How Much Does Your 'church' Pay?

[The Lemon]

Thank you for sharing Miss Bratt, and Deacon - WOW! I appreciated those posts! And for the record - Deacon - if I lived near you, I would be at your church brother!!

Unless you are called to Pastor, you most likely have no idea what the full duty costs. Having said that, it is hard for me, reading these posts and realizing there are goog men and their families literally scratching out a living preaching, and really are just getting by financially.

My last Pastor owned his own business as well as pastored, he was not rich, but was well off - and was the best pastor I have ever had IMHO. Working a secular job/owning a business did not take away from his annointing, gifts, or ability to pastor the congregation. I realize that the church was probably smaller then some - maybe around 25-50 max - but I enjoyed it much more then the previous church which was pastored by a full time pastor and was twice the size.

The interesting thing about the smaller church was that there were no fund raisers, no mention of money or any issues as far as I could tell - the larger church with the full time pastor was a consistant issue with money, bills, giving, endless fundraisers etc.

I realize demographic plays a huge part in the cash flow of an assembly, but I also know and believe the pastor has a right to take care of his own, if it is only from church income or a combination of secular work and church income...it is his right and honestly his choice.

I believe as Christains mature, they need to help and minister, and not be a burden to a pastor but a source of strength and help...my opinion. And the pastor does not need to be superman or try to be anything but a pastor - forget about organizational politics, or what other ministers think about their ministry practices.

We have more say over our lives...even though there is a call, and a mantle of annointing, there is also a personal responsibility and choice, and I have seen men balance both and be blessed. I do not believe it is Gods will for his called pastors to be poor, broke, and have busted marriages for the sake of the gospel...that does not add up to what I see in scripture.