Report examines clergy salaries

A new report that examines how salaries varied for United Methodist pastors in the U.S. found that average pastor salaries grew faster than the inflation rate over the decade ending in 2008.

Average salaries increased steadily by approximately 2 percent per year, for a 21 percent over a decade. The average salary of a fulltime pastor not living in a parsonage was $55,000 in 2008, compared to $45,300 in 1998.

The study, which focused particularly on how salaries differ with respect to gender and race, found substantial salary differences between male and female pastors (13 percent), and white and non-white pastors (9-15 percent). Those differences were largely attributed to differences in seniority between male and female pastors, and the assignment of non-white pastors to congregations that pay lower salaries.  “Most of the gender/race gap disappears once congregational, personal, and position attributes are taken into account,” the report states.
 
For more information, view the report in its entirety.  <<Read more>>

The Cost of Happiness

In the most recent Time (September 20, 2010) I found the following:

$75,000 - Annual household income needed to make Americans happy, according to a new study; earnings above that have no further effect on contentment.

Article about New Monasticism and OSJ

Sarah was interviewed recently by Interpreter Magazine about our experience living in Isaiah House, a “New Monastic Community.”  It’s a great article about our experience there.  Check it out here.