? for Pastors and Ministers
 

When as a pastor/minister you officate at a wedding or funeral is it a custom to pay an honorium or fee?

OR do you have a set fee for these services?

And IF the person no longer goes to your church and say they wanted you to do a family members funeral would you charge the same thing as a member IF you do indeed charge.

Also, assuming there is a fee or honorium what would be the average fee that would be approriate?

Since my nephews have their mothers funeral today I got to thinking about this and would like to be prepared in the event I would need to know.

I believe a man is worthy of his hire, so please don't look as this as trying to find fault, because that is NOT what this is about.

I would like to do what is considered right. :)

Thanks for responding.

Also, might be interesting to see if the different areas of the states or the same or different.

Sister, I cannot imagine a man of God "charging" a saint of God for conducting a wedding or funeral. This is what I do, it's who I am. That being said, many people are kind and considerate and choose to bless their pastor with a monetary gift for performing such a service.

I have only done three weddings but I did not have a set fee, none of these were church folks ,but they all kind in giving me an offering.
Folks ask me what do I charge? I just tell them I don't charge anything.

Some questions.

Was the funeral at the church where the minister pastor's?

Did the minister have to drive a 100 miles for the service?

Does the minister work on a public job and would have to take off for the service?

Sometimes the funeral home puts the "minister's fee" on the funeral bill and passes it on to the family.

I always charged a set fee of $1000.00 dollars.

I notice you said "charged" as in past tense. I would gather that is why you don't perform them any longer........:sos

But does he pass it on to the minister?

Do you take that in installments?

I have never charged for either however if a pastor did hold down a secular job and had to take off it would be nice to make up for the loss. I just have never charged. I have preached many funerals of folks not in the church but I do NOT do wedding for folks not in the church period.

I agree.

What do you think would be a fair amount?

Esther,

I know I am not a pastor but I did want to chime in if you dont mind. 3 months ago when my mother passed away I too was unsure of the protocol here so I called our former pastor. I asked him these exact questions and his responses were:

Funeral: I would never ask someone to pay for my services (Me) what if they chose to what is the norm you have been paid? (Pastor) usually between 75-100 dollars and the same for a wedding unless he had to take time off from work and then they paid him 200-250 and he never had to ask for that he said it was just offered

The only time he ever charged whatsoever was at one time he was asked to rent out our old church building for a wedding but he was not the one doing the service so he rented the building out to the family.

My 2 cents worth if it helps any

First I have never charged for my services as a pastor/minister and when asked by the parties involved how much they should give I have always said whatever one feels to give.

Having done funerals from coast to coast I can say the usual and customary honorarium is $75-100 for a funeral and $100-250 for a wedding.

Most of the time, the funeral home asks the family if they want to include payment to the clergy, if so the funeral home writes a check to the pastor, otherwise, the family should give it directly to the minister.

When as a pastor/minister you officate at a wedding or funeral is it a custom to pay an honorium or fee?

OR do you have a set fee for these services?


I have never charged for a funeral or a wedding. I have certain convictions concerning who I will perform weddings for. If both man and woman are saved, then with pre-marital counselling I will do the weddding. If both or just one are not saved, I will take the opportunity to witness to them, but if the conditions remain the same, I won't do it. I'm not saying this is the way everyone should do it, but just what I have heard the Lord say to me. If they are only looking for a civil ceremony, then any qualified civil servant can perform it.
I did at one time want to find out what a lawyer gets for a divorce, and couples who didn't want to serve the Lord, get on my end what the lawyer would get on the other. (wife wouldn't let me!)

My pastor always told me to accept the offering if one is given but never to expect one or require one unless its to cover travel expenses for considerable distances.

I received an offering of $50 once for a wedding from the parents of the bride. These were poor people and I felt bad taking it but did not want to offend them either.

Yes I think this is very helpful.

thanks

Brother Jerry Dean married my wife and I. We offered him money and he would not accept. Of course this is standard for Brother Dean. He will not go ahead of the saints when they are serving nor will he allow them to give him his food for free if they are serving after services at his church and there is a fee. Brother Dean humbles me at his servants heart.

I will be performing a funeral in a week or so and there will certainly be no fee involved.

Re: ? for Pastors and Ministers
 

Yes I've been digging around and found this. All answers are good. I am an Arkansas funeral director and a minister. I have done several funerals and never charged. Most of the time the family will give an honorium. In my area it is 100 - 150. I have seen it 700.
I have not done a wedding yet. I'm still praying about it. Some ministers will marry saints only, some non saints some will not. I see both sides.
A good funeral home will ask the family about paying all involved in the service outside of the funeral home staff.
You will have some ministers that where there when mom & dad where but moved on. Mom dies and the family whats Rev ? to come back and do the funeral. Some churches will not allow that.
Some ministers have set fees and cost to cover gas and meals.
Again a good funeral director will take care of finding all this out for you and letting the family know before the funeral is set.

Re: ? for Pastors and Ministers
 

I pastored a ton of old folks so I did a lot of funerals and very few weddings.

I never expected a fee from church members since I felt this is what they were paying me for already.

For a non church member, I would not refuse a fee if it was offered.

Re: ? for Pastors and Ministers
 

Eddie has received anywhere from $0 to $200 for funerals, but he has never charged - I can't imagine a preacher doing that. Some people give him an offering; some don't. It doesn't really matter; he usually ends up giving it away anyway.

We have a set fee to use the church for a wedding and that covers the music guy, the minister, the sound guy and the janitor. It can only be used by church families. I don't even know how much it is, but it's not a lot. We will not marry anyone who hasn't gone through our marriage counseling process though.

Re: ? for Pastors and Ministers
 

1,000 dollars? I hope your kidding. :club

Re: ? for Pastors and Ministers
 

I never charged for saints that I pastored nor anyone else but in retrospect I would not charge for saints BUT I disrupted family plans placed them on hold spent money-time-energy on multitude of funerals for non-members that did NOT have the courtesy to even visit ONE church service to say thank you. I have stood in the rain & snow sick myself for non-members that complained over every nuance of the service. I have friends who do the same. I don't know? The funeral director is NOT burying them for free-the grave diggers are even getting paid-the florist-organist-the janitor at the funeral home. EVERYONE but the man who has to officiate the funeral and find something positive to say about maybe a total stranger. The preacher's time and labor surely is worth something? Members? They are supporting the preacher. Non members they are supporting their habits-luxuries-endeavors. Just a mini-sermon.:tease

Re: ? for Pastors and Ministers
 

I think it is only fair for non-members to pay a fee for the ministers time he is giving plus his expenses.

Re: ? for Pastors and Ministers
 

I have never charged for services. We do charge for a wedding if the couple are not members of NLC and we also charge for the use of the church. We have a number of folks who want to get married in our building, so we charge them for expenses incurred and it is just a plain hassle many times for someone who is not a member. It takes two day, including the rehearsal, so I don't feel bad about charging. I have never charged for a funeral and sometimes don't receive anything. I'm not in this for the money. I'd be stoopid if I were!! :D