By Jeremy Myers Filed Under Ecclesiology Written on March 7, 2011

What Could the Church do with $18.7 Billion?

If you ever need statistics and facts on churches, church attendance, megachurches, and numbers of people who attend church in the United States, I posted some demographic sites here. One of the sites was the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Here are some of the statistics I found:

-There are about 300,000 protestant churches in the US.
-The median church size is 75 people (the average is 186).
-50% of people who attend church attend the largest 10% of churches (350 people or more).
-There are 600,000 clergy members in the US.
-The average pastoral salary is $31,234. But if we only look at pastors in churches of more than 1000 people, the average salary is $81,923.

There are a lot of other statistics there as well.

Just for fun, do the math on these last two statistics. If the average salary for 600,000 clergy is $31,234, then this means that every year, $18.7 billion goes toward pastoral salaries in the United States.

I’m not necessarily saying this should happen, and I believe the worker is worthy of his wages…but I wonder what the church could do with $18.7 billion if we were not paying our pastors?

Check out these related posts on Scripture, Theology, and Church:

Money, Missions, and Megachurches

Revoke your Tax-Exempt Status

Is Sheep Stealing Okay?

The Church of Many Buildings

Ten Reasons Your Church Should Have a Website

Want to read more about Bible and Theology? Try one of these:

http://thesidos.blogspot.com/ Arthur Sido

With $18.7 billion we could build a sweet new sanctuary and replace the carpet in 187,000 churches!

http://www.tillhecomes.org Jeremy Myers

Now you’re thinking!

Swanny

Start by getting rid of the actual brick and mortar buildings. I would think the maintenance costs, and interest on mortgages would pale in comparison to pastor salaries.

I attended one of the largest non-denominational churches in the US and I know for a fact their gas and electric bill was $50,000.00 per MONTH, and with the last capital campaign they had a few years back that raised $30 million from the members to build more buildings that year they could have used the $30,600,000 to help the community and SHOW the love of Christ instead.

http://www.tillhecomes.org Jeremy Myers

$50k per month on electricity! Yikes!

I saw that First Baptist Dallas is raising $115 million for their renovation.

http://jonjourney.blogspot.com/ Jon

For what it’s worth, my take on 1 Tim 5:17-18.

Give double honor to those influential older respected men, especially those who labor with you by teaching and preaching.

Like the sayings: The worker deserves his wages, and you wouldn’t muzzle and ox who is threshing. In the same way it would be foolish to withhold honor from these men.

http://www.tillhecomes.org Jeremy Myers

Jon,
You are right. I am not really opposed to paying pastors. My dad is a pastor. So is my brother-in-law. I used to be a pastor. Currently, I am somewhat in the “clergy” business. Those who preach and teach are definitely worth it.

How many of these pastors do you think really preach and teach?