Participant digital workbook
Study all seven stewardship principles, reflect on what they mean for your church, complete each exercise, assess current practice and prepare your contribution to the church's shared work.
Digital workbook OR-NM-1.0 (prototype) · Seven Principles curriculum version 1.0 — author-review draft pending Leland Rubin's approval prior to publication.
Your progress through the workbook
7 assigned principles, four lessons each, with a rated self-assessment and a 90-day plan for each principle.
0 of 28 exercises written · 0 of 35 areas rated (0%)
Every activity in the printed workbook can be completed here online. Your answers stay saved under your name, and the downloads give you the same complete workbook on paper.
S6 — Provide for Your Pastors' Wellbeing (principle 6 of 7)
Establish that caring well for the pastor's household is a governance responsibility, document a fair and benchmarked compensation framework, review benefits, retirement and risk protection, and adopt a written rest-and-renewal policy that protects longevity in ministry.
What this principle produces
Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan
- Documented compensation philosophy stating how the church sets and reviews pastoral pay
- Benchmarked salary range drawn from comparable-role, comparable-size and comparable-region data sources
- Current total compensation summary covering salary, housing allowance treatment, and any non-cash benefits, reviewed only at the aggregate policy level
- Benefits inventory covering health coverage, retirement contribution structure, and any additional allowances, benchmarked against typical practice
- Risk-protection review checklist covering life insurance, disability insurance, health insurance and liability coverage adequacy for the pastoral family
- Rest-and-renewal policy covering weekly sabbath expectation, vacation allotment, sabbatical eligibility and emergency pastoral-care provisions
- Named list of wellbeing and compensation risks with likelihood, impact and an accountable owner for each
- Gaps register listing every open compensation, benefits, risk-protection or rest-policy gap discovered during the module
- 90-day action plan assigning each recommended action an owner, due date, resources required, success measure, status and review date
Objectives
- Establish pastoral wellbeing as a governance responsibility
- Document a fair, benchmarked compensation framework
- Review benefits, retirement and risk protection adequacy
- Adopt a written rest-and-renewal policy
4 weeks · about 7 hours of leadership time
Lesson 1: The Biblical and Practical Case for Caring for Those Who Serve
What you will learn: Establish, in plain and documented language, why caring well for the pastor's household is a governance responsibility rather than an optional kindness.
70 minutes · Board chair, personnel or compensation committee, and one additional elder or trustee (pastor not present for the honesty assessment portion)
Scripture lens — 1 Timothy 5:17-18
17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. 18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.
King James Version (KJV) · Public domain
This passage is offered as an opening frame because it directly connects honoring those who labor in ministry with material provision, naming fair treatment of pastoral leaders as a matter of scriptural principle rather than budget preference.
Materials and evidence you will use
- Any existing personnel or compensation policy documents
- Prior board or committee minutes referencing pastoral compensation or time off, if available
- Consensus scores for all five care indicators
- Written confirmation of the named governance body and its annual review commitment
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to
- Leadership can articulate, without hedging, why pastoral wellbeing is a governance duty and not a discretionary favor
- The team has honestly assessed the church's current practice against a short list of care indicators
- At least three specific current gaps in pastoral care have been named without assigning blame to any individual
- A named governance body has agreed to own this module's work going forward
Study reading
Understand the concept
Your work in this lesson focuses on this outcome: Establish, in plain and documented language, why caring well for the pastor's household is a governance responsibility rather than an optional kindness.
Caring well for the pastor's household is a governance responsibility with concrete costs when neglected; today's honesty assessment names the gaps the rest of this module will close.
Why it matters for your church
Compensation and care decisions made reactively, only after a crisis, tend to be rushed, inconsistent and hard to defend to the wider congregation.
When no governance body clearly owns pastoral wellbeing, the pastor is left to advocate for their own household, which most pastors are reluctant to do.
A congregation that never examines its own care practices risks teaching stewardship principles it is not applying to the person teaching them.
Examine the evidence
Use Any existing personnel or compensation policy documents, and Prior board or committee minutes referencing pastoral compensation or time off, if available to compare your church's present practice with its stated intentions. Look for documented patterns, missing information, and differences between what people assume and what the evidence supports.
Your completed work should be supported by Consensus scores for all five care indicators, and Written confirmation of the named governance body and its annual review commitment. Record uncertainty honestly so your team knows what still needs to be verified.
