Pastors in small to medium sized churches are paid considerably less than their peers in large churches. On average, pastors can expect to make $40,000 – $60,000 in a church of fifty members or less. However, even with that said there are some reasons why some pastors can be paid more, even in smaller congregations.
The average salary for a pastor of a 50 member church is $40,000.
Average salary for pastor of 50 member church
After all my years of research, I was a bit surprised that the salary for a pastor of a 50 member church was only $37,000. However, I guess it comes down to what they define as a “full time income” and how many expenses are involved with being an associate pastor or assistant pastor at a smaller church. One of the funniest things I found out through this was the fact that “$90k was recorded as the mean starting salary for U.S. ministers, with $100k+ reported for 27%”. Whew! So there you go :).
So, taking a look at the data, what can we conclude? First, the salary range of a pastor of a 50-member church is between $26k-$59k. Second, it will be determined by their experience level and their congregation’s size. Finally, the median salary falls in the $40k-$50k range. Of course, these are just averages and your true salary will fall above or below this range primarily based on your experience level and/or your congregation size.
New pastors, who have previously been involved in other forms of ministry, tend to have base salaries that are higher than those of first-time pastors. These senior pastors may make between $70,000 and $100,000.
More than anything else, we must remember that the job of a pastor is simply to love the members of his church and to continue extending the message of Jesus. If a pastor can do that, whether he earns millions per year or makes minimum wage, he is fulfilling his role in a manner so faithful and admirable that no amount of money could ever be enough to compensate him.
Churches of all sizes and backgrounds must plan for the impact of generational pensions. With member churches and associations needing to coordinate resources to ensure the pay-out is properly funded, the effort will require coordination of several parties.
While there are a good number of survey sites on the web, the five listed above are some of the highest-ranked survey sites that can help you earn money online and get paid for your online survey answers. Always remember to use multiple survey sites simultaneously as well as for an increased chance of higher earnings.
