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Pit Pastor's Salary Against Teacher's Pay Package

Pit Pastor's Salary Against Teacher's Pay Package

The NECF Malaysia Leadership Commission has proposed that pastors' salaries follow the government teachers' scale, but with some adjustments. At their last meeting in October, some commission members felt that the pastor's basic pay should be at least 80 percent of the teacher's basic pay. Others, however, felt that it should be higher.

All agreed though that the pastor's package should include housing and COLA (cost of living) allowances, and other allowances such as mobile phone and transport. The entry level should be the same as that of a graduate teacher.

Furthermore, the commission suggested that churches take into account the pastors' job respon-sibilities and not the job title when deciding their salaries. For example, a senior pastor of a 1,000- member congregation should rightly get a higher salary than a pastor of a 200-member congregation.

Besides the size of the congregation, other factors to consider within the job responsibility scope include:

  • Span of control - number of people reporting to him, is he responsible for the church's assets and properties, does he have to liaise with government departments? et cetera;
  • Decision making - complicated or simple;
  • Years of experience required;
  • Minimum qualifications - theological and professional; and Urban or rural church location.

The commission also cautioned against using the average-congregation-income principle to calculate the pastor's salary. That means adding the salary of the high-income congregation member with the low-income member, and taking the average from the two ends. A better mode is to go for the most common income level within the congregation.

If discussing a pastor's salary makes you squirm, take a leaf from Jay Adams who said, "It is NOT UN-SPIRITUAL to discuss and even negotiate the salary. Salaries offered by many congregations are scandalously inadequate. In general, it may be said that it takes a salary equal to the average salary of the members to live and work adequately in any community." (Jay Adams is an American Reformed Christian author who is mostly known for his book, Competent to Counsel.)



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