Salaries for Alabama’s full-time Southern Baptist pastors have increased by 10 percent from 2000 to 2002, according to Derrell Crimm, certified financial planner and director of the office of support services/annuity and Insurance for the Alabama State Board of Missions (SBOM).
“There could be a number of reasons for the increase,” Crimm said, noting that 94 more pastors participated in the study this year than in 2000.
Crimm said a total of 1,800 people in paid church positions sent data to his office, which collects salary reports every two years for the Report of the Laymen’s Salary Study Committee.
The information was sent on to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) for its 2002 SBC Compensation Study coordinated by Don Spencer, director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention annuity department. That report, involving 35 state Baptist conventions throughout the nation, found that salary increases for Southern Baptist pastors nationwide have more than doubled the rate of inflation during the past six years.
Inflation has totaled 15.2 percent in the past six years, Spencer said. Among full-time pastors, he added, the average compensation has gone up 31.5 percent during the same time.
Crimm said among Alabama churches with 200 to 300 members, the average compensation had increased by 22 percent during the past six years, and among churches with 500 to 1,000 members that increase was 49.2 percent.
“That is probably a direct correlation with the budgets of larger churches,” Crimm said.
The average salary and housing for full-time Southern Baptist pastors is $43,566, according to the study of 5,850 pastors’ salaries. The totals range from $33,395 in West Virginia to $57,096 among churches affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Alabama’s average salary and housing is $46,396. Among bivocational pastors, average salary and housing range from $10,198 in Illinois to $21,860 in Hawaii. For Alabama’s bivocational pastors, the average is $14,766.
The average total pay package for pastors is $52,252. The total pay package includes insurance and annuity benefits as well as salary and housing. Alabama’s average is higher at $54,990. This total includes salary, housing and benefits.
Among bivocational pastors, the average salary and housing is $13,880 nationally and the average total pay package is $15,074. For Alabama’s bivocational pastors, the total package averages $15,480.
“Traditionally, ministers have been underpaid,” Spencer pointed out. “My whole philosophy of ministerial compensation is that ministers should be adequately compensated so they can take care of their families and be free to be the best ministers they can be. If the compensation is low and the minister is giving his energy to meeting the financial needs of his family, he won’t be the best pastor he can be.”
Primary users of the study typically include members of church finance, personnel or search committees, Spencer said.
The purpose of both studies, Crimm said, is to “help churches get a better understanding of what to compensate their ministers.”
“The more responses we get, the better the information we have,” he added.
In keeping with the goal of understanding, both studies are available on the Internet. Crimm said churches can access the SBOM report online at www.alsbom.org for a more customized report than what his office mails out.
“In one day, we sent out 8,742 copies of the [state convention’s] report,” Crimm added. That report includes information on the surrounding states of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi.
Spencer said the SBC report can be accessed through the Southern Baptist Annuity Board Web site at www.absbc.org.
Customized reports
Noting that his office typically responds to requests for more than 200 customized reports in conjunction with each biennial study, Spencer said Web access will also allow church leaders to compile their own customized reports.
The customized option permits individuals to access data from churches with comparable membership and budget size. General reports also are available in such categories as average attendance, resident membership and budget as well as an employee’s age, education level and years of experience.
“We respect the autonomy of the churches,” Spencer said. “This simply provides them the data they need to know what other churches are doing.
“We want to strengthen what they’re able to do in ministry,” he added. “The Scriptures are very clear about taking care of your family, and that applies to ministers. They’ve got to have enough resources to do that.”
Crimm emphasized that for a church to know what the appropriate compensation for their pastor would be in looking at the compensation numbers, it is important to break them down by church size and budget size.
“That way they get a good correlation between the two,” he said.
One of the keys to budgeting adequate compensation for ministers, Spencer said, is to “leave ministry-related expenses out of the pay package.”
Study organizers chose to eliminate expense-related information from this year’s study, he added. “It’s assumed expenses are paid over and above compensation and benefits,” Spencer said. In addition to tax savings for ministers, he said, “The reality is that money for expenses is not compensation, even though some churches treat it as such.”
The study also includes salary information for staff ministers, office personnel and custodians.
Among full-time staff members, the average salary is $42,241, and the average total pay package is $50,232.
Among bivocational staff members, the average salary is $9,986 and the average total pay package is $10,677.
For more information about the study, contact Crimm at 1-800-264-1225.
(BP, Erin Webster contributed)
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