he Christian pollster George Barna recently announced that the median annual salary for pastors in the United States had reached a new high, breaking through the $40,000 level.

According to the Barna study, ministerial wages have climbed 25 percent in the past 10 years, from $32,040 in 1992 to $40,077 today and 4.9 percent over last year. The salary levels have remained level when compared to the consumer price index.1

Barna's findings were the result of telephone interviews to 601 senior pastors of Protestant churches this past May. The survey was balanced by denominational affiliations. The salary data includes the value of all types of compensation.2

Barna found that among the factors affecting wage levels, education and size of churches made a significant difference in compensation. Pastors who graduate from seminary receive 38 percent higher salaries than those without seminary degrees. And pastors who served congregations with 100-250 adult members earned a 50 percent higher salary ($47,368) than those with congregations under 100 members ($31,613).3

As I read through the findings I was encouraged to know that pastors' salaries are moving forward.

However, I also believe the research provides fresh benchmarks as church leaders study this very issue.

I must acknowledge that Adventist pastors compare favorably against Barna's survey. According to North American Division (NAD) salary figures, ordained pastors receive from 3.8 to 35.5 percent (in high cost-of-living areas) above the median salary level mentioned by Barna. In the past 10 years salaries of Adventist pastors have increased from 28 and 35 percent, compared with 25 percent in Barna's study.

Currently the Adventist Church's 12 world divisions and General Conference institutions are studying a new remuneration philosophy that was voted "in principle" at the GC Executive Committee's Spring Meeting. The measure will come up for final approval in October.4

At the same time, the NAD is studying a new wage scale for its pastors, teachers, administrators, and other denominational employees. NAD leaders voted to change the division's wage scale at year-end meetings last October. The issue will be discussed again at the 2002 NAD year-end meeting in November.

The remuneration issues facing the Adventist Church go far beyond defining an adequate, yet sacrificial, wage for the twenty-first century. Church leaders want to make sure the principles of remuneration make sense on a global scale, that they can be applied in more than 200 countries and territories where the church operates.

What is appropriate compensation for Adventist administrators in church-owned businesses and educational institutions? Is it fair to tie their compensation to pastors' salaries, or should market-driven rates play a part? How does the church get organizations that have departed from the church's wage scale to reinstate it?

Should the pastors' salary scale be expanded so that senior pastors who lead a pastoral staff receive more than those in smaller churches? If so, how much? These are just some of the questions facing church leaders as they replace a remuneration system that has served the church for 40 years.

With new remuneration measures there should also be a thoughtful plan of implementation, a plan that calls for periodic review, appropriate checks and balances, a clear paper trail, and a plan that assists noncompliant organizations in coming into compliance. Without diligent monitoring and review, the church stands the risk of voting a policy that's filed away and ignored. We must never forget that the lack of meaningful oversight was a major factor that gave rise to the health-care salary mess just a few years ago.

Let's pray for our leaders. They need divine wisdom and guidance. The decisions they make in the next few months will affect church employees for decades to come.

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¹ Pastoral Compensation Hits New High, May 28, 2002, Barna Research Online (www.barna.org).
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ A report on the remuneration issue is available on the Review Web site at www.adventistreview.org/2002-1516/story5.html.

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Carlos Medley is the news and online editor of the Adventist Review.