Prepare for the shared exercise
Establish an honest, documented baseline of current pastoral care practice across five indicators, and formally assign governance ownership going forward. The Current-State Honesty Assessment produces the Current-State Honesty Assessment, which contributes to the principle's principal deliverable.
Before working with your team, consider this reflection: If our pastor's household could see our honesty-assessment scores today, would they feel genuinely cared for, or merely administered?
Key terms
- Governance body: The specific board, committee or group formally responsible for reviewing and approving pastoral compensation and wellbeing decisions on behalf of the congregation.
- Policy-level decision-making: Making compensation and benefits decisions based on documented philosophy, benchmarks and ranges, rather than on a pastor's personal financial disclosures.
- Care indicator: One of five short, observable markers — compensation benchmarking, benefits and retirement documentation, risk-protection review, rest practice, and governance ownership — used to assess current pastoral care.
Failure patterns to avoid
- Treating pastoral compensation as a fixed line item that was set once and never revisited
- Assuming that because the pastor has not complained, current care and compensation must be adequate
- Confusing a pastor's personal humility about their own needs with genuine sufficiency of provision
Ministry case — A Committee That Had Never Actually Met
A synthetic congregation, Harborview Fellowship, discovered during its first honesty assessment that a 'personnel committee' had existed on the organizational chart for six years but had never once held a dedicated meeting on pastoral compensation; salary changes had simply been copied forward from the prior year's budget with a small cost-of-living bump.
Naming this gap out loud was uncomfortable for the board chair, who had assumed someone else was handling it, but it led directly to the committee's first real meeting within two weeks, where it adopted a fixed annual review cycle and began the benchmarking work covered in lesson two.
Lesson takeaway: Caring well for the pastor's household is a governance responsibility with concrete costs when neglected; today's honesty assessment names the gaps the rest of this module will close.
Exercise — Current-State Honesty Assessment (produces: Current-State Honesty Assessment)
Establish an honest, documented baseline of current pastoral care practice across five indicators, and formally assign governance ownership going forward.
- Read each of the five care indicators aloud one at a time.
- Have each participant privately score current practice as not-in-place, partially-in-place, or fully-in-place.
- Compare scores as a group and discuss any disagreement, especially around rest and vacation.
- For every gap, name whether it is a missing document, a missing review cycle, or a missing benchmark comparison.
- Confirm and record, by name, the governance body that will own this work going forward.
- Record the group's consensus score for each indicator on the worksheet. Complete it online
- Summarize the overall honesty-assessment score to carry into the module's opening section.
Worksheet columns: Care indicator · Current status · Type of gap · Governance owner · Target review date
Saves as you typeCurrent-State Honesty Assessment
Complete the Current-State Honesty Assessment here. Your answers are kept under your name and are waiting for you when you return.
Current-State Honesty Assessment # Care indicator Current status Type of gap Governance owner Target review date 1 2 3 4 5 Saving keeps it private to you; submitting shares it with your coach and church panel.Worked sample — Harborview Fellowship (illustrative example — not actual church data) (illustrative, scored 17/20)
Harborview Fellowship is a fictional congregation of about 180 attendees used here to illustrate a completed honesty assessment.
Honesty assessment: 1 of 5 indicators fully in place, 2 partially in place, 2 not in place. All five gaps have a named owner and a target date within eight weeks. Personnel Committee formally accepted ownership of pastoral wellbeing governance on an annual cycle beginning this quarter.
- Ruth A. was assigned to gather two comparable-role benchmark sources before the next committee meeting.
- Sam T. committed to personally checking, each quarter, whether the pastor's vacation days were actually being scheduled and used.
Harborview's committee was thorough and candid in scoring, distinguished paper policy from lived practice on the vacation indicator, and assigned realistic owners and dates for every gap.
BAG Index complementReading a pay statement: gross vs. net, withholding and self-employment considerations
A short complement introducing the BAG Index pay statement literacy module, helping a pastor's household read its own pay statement accurately, extending this lesson's honesty-assessment work into a concrete, practical skill.
