Money and the Church. When the world looks at Michelangelo’s David, they see the masterful transformation of a large piece of marble that has been turned into a world-renowned sculpture. It would be ridiculous to assume that this transformation resulted solely from the tools that the artist used. Those same tools in the hands of anyone else would not have produced the same result. This 17-foot tall 12,000-pound block of marble took on the persona of the hand that sculped it. In the same way, money that has been given to church organizations take on the persona of those who steward it. In my last post, I asked the question: Why is there so much ambiguity around the subject of finances at local churches and denominations? The answer is simple, in some churches there is a curtain that hides improprieties, there are shadows that cover up the imperfections. It can become like a masquerade that participants attend in their costumes to evade transparency. To find out if this applies to your church you can and should ask these questions:
“Where can I get written information detailing how our church finances are administered?”
“Are the finances organized according to current church bylaws and who oversees them?”
“How can I get a copy of this year’s budget and council/board minutes?”
These are easy questions for any church and the answers should be readily available on their website. In today’s honest conversation I will share some of my experiences regarding attitudes from pastors about staff compensation, financial priorities, and how we can be good stewards of God’s money that has been entrusted to a church.
The way a leader describes those in his employment can give insight into why he treats them the way that he does. I had a lead pastor once explain to me that his staff were just waifs. This leader went on to tell me that waifs were people that he planned to cycle through, he considered only a few of them valuable enough to keep longer in their positions. I had never heard the term waif and I thought it was due to the fact that Spanish was my first language. When I looked it up, I realized it was not because I was bilingual that I was unfamiliar with the word, but because it’s an old English term. This heightened my curiosity because obscure words like these are used with intentionality. Waif means, “a person, especially a child, who has no home or friends.” It has negative connotations and refers to someone who has been forsaken, is homeless, or is an orphan child. Remember that some denominations and fellowships allow the church council/board to set the compensation only for the lead pastors. The lead pastors then have total discretion to set the compensation for their entire staff and leaders. All control is held by the lead pastor when it comes to staff compensation. Sometimes, for a short duration, this approach can work. But when the person entrusted with this power has narcissistic behaviors or when the leader considers many of his staff as “waifs,” compensation decisions can become a means of control and manipulation. This can be the foundation of an unhealthy culture that becomes especially toxic when the “waifs” grow up and realize how they have been manipulated. As I write this, I can remember all the promises that were made to me, how my boss conveniently “forgot” what had been previously agreed upon between us, and how one-time bonuses and gifts were given in lieu of permanent raises that my family could rely upon. This is a tactic I have seen time and again and we will touch on it later in this blog.
I once was in a church service participating in worship when a church employee expressed gratitude to the lead pastor, thanking him for providing them with a raise. In reality, the raise only brought them up to earning the minimum hourly wage. The pastor was immediately annoyed, he turned to me and asked why this person had gotten a raise. He did not like this person, and he would have preferred that they quit. This church employee had received a raise because, after much discussion, the leader conceded that people on his staff should at least be earning minimum wage. For the life of me I do not understand how church councils/boards and denominations can get away with breaking labor laws in their state. It was frustrating because my attempts to inform those in positions of authority about what was going on fell on deaf ears and nothing constructive ever came from it. For example, if you are working for a non-profit organization as an exempt (non-hourly) employee, the new salary threshold for non-profits with less than 50 employees is $43,004 per year. This means if you are not earning a salary of at least $43,004 per year as an exempt (non-hourly) employee, you are entitled under the law to either get a raise or to start being compensated at an hourly rate. [The above-mentioned wage may vary from state to state].
If people are consistently being undercompensated at some churches, how does the leader keep everyone happy? This is accomplished by giving gifts…bonuses, benefits, and more gifts. Using bonuses and gifts instead of providing a predictable income enables pastors to keep wages low for the younger staff members, until many are forced out or they outgrow their positions. It was a common boast for the leader to talk about how much money was being saved by the church with this approach. The leader saw it as a calculated risk because he considered the people in these low-level positions dispensable and easily replaceable. To keep this machine rolling along smoothly, leaders mix in the misuse of students for free labor and call it an “internship.” I personally have always preferred clean lines…give me the wage we agreed upon and I will gladly do without all the subjective gifts that come with strings attached to them. In one church I was a part of, the leader kept wages low but was big on giving gifts that were paid for with church money because giving made this leader feel important. Why are narcissistic leaders so bent on giving gifts? Psychologists and authors on this subject agree that narcissists are motivated by the following reasons: 1. Adulation, 2. Fame, 3. Keeping others in debt, 4. Social Status. For example, a member of this leaders’ family who worked at the church did not have air conditioning for their home. So, one hot summer day the leader, needing to be the hero, used church funds and bought central air conditioning for the home of this family member. In a different instance, it could be tires for a person’s car or a fully paid vacation for someone because they couldn’t afford it. For a special few, especially if you are a family member, an additional check was designated for childcare expenses that no other staff member received. It is never appropriate to give some people on staff certain benefits while others do not receive the same benefits. Providing a family member with childcare benefits that aren’t offered to other employees is improper. Another example was when this leader paid a family member’s car repair for $5000 and then gave an additional $6,000 so this family member could buy another car, all paid for using church funds. It’s a culture that becomes like an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s Favorite Things: You can go to Disneyland! You over there can go to Disneyland!! Everyone can go to Disneyland!!! To a young person this might sound great, but a narcissistic leader can use this approach to control you by not paying you a fair wage. This creates a culture where the leader takes on a paternal, almost Santa-like role within the staff that becomes very unhealthy. I have seen both young and older staff members act like children trying to please Dad for fear that they may not get rewarded if they don’t act the way the leader expects.
When I started working full-time at a church at the age of 18, I very quickly experienced bad behavior from my employer. I felt vulnerable but chose to trust God and to be faithful to what God had given me to do. It was normal for me to drive to my senior pastor’s house 30 minutes away once or twice a week to pick up his trash. He did not like having trash at his house, so I had to dump it at the church. Every week I was expected to clean oil spots from his driveway, clean his hot tub, and do any projects that he required me to do at his house. No project was too small or too big. My first year of marriage on Christmas Eve I got a phone call from the senior pastor. He asked me if I would return a phone that he bought from a store that was only a 10-minute drive from his house. It took me about an hour to get there. The reason he wanted me to return the phone on Christmas Eve was because he did not like the color. I returned it and was late to my own Christmas Eve celebration. There are so many crazy stories I could tell about this job I had for so many years. Okay, one more! I once was asked to replumb his toilet. I thought he wanted it redone because it was broken but it was only because he wanted gold-colored pipes and not chrome. For years I agreed to be paid a wage that was close to poverty level with no health insurance. This was a church that claimed a membership of 3000 people and could afford to pay their staff fairly, but they chose not to. I take full responsibility for the things I accepted. But so much of what was inappropriate about these working conditions was hidden behind a manipulative message of, “In Jesus’ Name, work hard and ask no questions!” Money and the church is a topic we all can do better at. It’s a topic that Jesus spoke to the religious leaders of his day about, and I believe He is still talking to us about it today. In my opinion, a simple course correction may not be plausible because of how many church leaders are addicted to the influence and power that control over the church finances provides them. Unfortunately, abrupt and sudden course correction might happen today just like it did for the early Church. Either way, the Church must be actively engaged within God’s Kingdom.
The solution here is an easy one. A healthy church model will follow good financial policies, processes, and procedures that everyone can be a part of. In no circumstance should your senior pastor be the single voice for staff compensations or other fiduciary matters.
Comments