Things I Never Understood About Church, Part 2: Full-Time Pastors

Let’s revisit my childhood, since that is probably where this misunderstanding originated. In my church, our pastor was never a full-time pastor; he always had a full-time job along with being the pastor, and the church gave him a little bit of money each month (not much at all). For a long time I wasn’t even aware that full-time pastors existed.

When I became aware of their existence, I thought it was really odd. I wondered if many full-time pastors were mostly doing it for the money; after all, they didn’t have to have a “real” job*, the church gave them plenty of money, and in many cases a house. I looked around at many of the full-time pastors here and saw expensive houses and cars, and thought surely the church’s money could be put to better use. After all, look at all the people out there who don’t even have a place to live, and the pastor has an expensive home in a prestigious neighborhood?

Just like the last topic I wrote about (planning services ahead of time), paying pastors can absolutely be taken to an extreme. I will admit, I still have a very hard time with the idea of making the pastor rich while other people (even people in the congregation) are barely making it. I think that’s taking it too far. And I still think it’s possible that there are some pastors out there who don’t love it, who realize that being a pastor is not their passion, but are getting good money. I hope I’m wrong; I desperately hope that there is no one out there who fits these descriptions.

But I have started to realize that having a full-time pastor can be a very good thing indeed, both for the pastor and the rest of the people. When the pastor does not have to commit 40+ hours per week to a job that isn’t even his passion but is just paying the bills, it frees him up to spend those hours focusing on what he is passionate about—following God and leading a church. It gives him time to read and study, it gives him time to go out into the community and build relationships, it gives him time to focus on people in his church who are struggling for various reasons. He is able to spend more time focusing on his church and his community, and both will benefit tremendously from it. But as beneficial as it is for a pastor to be able to focus on his passion full-time, he also needs to be able to support his family financially. This is where paying your pastor can be a wonderful thing. I think it’s reasonable for a church to show their love and appreciation for their pastor by paying him a decent amount of money for him and his family, and I think this can be backed up scripturally.

I know that not all churches can afford to pay their pastors. Some pastors simply have no choice but to work a full-time job; looking back, that was very likely the case in my childhood church. I know that is the case in our church currently—but I will go on record as saying that I hope that one day we will be able to show our love and appreciation for our pastors and their families in this way. Right now they work full-time jobs on top of pastoring, and I know it is not easy. I hope one day we can meet their financial needs and free them up to focus on their passion full-time.


*About the “real” job comment- I could hardly even stand to write that, and I apologize for ever thinking that pastoring a church isn’t a “real” job. Being a stay-at-home mom, I know how frustrating it is to pour my whole being, my life, my energy, my passion, into something only for others to characterize me as not having a “real” job. My job as a mom is real—and so is your job as a pastor.