Curtis D. Sharp
Executive Officer for Denominational and Public Relations
214-720-2127
Curt.Sharp@GuideStone.orgChurch employees invited to participate in compensation survey
January 2, 2008
DALLAS — The 2008 Compensation Survey for Southern Baptist churches, provided through the joint efforts of Baptist state conventions, LifeWay Christian Resources and GuideStone Financial Resources, is now available online (www.lifeway.com/compensationsurvey). All ministers and employees of Southern Baptist churches are encouraged to participate.
Answers to the online survey are kept confidential and are not reported individually. The survey takes, on average, less than 10 minutes to complete. In addition to salary and benefit information, participants in the survey will need to have available their church’s average weekly worship or Bible study attendance, resident membership and annual budget.
LifeWay and GuideStone are pooling resources to provide the online survey, compile the data and make available an online reporting tool for users to access results. The survey is available through mid-April, and results will be released in time for the Southern Baptist Convention in June.
“Both GuideStone and LifeWay have a mission supporting the churches of our Southern Baptist Convention,” said O.S. Hawkins, president and chief executive officer of GuideStone Financial Resources. “The 2008 Compensation Survey for churches is another avenue by which we can all work together to serve our churches with information to help them adequately compensate their ministers and employees.”
For more than a decade, GuideStone has teamed with Baptist state conventions to survey Southern Baptist churches concerning their compensation of ministers and church employees. Every state convention participated in the last bi-annual study in 2006, which included results from more than 7,000 churches and 17,000 individuals. Through the survey, church administrators, personnel and finance committees and minister search teams have access to an accurate baseline by which they can compare their own church’s salary and benefits with similar churches across the country.
Southern Baptist church ministers and employees may complete the survey through April 15. For staff at churches without Internet access, a paper copy of the survey may be obtained by contacting GuideStone Financial Resources at 1-888-98-GUIDE (1-888-984-8433) or by calling the state convention office.
Visit the Web site for
LifeWay Christian Resources.
Word version - Church employees invited to participate in compensation survey