The Associated Baptist Press has an article up on pastoral pay.  It talks about how much a mega-church pastor might make…what the median salary of a lead pastor is…what kind of take a Joel Osteen has from selling books, that kind of thing.

But the very interesting part to me as about a church in Waco, Texas called Antioch Community Church.  Their view of staff compensation is quite different.

Since its formation, the church has paid all of its staff members
the same annual salary, which is currently $26,400. The only difference
in pay is compensation for dependents — $400 a month for a spouse and
$275 a month per child for up to four kids.


“Our view is that God doesn’t value the work of the pastor more
than he does the secretary because God called us all to use our
spiritual gifts,” Jeff Abshire, Antioch’s administrative pastor, said.
“Aren’t we all called to fulfill the Great Commission? Aren’t we all
called to preach the gospel?”

Abshire said Antioch pays low salaries because it wants to preserve its ministers’ calling from God.

“We believe that we’ll have greater integrity with our people if
we’re living off a salary that is similar to what most of the people in
our church earn,” Abshire said. “It’s easier to preach about finances
when the pastor has as much faith-need for God to provide as the
congregation does.”

Abshire acknowledged that many might perceive Antioch’s payment
system as unusual. “We’re not saying this is for everybody,” he said.
“We felt called to set up salaries this way, but we’re not saying that
some other church is doing it the wrong way.”  (Source)

That is different, huh? 

Found via Monday Morning Insight.