Many persons in ministry are bivocational. They not only practice the work of ministering the gospel to the lost found and dispossessed. They also have to spend a great deal of time working in the secular world to provide shelter food and clothing. When pastors are full time their salaries are often meager and hardly reflect the education and hard work that goes into being a pastor worthy of the calling. Given that the connectional church has appealed for all members of the clergy to have some level of education, how should a minister's salary be derived?

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2000

Answers

The AME Discipline states that the salary of the pastor shall be a certain amount OR whatever the pastor and stewards agree.This information can be found in the AME Discipline under the subject Duties of a Steward.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2000

The Bible says, "The ox that reads out the grain . . . . .". On this basis, a pastor ought to be paid proportional to the fruit that his/her ministry produces. In all situations, the ministry should provide support for the minister.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2000

The AME minister should be paid a salary that will enable him to care for his family in a confortable manner. It is very sad, but some stewards think ministers should serve with very little compensation, and that is why the dicipline says that the stewards and pastor together should decide. It is time for the AME church to come into the 21st. century and provide it's pastors with decent salaries. It is very difficult for a minister to feed his flock when he or she can't feed their family. It is time for AME members to wake up, and realize that ministers need to be paid. I am not a minister, but I believe that the pastor should be paid a confortable salary, if he is doing his or her job. If the local church can't pay then the connectional church should step in and pay. There should be a minimum salary for all pastors, that should be supplemented by the local church according to it's ability to pay.

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2000