Having shared some general thoughts, here is the relevant question: when might it be in the best interest of a church to compensate a non-pastoral position? It may be in the church’s best interest to do so when…
1) The church is dependent upon a specialty skill or a gift (usually non-spiritual gift) that only a small percentage of the population in our churches can perform. For example, some churches see it fit to compensate accountants, IT specialists or musicians.
2) The loss of this gift (or individual) would likely require the church to pay someone else to perform the same duty at a similar level of performance.
3) The church needs a strong (or stronger) level of accountability from this gift/person/service. Put simply, a church can only require so much of a volunteer. Compensation encourages a greater priority for the ministry. For some churches, this means paying someone to clean the church. For others, this means compensating the worship leader.
4) When a lower paying position can perform some of the responsibilities of a higher paid position, which in turn frees up the higher paid to use their time/hours more effectively.
Consider a case study. Pastor Joe’s salary breaks down to about $50 per hour (total package). He shepherds a smaller congregation, less than fifty people. As such, it is his responsibility to clean the church, which takes about 5 hours per week. In addition to those 5 hours not being used for pastoral work (sermon preparation, visiting members, prayer, etc.), the church is essentially paying $1000 per month for the pastor to do 20 hours of cleaning. It would seem to make sense for the church to hire a cleaner at $10 per hour (total of $200 per month) versus paying $50 per hour. The least expensive way for this congregation to gain more pastoral hours is to remove this non-pastoral duty from Pastor Joe’s plate.
Positions that churches often consider for the above criteria include, but are not limited, to secretaries and/or office administrators, worship leaders, cleaners and landscapers, and bookkeepers.