January 07 2010
Poll: Is your primary reason for staying at your church your pay?
Tagged Under : ministry, money, poll
I was talking with a worship leader friend of mine over lunch about calling and the subject of ministry as a career came up. I am not, nor have I ever been, on staff, I am as I like to say full time volunteer. I’m not against paid staff at all, I believe there is plenty of biblical basis for it and I hope as our church grows we’ll be able to support more of our leaders.
But I do have a lot of friends/acquaintances in paid staff positions and I know a lot of them have experienced one or both of these:
- They left a church they loved and served to go to a church that could pay them. If their old church could have paid them, they would have stayed.
- They have serious theological or ministry philosophy conflicts with other leaders (elders, pastors) in the church and if they weren’t on staff or had another job option, they would leave.
Neither of those sit well with me at all. Sometimes I find myself wishing that I was on paid staff, but then most of me is really thankful that I get to do full time ministry but not depend on it to support my family financially. That tension I can only imagine becomes difficult at times when you feel called in one direction, but have to consider the financial impacts to your family.
So the question is “Is your primary reason for staying at your church your pay?” . Since this is a worship blog I expect most answers to be from worship leaders, but if you are on paid staff in any capacity please feel free to answer. This poll is totally anonymous, there is no way for me or anyone else to know who answered what. I said very early on in this blog I wanted to ask hard questions of ourselves and I think this qualifies.
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I'm at my church because it is where God has called me, there have been a few times in the past that my husband and I were tempted to leave when some stuff got tuff, but God said, "no you're staying" and we did, and we're so glad we did. We have never been paid and never want to be paid, we serve because the love of Christ compells us! And our job situation affords us the time we need to work a regular job and facilitate the music ministry without too much strain. I know that wouldn't be the case for all worship directors, especially some with bigger programs than us.
With that said though, I know we don't have as many people to draw from at our church when it comes to team development, because there are a lot of local churches where they can get paid, but since we're being honest and answering tough questions, I'm thankful to not have to deal with people who just wanna get paid for laying down some sweet licks…
My recent post Wait! Where did December go?
I'm sure there's people who get paid and still worship, but it just seems like alot of them, run the circut of paying churches and aren't committed to the body of christ. They do their job (sometimes at 3 different churches), and go home…. I don't get it…
When that's the case, I think that church values the gift of music more than person's actual spiritual gift and how they are using it in the body they have been called to… I know it's not like that for a lot of paid worshippers, just seems to be a trend where I'm from.
I'm sure you can tell I have a lot of thoughts on the subject, but hey, it's not my blog, so I'm done…
thanks for the stimulating topic though!
My recent post Wait! Where did December go?
(long and loud laughter) My denomination has very few churches that have paid worship leaders. Would I like to be paid? I think so, but I'm probably not that good. We do try to be as polished as possible, but we're not at the pro level…and most of the time I think that's a good thing. It takes one big potential problem area out of the mix…and helps us focus on the real reasons we should be doing this. We still have our issues, but this isn't one of them.
I do get paid… but only part time. The money alone is certainly not enough to keep me in that job. I'm at the church I'm at because I feel that God has led me there… unless/until He leads me somewhere else, that's where I'm going to be, regardless of pay.
I’ve only had one ministry job where I realized after 4 yrs that the pay was the only thing keeping me there. The day I realized that truth, I had to start searching out my wrong motives and begin the process of either re-connecting my heart to that particular ministry or disengaging and moving on to a place where I could be fully present, on-board, engaged, enthusiastic, and passionate about serving. I felt a lot of guilt about the fact that if I wasn’t on staff there, I would never want to attend or be a part of the ministry there. Many factors made me realize that ministry philosophy, chemistry, leadership style were way more important to me than I previously realized. God used circumstances and a nagging sense of discontent to help me take steps to move on truthfully, graciously, kindly and with relationships intact. Very difficult thing to do. Worth it. I hope to not ever be in that same situation again. Bottom line: I allowed myself to become more dependent on the paycheck to meet my daily needs than on God to meet my needs. Big difference.
I stay because it is where God has me. In fact, I am about to take a 50% paycut. The awesome thing is, without any advertisment or seeking on my own part, a large side job came up at the same time as my cut. God always provides; it's kind of crazy.
