Hi all,
I've looked for it on this board but can't find it. Please forgive me if I've just searched poorly.
Our church is struggling with how to evaluate pastors' work and whether to link pay to performance. I don't see a lot of specifics in Scripture on this. There are general principles (the worker is worth his wages; don't muzzle the ox). But not a lot of specific help.
Generally we've tried to keep pay consistent with market trends based on the church salary survey that comes out every year. We did formal evaluations a few times but haven't been consistent with it. And I'm not very comfortable with the way they were done in the past anyway.
For what it's worth, I'm skeptical that pastoral performance can be measured with enough precision to have a meaningful link to pay. And I don't like the incentives that might come about -- the pastor may be tempted to change how he does his job to try to work for a bonus. That's done in the business world, with both good and bad outcomes. But in the business world, they don't assume their workers are called by the Spirit to the work.
Soooooo, do y'all have any helpful advice on whether & how to formally evaluate a pastor, and whether & how to link performance to pay?
Thanks very much for any help.
I've looked for it on this board but can't find it. Please forgive me if I've just searched poorly.
Our church is struggling with how to evaluate pastors' work and whether to link pay to performance. I don't see a lot of specifics in Scripture on this. There are general principles (the worker is worth his wages; don't muzzle the ox). But not a lot of specific help.
Generally we've tried to keep pay consistent with market trends based on the church salary survey that comes out every year. We did formal evaluations a few times but haven't been consistent with it. And I'm not very comfortable with the way they were done in the past anyway.
For what it's worth, I'm skeptical that pastoral performance can be measured with enough precision to have a meaningful link to pay. And I don't like the incentives that might come about -- the pastor may be tempted to change how he does his job to try to work for a bonus. That's done in the business world, with both good and bad outcomes. But in the business world, they don't assume their workers are called by the Spirit to the work.
Soooooo, do y'all have any helpful advice on whether & how to formally evaluate a pastor, and whether & how to link performance to pay?
Thanks very much for any help.