So I Asked My Elders for a ‘Raise’
‘The last time that I got an increase was in 2016. And I was the one who gave it to myself.’
This was what I said to my Session¹ in our last meeting, when I had requested an increase on my monthly compensation from the church. Thankfully, they approved my request.
In 2016 our young church plant had ended our partnership with our sending church’s mission board. For the five years that we were under their oversight they had graciously bankrolled the whole project, ensuring that both my family’s as well as the ministry’s material needs were met. It was a huge blessing to not to have to worry about our living expenses and to be able to simply focus on the work of ministry. The mission board had the right idea about this when they asked me at the start of our partnership to let them know how much I needed in order to live and to do ministry in Katipunan. I gave an amount and they approved it. It was not a huge sum but it was enough to allow me — and later my wife with me — to live in relative comfort.
After our partnership with our sending church ended our fledgling church soon found ourselves in the necessary but challenging spot of having to raise funds to sustain both our family and church. By this time, our household had already grown from just my wife and I to now a young family with a little girl and a newborn baby boy. This was when I felt it was necessary to give myself an increase. I reworked the budget (we didn’t have a diaconate yet at the time) and factored in the increases in our rental and living expenses. This resulted in a total of about 28% increase in my compensation. By God’s grace, we were able to raise the necessary funds and the ministry of our church continued to be sustained by the Lord, as it is today.
Fast forward six years into 2022 and my family and I are now also six years older. The cost of living in Metro Manila today is — thanks to inflation and other economic factors — no longer what it was in 2016 or 2011. On top of this we have also bought a new home in 2019. I am also currently pursuing advanced theological studies with a school in the UK. All of these have understandably contributed to our growing expenses as a family.
I told my elders that the guiding principle in providing for our ministers ought to be so that the pastor can focus on his work and not have to think about how else to support his family. I told them that in my case it has already come to a point where we are now reaching into our savings in order to make ends meet.
I have also recently started selling roasted coffee again to fund my studies, as well as my annual trip to the UK to attend the IPC’s Catalyst Conference and my presbytery’s June meetings. This does not really take me away from my work as a pastor so I intend to keep doing it. Besides, it’s more of a hobby of mine to get people to drink more good rather than bad coffee so it’s really not something that I am pursuing as a means to get wealthy.
So, I asked my elders for a ‘raise.’
It still feels awkward writing and speaking about it in these terms because I suppose we tend to equate getting a raise with an update in one’s résumé or skillset. But for a minister of the Word and Sacraments there really is not much for us to aspire for in terms of career development. Compensation for pastors cannot be tied to educational attainment, ecclesiastical credentials, or other such things. There aren’t really any Key Performance Indicators that our non-existent HR can review to see whether the pastor is getting his due or not.
For the pastor the job description never changes — ‘Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.’ (2 Timothy 4:2) The basis for a minister’s compensation, then, cannot be measured by quantitative outputs and productivity. The paradigm for pastoral compensation is different altogether.
As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:13–14,
Those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings … In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
The Lord has commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. Now, granted, the church must hold the minister accountable for the task of faithfully proclaiming the gospel. If he should be delinquent in this then he should be admonished and held responsible for his neglect or error. But the church must likewise ensure that their ministers — who proclaim the gospel well — be reasonably provided for to continue a lifetime of such service to Christ and his church.
My recent ask from my elders was for a 33% increase. I am very grateful that they approved this given that this means that our growing church membership would need now to further excel in the grace of giving.
But as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you— see that you excel in this act of grace also. (2 Corinthians 8:7)
I must say that I am thankful that I am able to have this honest conversation with my elders and that they are understanding and supportive of this adjustment in my compensation. We also got talking about the need for an annual review — moving forward — of our ministers’² compensation and benefits.
I understand that in many churches this is a difficult topic to navigate. But having this coversation in our churches is necessary and of mutual benefit to both ministers and members. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in his concluding exhortations, reminds us:
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. … Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:7, 17)
The final instruction about ensuring that our leaders are enabled to do their ministry ‘with joy and not with groaning’ needs our fresh attention.
How many misinformed churches have disabused their workers of a decent living simply because they were convinced that it has been granted to their minister (and not to them!) ‘that for the sake of Christ [the minister] should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.’ (Philippians 1:29) The pastor should be ready and willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel. The pastor should not have to suffer for the sake of the gospel at the hands of close-handed church leaders and members.
I recall the plight of a roommate of mine in seminary who, after graduation, returned to his childhood church to serve. He was given a meager stipend of $97/month (in today’s money) for full-time church ministry work. Even in 2011 this was a suprisingly ungenerous pittance.
‘He’s single and lives with his parents in their family home; he doesn’t need much to survive,’ the leaders of his church probably reasoned.
But my friend plodded along, as we do, because he was doing the Lord’s work. And to do the Lord’s work is it’s own reward. I hope this shocking example³ persuades us of the need to have this conversation and to ensure that we are supporting our pastors and their families cheerfully and well.
One resource that my Session and I have found helpful in thinking through this is an article by the Rev John Fikkert entitled How Much Should We Pay Our Pastor? An Introduction to the Pastoral Compensation Tool, published in the OPC website. There is a link in the article that directs the reader to an online tool for calculating how much a congregation might need to come up with to support their pastors and their families. The computations in this website, of course, are based on US standards of living and do not readily apply to our Philippine context. Nevertheless, what the tool provides is a helpful framework that our churches can hopefully adapt to our respective church contexts.
I have to be honest. Having reached the end of this article I still feel somewhat awkward writing and speaking about this subject. Perhaps this is because I am not an unaffected observer but someone who is deeply invested in this topic. But a part of me also knows that this feeling of awkwardness is illegitimate. This is a subject that the Bible does address and thus is well within the purview of my teaching ministry also. It is an important subject that church leaders and members should be talking about and giving due consideration to.
Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. (Galatians 6:6)
¹ A Session is the local governing body in a presbyterian church — composed of all the elders of a congregation.
² I use the plural here because this change must apply not only to myself but also to any future pastors that our church might call
³ I sincerely hope that you, too, find this shocking!
