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Depending on what Christian circles you run in, this conversation varies greatly. Terms like vocational ministry, servant leadership, lay pastor, and bi-vocational pastor often muddy the waters of clarity around what church leadership should look like.

• Who should get paid?
• How much should they get paid?
• What should count as volunteer time vs. a "real job"?
• Can a pastor do his job to the best of God’s standards if he has a second job to provide for his family?

Recently, we had a sweet family onsite for a time of rest. They were raising teenagers and serving in both youth and worship ministries at their church. The worship pastor role was a paid position, but the youth pastor role was deemed volunteer (perhaps because they had teens and it was expected... my words, not theirs), even though it was their primary job in terms of time and effort.

I'll save my battle cry for youth pastors for another day!

As I calculated the hours this family was putting in, it became clear they were clocking over 60 hours a week for the church while only getting paid for part-time work. Like any good, godly man, the father found a second job to provide for his family, working construction in the early mornings and then managing two ministries and his family in the afternoons.

Are we thankful for the Lord’s provision? Of course!
Can the church do better? Definitely!

A few years ago, I spoke with another youth pastor who was about to have his first child. Though his wife wanted to stay home with their new baby (a model the church supports), she had to keep working full-time because the church didn’t provide insurance or a salary that could support living on one income.

As the church, we have to ask ourselves: Can we do better?

• Are we holding church leaders accountable for offering the double portion required of them in scripture?
• Are we trying to do our part financially?
• Are we serving to alleviate the burden on one man?
• Are we showing up to planned church events? (I'll save this for another post, too, but it’s a thing!)

We can do better, and we should be doing better!

There’s no world where we should be giving our bare minimum for Jesus Christ, including how we treat, compensate, and encourage our church leadership. They are part of the body of Christ! You are part of the body of Christ! We all have our roles, gifts, and callings and need to do our part.

Doing our part doesn’t earn us salvation—only Jesus does that—but it does make our life and purpose here matter for the glory of our precious Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Thank you so much for sharing your time with us. Cedar Creek Ministries is funded by Christians and churches who believe in the call to offer our leaders the double portion!  If you feel the desire to make sure all those men and women called to serve God in missions and ministry have everything they need to personally rest, restore family relationships, and revive ministry vision, consider joining us in regular prayer and financial support!

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This post was written by Nickole Perry, co-founder and Director of Operations at Cedar Creek Ministries.