember the amount but I clearly remember calling the pastor to accept. With noticeable relief, he said, “I’m grateful you chose ministry over money.”
Ministry or Money?
Is it a choice? Have you ever felt like there is a game of tug-of-war between these two words and you are the rope? While some try to caricature all pastors based on a few “rich preacher types”, 99.9% of us aren’t like that. You didn’t enter ministry so you could afford a closet full of $500 sneakers or a private jet. But you also don’t want to ask your spouse to live in a van down by the river. My guess is if you are reading a blog like The Pastor’s Wallet, you have spent some time contending with this tension. I know I have, and I would like to offer 5 insights I have discovered along the way.
Don’t Bear the Burden Alone
By the time a pastor shows up day one at their first ministry position, they have already done a lot of choosing ministry over money. Most churches expect their pastor to at least have a four-year ministry degree and often an MDiv as well. The most recent studies claim MDiv students are graduating with an average of $55,000 in student debt. While most ministry schools strive to make education affordable, they are prioritizing money enough to remain in the black financially even if it leaves their graduates significantly in the red. The same is true for a church. If a church believes it can’t afford a more robust pastoral package, that may be true—but it’s still a way of saying there is a point where we value our money over your ministry. If it can be necessary for an organization to decide “This is the most we can spend on your ministry”, why should it be offensive for a pastor to decide, “This is the least amount for which I can offer my ministry”? Pastors shouldn’t be expected to always choose ministry over money so others can choose money over ministry. The burden of balancing living by faith and living by facts when it comes to money is for both churches and pastors to bear.
Beware of Greed
Pastors are the most generous people I know! They aren’t greedy, at least not the way we normally think about greed. Which is why we all need a warning from time to time. “Beware of greed” is a quote from Jesus in Luke 12. The full quote is, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed” (Luke 12:15 NIV). It comes right before Jesus tells a story about a rich farmer who gets a bumper crop, plans to build bigger barns, and dies. Very uplifting. The interesting thing is the rich farmer doesn’t fit the typical description of greedy. He works hard and develops a long-term savings plan. He isn’t out buying fancy sandals and designer goats. Hence Jesus’ warning about every form of greed. Greed is more than wrongly desiring money. It is also wrongly desiring feelings money can provide. What money connected feeling might a pastor desire? Feeling better than others. Think about it. Money is highly valued in the earthly kingdom and those who are rich have a tendency to think they are better than others. James warns about this. But, in Jesus’ kingdom, sacrifice has an extremely high value. What better way to have a huge sacrifice income than to choose a vocation with a limited money income – like ministry? Pastors, who are rich in sacrifice, must beware of allowing their richness to trick them into believing they are inherently better than others who sacrifice less. It is obvious greed to think, “I need to have more money so I can feel better about myself compared to others.” It is sneaky greed to think, “I need to have less money so I can feel better about myself compared to others.” Either way, though, it’s greed.
Boring Provision
God always provides, but sometimes it’s unnoticed because it appears boring. Remember Exodus 16 when God began providing miraculous manna for the Israelites? Just when they thought they would starve, God’s just-in-time provision must have been incredible! Many of us have stories of God’s miraculous, just-in-time provision. A surprise inheritance or bags of groceries anonymously left at your door. In these times, it can really feel like God provides! But think about Exodus 16:35, “The sons of Israel at the manna forty years.” Forty years of the same old manna had to be mind-numbing… and tongue-numbing. No one woke up saying, “Can you believe it? Manna!”, yet it was still God’s provision. For us pastors, God also provides in some boring ways that can have a powerful impact on our finances. One is through special rules for pastors offering incredible savings. Don’t overlook powerful opportunities like housing allowances, HSA’s and 403b’s. Ignoring them because they sound boring or complicated is rejecting God’s provision just as much as turning down an envelope of cash. Another example of God’s boring provision is forcing you to develop dollar skills rather than giving you more dollar bills. Fine – it’s cheesy, but go with me here. Living on a limited income, as many pastors do, forces you to get better at handling money which often leads to having more money. Living on a pastor’s income requires cultivating skills like budgeting, expense tracking, saving and more. The long-term impact of these skills is far greater than just getting a bigger paycheck. And, that is God’s boring but powerful provision.
Before You Need It
I remember the first raise I got as a pastor. Actually, I should say, I remember how I felt – guilty. I was a single 23-year-old, living with a roommate and spending $200 a month on rent. I drove an old paid-off Honda and wore thrift store clothes. Is my glamorous life making you jealous? My biggest bill was student loans, and I just saved the extra. Even though I didn’t make a lot of money, I didn’t spend a lot of money. In a conversation with my dad, I confessed, “I feel guilty taking the raise because I just don’t need it.” His wise reply stuck with me, “No, you just don’t need it yet. You better take it, because one day you’re gonna need it.” Over time, I’ve realized needing money and making money don’t always occur simultaneously. In times when you earn more from your ministry than you immediately need, it could be God preparing you financially for the future He has for you. God may give you what you make now to make up for what you won’t make later. How you manage money today might determine how available you are to God tomorrow. Maybe you are in a season of experiencing God’s financial abundance from your ministry. Thank Him for what He has given you. But, don’t forget to ask Him what He has given it to you for.
More Than Money
Money is a tool for accomplishing goals, not a goal itself. We need to make money from ministry to accomplish goals like buying things needed to live. The days of bartering sermons for cartons of eggs are over (if they ever existed at all). Yet, there are many ways ministry allows us to realize important goals in life without needing money for it. It could be the goal of using your gifts and abilities for a deeper purpose. Or sharing in the joys and sorrows of a relational community. Maybe ministry offers you the more flexible daytime schedule you really want so you can be present with family. Or preparing sermons is a way feed your hunger to learn. Ministry means you’ll definitely cross paths with some “odd” people (trying to be nice here), but you will also meet the most sincere, humble, inspiring people humanity has to offer. And you will certainly have wild and crazy stories to tell… one day… in a town far far away. The point is there are lots of folks with lots of money who have none of these things. Ministry should offer the money we need to live, but it is important to remember, it offers much more than that.