How Churches Provide for Multiple Pastors

A Biblical Study on the Question of Multiple Pastors in a Church (Part Four of Four)

As a church grows and/or as the spiritual and administrative needs of a church increase, the pastor(s) and/or the congregation may sense the need for adding another pastor. When this happens, they should prayerfully consider men who are available and biblically qualified (1 Tim 3:1-7; Tit 1:6-9). In doing so, they must also give serious attention to another important consideration – whether the church is able to provide another pastor with adequate financial support.

Those who believe in the necessity of multiple pastors often (though not always) strongly advocate for what some people call “lay” elders, referring to men who work other vocational jobs to support themselves, while pastoring in a volunteer capacity as time allows. Such terminology does not appear in Scripture.

The Biblical Norm

Whenever possible, a church should embrace the responsibility of providing the finances and resources necessary to care for the material needs of their pastors. That’s what Paul taught when he said, “Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches” (Gal 6:6).

This agrees with what Paul taught the church at Corinth. Some people were criticizing his ministry, claiming that he only taught and ministered to them because he wanted them to give him money and material things. 1 Corinthians 9:3-14 reveals how he answered that baseless criticism.

He observed that full-time gospel ministers like him had every right to have their material needs provided, just as much as anyone else might expect who devoted their lives to vocational work other than full-time gospel ministry. This right extended to meeting the needs of a married pastor’s wife and family.

In defense of his explanation, Paul claimed that he was not using secular, human logic alone; he was using biblical thoughts and biblical logic (1 Cor 9:8-9). He quoted from the Old Testament to prove this, pointing out that OT principles (i.e., Dt 25:4) applied in the present to caring for a pastor.

Pastors serve the church by giving them spiritual teaching and help (“spiritual things”, 1 Cor 9:10-11). As a result, it is appropriate to expect a church to return the favor by providing a pastor with the material things he and his family need for daily life. After all, the believers at Corinth were giving support to other teachers, but not to him. (This resembles a church giving money to foreign missionaries from other churches while not providing for the needs of their own pastor[s].)

Paul concluded his lengthy answer by saying, “Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel” (1 Cor 9:14), quoting from the teaching of Jesus for maximum authority (Matt 10:9-10; Luke 10:7-8).

Pastoral Accommodation

Despite the biblical expectation that a church should provide adequately for the material needs of its pastor(s), some pastors may choose to support themselves or to supplement their income through secular employment. Paul himself chose to support himself with auxiliary employment on at least three occasions:

• When he pastored the church at Corinth (1 Cor. 9:12).
• When he pastored the church at Thessalonica (1 Thess. 3:7-10).
• When he pastored the church at Ephesus (Acts 20:33-35).

To do this, he utilized the trade skills of tent making he learned as a boy (Acts 18:3). He also mentioned that during these periods of public employment, he also received supplemental income from other sympathetic churches (2 Cor. 11:7-9; Phil. 4:14-18).

To the church at Corinth, he said this: “Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself” (2 Cor 11:7-9).

In this statement, Paul used some strong language. He had preached the gospel and served the church at Corinth “free of charge.” To do this, he said that he “robbed other churches, taking wages from them instead.” Therefore, other churches helped to meet his needs while he served the church at Corinth, even though the church at Corinth had an obligation to take care of him instead.

On another occasion, when he had served the churches in Macedonia, the church at Philippi had provided Paul with some financial support, knowing that the other churches he was serving were not meeting his needs (Phil 4:14-18).

Knowing these things, a church should never require a pastor to do “tent-making,” working a secular job while also pastoring the church. This is especially true if the pastor is married, and even more so if he has children (1 Cor 7:32-33; 9:5-6). If a pastor does not provide for the needs of his immediate family, then he is “worse than an infidel” (1 Tim 5:8), which automatically disqualifies him from being a pastor (1 Tim 3:4-5). A church should not place him in this position.

An Important Disclaimer

While paying a pastor a full-time wage is a biblical expectation, it is equally important to affirm the importance of personal, pastoral qualifications in this regard.

Paul teaches that a pastor should never oversee a church as a moneymaking endeavor. Though a church should supply an adequate salary for their pastor(s) (or a more-than-adequate one in some cases, cf. 1 Tim 5:17-18), a pastor should never view his role as a profiteering venture. That’s why he taught that a pastor must not be “greedy for money” (1 Tim 3:3; Tit 1:7).

Peter agrees with this perspective. To other pastors, he said, “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you…not for dishonest gain but eagerly” (1 Pet 5:2). “Not for dishonest gain” means “not in a way that is shamefully greedy for financial and material gain and profit.”

It is appropriate for a pastor to expect financial support, yet it is never appropriate for him to be greedy, to expect to get rich, or to allow a love for money to motivate his decisions and behavior. If these wrong motivations occur, he risks becoming a false teacher, not a pastor according to God’s heart (John 10:1, 13; 2 Pet 2:3, 13-14).

Tying it All Together

In summary, the Bible never requires a church to install more than one pastor. Even so, more than one pastor is often beneficial. In fact, as a church increases in number, a need for multiple pastors will likely arise.

When this happens, the current pastor(s) should work in harmony with the congregation to identify a man who meets the biblical qualifications. If such a man is not present within the congregation, then they must either wait for this to change (esp. by training a man within the congregation) or find a man from another likeminded church to fill this role (cf. Acts 11:25-26, etc.).

Through prayer and ongoing communication, when the congregation recognizes a qualified man and the current pastor(s) agree, then the church should vote in recognition of this step and the current pastor(s) should formally appoint him as a pastor in the church.

Before the church makes a final decision, however, the prospective pastor should provide the church with an honest presentation of his financial need. In return, the church should provide an honest assessment of what they are able to provide.

If the church is unable to provide adequately for a new pastor’s needs, then the church has these options:

1. Reduce expenses and reallocate funds to make up the difference
2. Increase their level of giving to meet the need
3. Search for another pastor instead who can accommodate their fiscal situation
4. Find alternative ways to meet the expanding spiritual needs of the congregation through the voluntary ministry of its members.

In such a case, the prospective pastor may also consider some options of his own. He may:

1. Lower his personal expenses
2. Take on some other form of vocational work (either part-time or full-time)
3. Decline to accept the church’s request for him to serve them as a pastor

If he chooses option two, then he should be honest with the church about how much time and effort he will be able to give to his voluntary pastoral duties. At the same time, the church should also be committed to increasing his income in the future as opportunity allows.

Altogether, these decisions will require honest, open communication and prayer. Apart from the guidelines provided in this study, the Bible provides no formulaic template or mandatory pattern that dictates the process by which a church determines who will be their pastor and how many pastors they will have.

Click here for Part One of this Study.

Click here for Part Two of this Study.

Click here for Part Three of this Study.

Thomas Overmiller serves as pastor for Faith Baptist Church in Corona, NY and blogs at Shepherd Thoughts.