16 May LET’S TALK: About Pastors’ Salaries

Right now, the base salary for UB fulltime ministers is $35,000. Many churches generously go far beyond that amount. But too many churches cling to the minimum.

The Executive Leadership Team, during its April meeting, spent some time talking about pastors’ salaries. They didn’t make any decisions; I just wanted their input as I consider making some proposals. Here are some thoughts from that discussion:

• About two-thirds of our churches have an attendance less than 100. To sustain a minimum fulltime pastor, you probably need 125 people.
• We have a lot of churches on the bubble of being able to afford a fulltime pastor.
• A lot of quality pastors are being less than adequately compensated.
• If you can’t pay a fulltime salary, you need to let your pastor supplement his income with other work.
• The fulltime salary suggestion should reflect a true living wage.
• We can’t expect to recruit ministers if, as a denomination, we set such a low salary. It’s embarrassing to talk to a prospective pastor and tell him what our minimum fulltime salary is.
• Churches should do a lot more in adding benefits for pastors, such as paying for a cell phone, computer, internet access, and other things.
• In denying pay raises for ministers, people point to the plight of other members of the congregation.
• A pay increase for the pastor usually requires a board member willing to champion that cause.

What are you thoughts? What would you like to add?

13 May Rest for Pastors and Spouses

Tom Blaylock, our Director of Church Multiplication, describes his wonderful five-day vacation courtesy of Broom Tree Ministries in Delafield, Wisc. This ministry provides a free getaway retreat for pastors and spouses. Perhaps you could benefit from this.

12 May A Pastor “Gets” Healthy Ministry Resources

Scott Hardaway, pastor of Pathway Community Church (Jackson, Mich.), used his blog to explain Healthy Ministry Resources to his people. Did a fine job, too. 

12 May LEAD Teams: an Insider’s View

J. Michael Caley, Pastor, Banner of Christ UB (Byron Center, Mich.)
The most effective way to start a church is for churches to cooperate in starting new churches. Banner Church (Byron Center, Mich.) has been part of a LEAD team, the first one in Michigan. The other members are Howard Matthews (HomeFront UB, Grandville), Scott Hergert (First UB, Lansing), Thurm Payton (Lighthouse UB, Williamston), and Darrel Bosworth (Kilpatrick UB, Woodland).

Our LEAD team gathers every 6-8 weeks to support the work of Gordon Kettel, who is planting a church in Grand Ledge, Mich. Tom Blaylock, the director of Church Multiplication, also meets with us. Our experience has been good. Gordon is so fun and entertaining; we have a great time together.

The initials stand for learn, encourage, achieve, dream. It’s a group of pastors getting together for the specific purpose of thinking and praying together about the most strategic places God might have us plant a new church.

The commitment of that team and church, by the pastor participating, is:

• Identify a potential church planter.
• Pool resources.
• Set goals for how often to start a new church.
• Do everything possible to support and encourage the planter.

We commit for a period of 2-3 years to start a church and see it through. We’re a committed group of guys who serve as a sounding board for Gordon. He shares struggles and asks questions, and we agree to always laugh at his jokes.

In the 1980s, I became a church planter. I felt entirely alone, even though I received a regular paycheck from the conference treasurer and was told the conference backed us. God used that experience to teach us, as a family, some amazing things, and we learned how to share Christ without any real support. But the LEAD team concept excites me, because I feel it’ll lead to some real success stories.

08 May Thoughts on Being Bishop

At the Michigan “Hang with the Bishop” meeting, someone asked, “How are you doing in this new position?”

Being bishop has been an eye-opening experience. The amount of conflict a bishop must referee is more than I expected. Some situations have been tense. It’s probably a good thing that I’m big.

But it’s an honor to be elected by your peers. I sometimes struggle with wearing the title “bishop,” but I’m okay with it.

Someone asked me if I enjoy the job. I don’t think this is something you enjoy, but I appreciate the opportunity to serve. I just believe in the sovereignty of God. He put me here, and he knows what he’s doing.

02 May LET’S TALK: About Denominations

Denominations take a lot of flack, and it’s not necessarily undeserved. The pro-denomination and anti-denomination sides have their fan clubs. What do you think?

• Is being part of a denomination a useful thing?
• Does a denomination help, hinder, or otherwise affect what happens in a local church?
• If you’re a pastor, what’s your perspective about being part of a denomination? Would life be better for you in a non-denom church?
• Does the average person in the pew give a hoot about denominations?
• What’s the proper role of a denomination?
• Are denominations dinosaurs that should just go away?

Please use the Comment feature to give your views. We have an authentication process (spam makes it necessary), but when you get authenticated once, it’ll be easy to leave comments in the future.

29 Apr Emphasizing What Jesus Created

It’s all about the local church. It’s not about the denominational headquarters.

I work out of the national office in Huntington, along with ten other people. Our only reason to exist is to support our churches as they carry out the Great Commission.

Healthy Ministry Resources is the new name of the United Brethren national office. That’s how we will answer the phone when you call. That’s what this website is about. The name reflects our focus on serving and resourcing our churches.

The church is the only institution established by Jesus. That’s the sharp end of the spear, the place where ministry occurs. The place where we continue carrying out the mission of Jesus.

Denominations are organized hierarchically, with the man-made part at the top and the Jesus-made part–the local church–at the bottom. We are switching that around, focusing everything we do on the Jesus-made part.

We can’t avoid all of the ecclesiastical functions of the national office or the role of the bishop. As a group of churches, we’ve agreed to submit to accountability and various standards, and to give the bishop authority.

But mostly, Healthy Ministry Resources is here for this mission: “To effectively resource pastors and congregations of the US National Conference to fulfill the Great Commission.”

10 Mar In the Army of the Lord

I’m just finishing the book Band of Brothers, by Stephen Ambrose, which Pat Jones told me about. It is about a group of soldiers in World War 2 who were led by Dick Winters, who was a tremendous leader. They were sent to the front lines, the first to go in, and they lost people. But they had a mission. They were a “band of brothers” because they had this mission. They weren’t a family–families don’t necessarily have a mission. But these were soldiers with a mission–to take an objective and win the war. I find that fascinating.

Isn’t that exactly what the Lord told us to do? We talk about being the family of God and get all gushy about it. But we are the army of the Lord. William Booth knew that; it’s why he called his organization the Salvation Army. If we had the same kind of desire to accomplish at all costs the mission that our leader has given us, I think our churches would look different. I would look different.