What is the point of church?

[BruceDLimber]

>What is the point of church?

(I'm tempted to say the point is generally the steeple!)

<g, d&r>

Bruce

 

[angellous_evangellous]

My parents' pastor was making over $100,000 a year last I heard, which was several years ago, and still found it necessary to supplement his income by flipping house. And of course there's always the hope of working your way up in the organization. Methodists bishops agreed to a 4% pay cut last year, cutting their pay to $120,492. An article from last year reported that the Episcopal bishop of Virginia was retiring early to save the diocese $63,000, which came to one-fourth of his annual compensation package. And a bishop of the Church of Greece is the same pay grade as a general.

Boy that's news to me.

I don't know anyone making that much. I was trained in the largest denomenation in the US (the Southern Baptist Convention) and was taught to expect about $36k a year or less plus benefits. I'm going out into the field with a Ph.D. and was told to expect about the same.

Maybe it's better in other denomenations. I work in church finance and I've only seen one pastor making about $100k. Now bishops I see making more than the average pastor.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

i don't think the idiots are successful. to me the successful pastors are the vile ones

we are not talking about little churches, are denying megachurches don't exist

check out this article in forbes;
In Pictures: America's 10 Biggest Megachurches - Forbes.com

How many pastors attain this type of success?