Š‘—Ž† ›‘—” ’ƒ•–‘” ‰‡– ƒ •ƒŽƒ”›ǫ

“

A pastor must be paid a salary with a car allowance, medical aid and contribution to pension just like any person doing a secular job. Why the difference?” – Bishop Phillip Makobe.

I rather found this statement an interesting take on pastoral work and I find it important to take a critical aspect and answer this question critically and without bias. To redefine the norms of modern society churches and the role of the leader of a church, it is ridiculous to compare pastoral work with secular work. Firstly, because of the underlying premises of both jobs, wherein being a pastor is a calling and not just a job and if it is meant to gain secular job benefits then it should be holistically so. This means tax should be included if a conversation of qualifications should come into the picture.

On what basis, should a pastoral role be even compared to secular work when speaking from a moral and religious perspective? These are important questions because the suggestion alone means we must redefine what being a pastor is and what it means because the idea moves from the Bible itself. It is true that the Bible does support giving to your leader and a leader being honoured and making a living if they make a living of this office, however, the very same book explains that this should be by will and not as a mandatory act or a demand. It should be a blessing of will from a congruence member to the pastor and not a demand or signed agreement for giving the Word.

Church

As I have argued that being a pastor is a calling and that the church is a non-profit making organisation, therefore, where does the supposed salary, car allowance and many such benefits come from? Is it from the tithes and offerings? Also, a lot of churches run as non-profit organisations, so what would you declare as your main source of income to warrant the pay of salaries? How do we grade you as a pastor to determine how much of a salary you must get or do all the tithes and offerings belong to the pastor? As a pastor, can we fire you if you underperform? These are valid questions as these are the basics of the salary and this arrangement makes a church the employer and the pastor an employee; which also means that the pastor must do as per the instructions and expectations of the church and can be demoted or even fired if they underperform. Another pastor can simply be hired.

If the pastor is getting a salary, medical aid and even pension fund, then it is only right that everyone

else in the church should do so as they are working in different areas; the MC, Sunday school teacher, ushers, the prophet, praise team and even the youth that cleans. On this onus they should all be paid too and given medical aid, of which they are more deserving of than the pastor because as per the basis of employment, the lady cleaning the church is likely to get injured on the job, the praise team works late hours and needs a car to guarantee safety to church and home.

Moreover, this changes the era of Christianity to a door that opens room for greed under the pretext of serving God, where being a pastor has become a career above anything else. It is no longer about spreading the Gospel in this case. Should the poor not come to church then because they do not have any financial offerings and, therefore, cannot pay the pastor? Is a small church going to be cut off because it clearly will not make enough offerings to sustain these demands? The other side of reality is that everyone has the liberty to personally decide what they do with their money or how they spend their income. However, the same does not apply with tithes because the Bible clearly outlines that they are meant for charity and not someone’s salary. This means that churches should then be registered with the tax department and after doing so, the pastor should then be taxed like any other person who is running a business and also takes up the responsibility of paying everyone who is working any job in the church. Anyone demanding a salary and all the benefits of secular work should be able to answer the question of who hired him, and what were the terms of the employment contract, and a pastor not being immune of this.