I have been in the ministry for 25 years and have been in a number of different church settings ranging from the big city to the country church. One thing that remains constant across church size and denominational lines is the personnel practices of churches related to part-time professionals.
You must understand that churches do not fall within the customary employment laws that larger, for-profit organizations must follow. Churches are free to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, or of course, religion. But what troubles me more than this,is the general expectation that part-time professional employees of churches are given positions with a part-time salary with the implicit understanding on the part of the church boards that the church can get full-time work from these folks while providing part-time pay. It happens almost without exception.
From time to time, there are those people who rise up to suggest the inequity and unethical nature of this practice. These "complainers" are often painted as some sort of materialistic heathen who is "in it for the money." Frankly, it is quite bizarre. If these folks were "in it for the money" I dare say they would have not chosen ministry in the first place.
I am of the opinion that the church should be the best employer anyone could possibly have. It should be a place where those working near full-time loads should be compensated with near full-time pay for their efforts. After all, doesn't the Scripture say that the laborer is worthy of their hire? Perhaps I am out of step, but it seems to me that the church should have higher ethical standards, not lower ones, when it comes to the treatment of it's employees.
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