Richard Hammar’s book Compensation Handbook for Church Staff is a super helpful resource I use to help me determine salary ranges for my staff at New Day. Here’s how it works…First, the book evaluates a variety of factors such as:
- Position (i.e. executive pastor, worship pastor, associate pastor, kids pastor, etc.)
- Church income
- Worship attendance
- Longevity (how long the staff member has been in your employ)
- Education (i.e. bachelors degree, masters degree, doctorate or none of the above)
- Setting (i.e. city church, suburban church, rural church)
- Geographical region (certain parts of the country have much a higher cost of living than others)
- Denomination affiliation (certain denominations pay less/more than others)
The book then helps you put a monetary amount next to each criteria (listed above). You then use the highest amount as the ceiling of the salary and the lowest amount as the floor of the salary. Now you have a salary range to work with. Just remember: The salary ranges are there to serve you, not vice versa. They are helpful as a guide and terrible as a taskmaster.