Top 10 Reasons Why Ministers Quit: #3

Here is the 3rd reason why ministers quit:

They are Overworked and Underpaid.

Like other professionals, trained ministers must spend four years in college (seminary) for a bachelor’s degree, three years for a master’s degree, and another two years for a doctorate degree.

Yet ministers rank near the bottom of the pay scale among professionals. In fact, in most instances in under developed countries, ministers are not paid at all for their services to the church.

In the developed societies, where a minister may receive a regular salary, it is still rare for the minister's compensation package to include benefits like health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance and retirement. Usually the minister must depend on his wife’s employer for these benefits, or simply live without health care and other benefits.

A congregation may make up for a minister's low pay by organizing a yearly Pastor's Anniversary or Pastor's Appreciation Sunday. On this special day, the congregation honors the minister and his family. Part of this honor may be a special offering just for the minister.

While such observance is honorable, it would be far better to just increase the minister's pay, so he can better provide for his family throughout the year.

Due to their lowly salaries, many pastors choose to be bi-vocational; they take on a second job. Some may be lucky to pastor two separate churches.

But others opt out of the ministry for a field that will value their skill enough to compensate them enough for it.