The most influential factor in setting staff salaries is a church’s size, measured by its budget and worship attendance – which are usually related to each other. But most research available to churches in North America focuses (rightfully) on the 98% of churches which have an average attendance under 1,000. Leadership Network’s research targets that largest 2%. We now offer a customized salary report, tailored to your church's size (based on attendance and budget) for a nominal fee.
What others are saying about the report:
"Thanks for your work on our behalf. It has helped us get a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities we have as we prepare to be more competitive nationally with some of our important positions. Thanks for opening our eyes."
~Scott Anderson, Executive Pastor, Eagle Brook Church (Worship attendance: 16,000)
"We found the customized survey results very helpful. In addition to the data, Warren's comments and tips were appreciated. The most helpful part were the "scope" charts (attendance, budget, staff) with percentile breakdowns, compared with similar charts for the analyzed positions. The narrative analysis (particularly the discussion of "founding" pastors) is helpful. Greater numbers of participants will make comparisons even more meaningful."
~Dan Nelson, Board Member, Eagle Brook Church (Worship attendance: 16,000)
"The report was awesome…very helpful. Thanks for the research and insight!"
~Steve Bond, Senior Pastor, Summit Christian Church (Worship attendance: 2,600)
"Thank you so much for this report. It has been tremendously helpful. We see clearly some changes we need to make and are implementing some right away."
~Philip Wagner, Lead Pastor, Oasis Church (Worship attendance: 2,400)
Here are the details of what the report entails:
Starting in 2001, Leadership Network began to conduct surveys related to salary and economic outlook in order to help church leaders, especially those of large and innovative churches. Our most recent 2012 Large Church Salary and Staffing Report (free download) represents only the broad brushstrokes of our findings from over 300 churches that submitted salary and staffing data in 2012, as well as comparisons with similar studies going back to 2001.
However, we can also create a customized salary analysis tailored to your church's size, budget, and other variables. This meets a need for readers who want specific salary numbers for specific roles.
We can provide detailed salary comparisons for churches with attendances from 1,000 to 50,000 to enable you to see how your church compares to others with similar demographics. This would allow you to compare salaries for the most common senior level roles. Drawing from the 50 churches with profiles closest to yours in attendance, budget and number of staff (ideally 25 higher, 25 lower), we can generate customized charts that reports salaries for the senior pastor and up to ten of the most common senior level roles.
Accompanying text and commentary specific to your church will provided by Director of Research and Intellectual Capital, Warren Bird, Ph.D., who has over 20 years of experience working with large churches, and has also collaboratively authored or co-authored 25 books.
Warren graduated with highest honors from Wheaton College (B.A., M.A.), Alliance Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Fordham University (Ph.D.), and is an ordained minister through the Christian and Missionary Alliance. He most recently served on staff at Princeton (N.J.) Alliance Church, an innovative church with a worship attendance approaching 2,000. He has also served as a long-time regularly contributing faculty member at Alliance Theological Seminary.
What Your Report Will Include:
The report highlights four numbers for each role: salaries at the 20th, 40th, 60th and 80th percentile, which many feel is a more helpful and accurate picture than other measures such as the high, low, or midpoint. Each chart will also show how your church compares to the sample group. We will include comparison charts for church budget, size (worship attendance) and number of staff in addition to the customized salary charts for your senior leadership staff -- the senior pastor, and up to 10 of the most common roles:
Senior/Lead Pastor
Executive Pastor/Exec. Director/CEO/ Church Administrator
Teaching Pastor
Associate Pastor
Financial/ Business Pastor/Operations/CFO
Worship Pastor/Director/Creative Arts/Music
Discipleship Pastor/Director/Counseling/Prayer
Pastor of Small Groups/ Community
Outreach/Missions Pastor
Children's Pastor
Youth/Student Pastor
Sample Chart
Fee: $2,000, payable in two installments
A discounted price of $750 is offered if your church participated in the Leadership Network 2012 Salary Survey – Senior Positions in Very Large Churches.
Delivery: Your customized report will be delivered as a PDF file (10-14 pages, depending on the number of staff on your lead team) including up to 14 color illustrations within four weeks of receiving your church's data and initial payment.
Confidentiality: We will treat any personal data you communicate to us with the same high level of integrity, privacy and confidentiality that we have shown to thousands of Leadership Network clients across our 28 years as an organization. Our reports never identify specific churches, nor an individual’s specific salary. In fact, employee names or other individual identifiers are not even collected. Each church’s responses are highly confidential, and only select individuals in our research department can access the data.
How to Order: Contact Stephanie Jackson stephanie.jackson@leadnet.org or 214-754-9719. Include your attendance, current budget (all funds combined) and number of staff (full time equivalent, but excluding any school personnel, if you sponsor a school). We’ll help you set it up.
Author: Stephanie Jackson
Topics: Learnings