Determining Your Financial Needs

How To Determine Your Financial Needs

In this video session, we will share the tools that will help you develop an understanding of what you will financially need to live in a community and serve at this church.

Now Playing: How To Determine Your Financial Needs

Key Takeaways

After you watch the video above, read through these key takeaways that will help guide and reinforce the main points you just viewed…

A Word About Salary Discussions

This is the part no one likes. It’s always rocky terrain.
Be honest and professional.
Be humble and kind.
You’ll do just fine. This is uncomfortable for everyone. Lean into it.

What Do You Really Need Financially?

What do you really need? How motivated are you by compensation/money?

- Budget
- Debt
- Home Ownership
- Future Education
- Future Retirement
- We’ve worked with people that took a $25k decrease and were excited; and those that got a $25k increase that feel they were cheated.
- Bottom line: Know what you need.

Research What Churches Normally Pay for This Type of Position

That’s kinda funny, because there is no normal 🙂

Comparable churches across the street from each other can have totally different pay scales for their staff team.

Here are some things to consider:

Consider the cost of living - datausa.io
Church Network, ChurchSalary.com are also sources, but take with a grain of salt
School system equivalent pay
Ask for a copy of their budget

Remember These Truths...

Again, there is no normal.
Churches don’t pay for education like they used to.
Churches don’t pay for experience like they used to.
Different parts of the country pay differently
Different tribes pay differently
That’s why it’s important to know what you need and do your research.

Don't Sell Your Honeymoon

Don’t appear greedy. In reality, your employment has already begun at this point. What you say and do can and will be held against you after you’re officially hired.

- Don’t “sell your honeymoon”
- How to not seem overbearing or arrogant
  - Again, use win/win language
  - Don’t come across as too rigid
  - Remind them of the contributions you are going to make.

The On-Site Visit

NEXT: Keys To Negotiating Your Salary Package

Additional Resources

We’ve assembled some great supplemental learning tools that will help you in your search for a healthy, long-term fit for your staff team. All of these exclusive Chemistry Staffing resources are available for free download for you and your search team.

Three Guiding Principles for Setting Compensation

Matt Steen talking with ChurchSalary.com on the three guiding principles churches should use in setting compensation levels. This will help you understand the church’s perspective on what they might offer in their salary and compensation package.

Youth Pastor National Salary
Overview

ChurchSalary.com’s Aaron Hill shares some statistics regarding youth pastor salaries by gender, region, education, and wage growth.

Church Team Salaries in the Midst
of Inflation

So, what do we do with our team’s salaries in the midst of all of this inflation? Here are a few things to think through as you approach the salary conversation with your leadership and staff.

Your Presenters

Todd Rhoades

Co-Founder

Todd has invested over 30 years in serving churches, having served as a worship pastor for over 15 years, a church elder for more than a decade, and in various ministry leadership roles in both the business and non-profit sectors. As the original founder and developer of ChurchStaffing.com, Todd fundamentally changed the way thousands of churches search for pastors and staff on the internet. Todd served for over a decade as a Director with Leadership Network, providing him exposure to the innovative trends in today’s church and inside knowledge of how healthy churches operate. A graduate of Cedarville University, Todd lives in Bryan, OH with his wife, Dawn.

Matt Steen

Co-Founder

Matt has served the local church for over two decades as a youth pastor, church planter, and executive pastor. Originally from Baltimore, Matt currently lives in the Orlando, FL area with his wife Theresa, and has a B.S. in Youth Ministry from Nyack College and an M.Div. and MBA from Baylor University. Certified as an Urban Church Planter Coach by Redeemer City to City and as a StratOp facilitator by the Paterson Center, Matt has made a career of helping churches thrive through intentionality, clarity, and creating healthy cultures. He is convinced that a healthy church is led by a healthy team with great chemistry, and loves partnering with Chemistry’s churches to do great things for the Kingdom.

Need Additional Help With Your Search?

Check out these additional resources from our partners at ChurchResumes.com

Our video critique will take a look at your current resume and give specific recommendations to make drastic improvements. We’ll critique your resume based on our 20 resume benchmarks:

We’ll compare your current resume against our 20 resume benchmarks. You’ll gain the knowledge to drastically improve your resume in 24 hours or less.

We’ll go over your Resume Self-Assessment step-by-step in our one-hour call together. We’ll discuss each of our 20 resume benchmarks along with specific recommendations to make your resume better. After you make the suggested edits to your resume, we’ll provided video feedback with any follow-up items

One-on-one mentoring during your transition will make a huge difference. You’ll have a trusted partner and confidant to work with your throughout the search process. We’ll dive into areas that are important to YOU…

How To Determine Your Financial Needs​