For years, I was a "full-time volunteer" doing work on the side and it looks like I will be there again.
Cyndi,
I appreciate your comments. The "gigging" worship leaders are puzzling. I don't think the money causes it, there's a deeper heart issue there, perhaps mixed with an over-realized view of the global church and undervaluing of commitment to the local body. This post will lead into more detailed discussion on the topic.
That is tough. Great point at the end about our dependence being Christ centered.
Very interesting question. What might go along with this question is if those who feel called to another church do so because of a greater "opportunity" which might be congregation size, money, etc.
My recent post Lord’s Day 01/03 the story
Mark,
That is a question I alluded to in the post and a very important one indeed. I've seen several people all of a sudden feel "called" to leave their church because of financial security offered in another position. Were it not for the money, I don't think they'd feel called there. I've also had several worship leaders come to our church and love it, feel like that is where God wanted them to be, their home….until they found out the Worship Pastor (me) and all of the musicians are volunteers. Then they mysteriously vanish.
Interesting dialogue here but I miss the days of the Klog when we could really rip into the author for making such terrible content. Now you write intriguing questions and have intelligent commenters that add to the conversation. I miss the good old days when we could question your humanity.
My recent post rain beats lakers
Interesting dialogue here but I miss the days of the Klog when we could really rip into the author for making such terrible content. Now you write intriguing questions and have intelligent commenters that add to the conversation. I miss the good old days when we could question your humanity.
My recent post rain beats lakers
Great post. Long time reader, first time commenter (feel like I'm on a sports talk show).
Maybe this is another post, but what if we turn the question around. How much priority should local churches put in investing in people vs. something like a building?
I do not get paid, but I did have the option to get paid and chose not to take it. I am a part-time worship pastor, and have a well-paying full time job, so I really don't need the money. The church does however pay for my strings (I tend to go through a set every couple of weeks) and I have a budget for taking worship folks out for lunches when we meet. My church does not have a lot of money, but personally I feel very blessed and taken care of by them. (invested in)
Yeah I know. Just got tired of the death threats from cat lovers.
This is something that I've been dealing with personally over the past couple of years… I come from a background of having been paid in different ministries I've bene involved in, to over the past 2 and a half years I have chosen to serve in a volunteer capacity while maintaining a fulltime job in the insurance industry. However over the past year and a half, and REALLY over the past 6 months I have felt a GIANT call back to ministry and to a place to put my all back into it. To do that though, I would need to be able to earn a living from it. Well, to complete this story full circle, a week and a half ago I was laid off from my insurance job and am now in the job search phase and searching what God would have me do. I would love to stay at the church that I've been serving in, and be able to pour even more time and effort into it but without pay I haven't figured out what I'll be able to do financially. I don't have answers, if you can tell, just ranting I guess…Input? lol
My recent post Thursday Check Up
P.S. I'm also not a worship leader, I run audio and production at a church here in town, and to be honest, if I could put the effort into it that I'd like to and get my bills paid elsewhere I would any day of the week!
My recent post Thursday Check Up
I am the Director of Media Ministry at a church (a paid position), and I feel very much called to be here. I have always said I would do this no matter the pay, but the amount of pay does effect what I can do. See, I still have to make a living somehow, so I have a "day job" to help cover the bills. So, the more the church pays me, the less I have to be at my day job and the more I can help the church (which is what I enjoy doing). However, I would work even if I weren't getting paid, I just wouldn't be able to do as much work at the church because I have to pay the bills somehow.
So for me it is a sliding scale, and I have tried to be honest with the church about that. I tell them: "I wish I could do more for you, but I have a day job. If you were to pay me more, I could spend more time here." Thankfully they have understood my position and have grown my position in the church as the church has grown.
Matthew
As as volunteer worship musician and pastor, obviously it's not about pay. In fact, I'm happy to say I was offered a paid part-time position at another church, and turned it down to stay where I am.
That said, the pull toward full-time ministry is a strong one of late. I know my church will not be able to take on another salary for possibly years, so if the option to go full-time into a church that I shared beleifs with – well, that would be a hard choice.