Teaching points
- • Gross pay is total compensation before any deductions, while net pay is what actually reaches a household's bank account after taxes, withholding and any voluntary deductions are subtracted
- • Clergy compensation often includes unique elements, such as a housing allowance, that are treated differently for income tax and self-employment tax purposes than standard wages
- • Many pastors are treated as employees for income tax withholding purposes but as self-employed for Social Security and Medicare tax purposes, which changes how those taxes are calculated and paid
- • Reviewing a pay statement line by line, including every deduction and withholding category, is the only reliable way to confirm compensation is being processed as the church's governing body actually intended
- • A pastor's household benefits from understanding these mechanics well enough to ask informed questions, even though the final calculations should be verified by the church's payroll process and a qualified tax professional
Household practice step: The pastor's household completing the BAG Index pay statement module reviews its most recent pay statement line by line against what governance approved, and lists any line item it does not fully understand to raise with the treasurer or a tax professional.
Supports this principle: This complement turns this lesson's honesty assessment into a concrete literacy check, ensuring the pastor's household can independently verify that what governance intends to pay actually matches what is processed and received.
This module explains general pay-statement and withholding concepts only; it does not calculate any individual household's taxes, and the pastor's household should confirm its specific tax treatment, including housing allowance and self-employment tax questions, with a qualified, licensed tax professional.
Discussion prompts
- Which of the five care indicators scored lowest for us, and why has that one gone unaddressed the longest?
- How has pastoral compensation and care historically been decided in our church — proactively on a schedule, or only reactively?
- What would change in the congregation's culture if pastoral wellbeing were reviewed with the same rigor as the annual budget?
- How will we protect the pastor's confidentiality while still doing thorough, honest governance work?
Reflection: If our pastor's household could see our honesty-assessment scores today, would they feel genuinely cared for, or merely administered?
Use these prompts to prepare your own response before the group discussion. Honest differences help the church identify where further work is needed.
Lesson 2: Building a Fair, Documented Compensation Framework
What you will learn: Build a written compensation philosophy and a benchmarked salary range that the governance body can defend, apply and review on a fixed annual cycle.
90 minutes · Personnel or compensation committee, board chair, and treasurer
Scripture lens — Galatians 6:6
6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
King James Version (KJV) · Public domain
This short instruction is offered as a frame because it directly links being taught the word with an obligation to share good things materially with the teacher, connecting compensation directly to a scriptural expectation of shared provision.
Materials and evidence you will use
- Comparable-role compensation benchmark reports or surveys
- Current church budget line for pastoral compensation
- Any prior compensation policy documents
- At least two benchmark sources cited
- A documented adjustment plan if current pay is below range
- A fixed annual review date
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to
- A written compensation philosophy exists stating how pay is set, reviewed and adjusted
- A benchmarked salary range has been built from at least two credible comparable-role data sources
- Leadership can explain, without referencing any personal financial disclosure, why current pay sits where it does relative to the range
- An annual review date and process have been fixed on the calendar
Study reading
Understand the concept
Your work in this lesson focuses on this outcome: Build a written compensation philosophy and a benchmarked salary range that the governance body can defend, apply and review on a fixed annual cycle.
A written compensation philosophy and a benchmarked salary range, reviewed on a fixed annual cycle, turn pastoral pay from an informal habit into a governed, defensible practice.
Why it matters for your church
Without a documented philosophy, compensation decisions can appear arbitrary or favoritism-driven even when they are not, undermining trust.
Pay that drifts below benchmark for years without review creates real financial strain on the pastoral family and increases turnover risk.
A fixed annual review cycle protects the governance body from the discomfort of raising compensation only when a crisis forces the conversation.
Examine the evidence
Use Comparable-role compensation benchmark reports or surveys, Current church budget line for pastoral compensation, and Any prior compensation policy documents to compare your church's present practice with its stated intentions. Look for documented patterns, missing information, and differences between what people assume and what the evidence supports.
Your completed work should be supported by At least two benchmark sources cited, A documented adjustment plan if current pay is below range, and A fixed annual review date. Record uncertainty honestly so your team knows what still needs to be verified.
Prepare for the shared exercise
Draft a written compensation philosophy and build a benchmarked salary range to evaluate current pastoral pay and plan any needed adjustment. The Compensation Philosophy and Benchmark Worksheet produces the Compensation Philosophy Statement and Benchmarked Salary Range Worksheet, which contributes to the principle's principal deliverable.
Before working with your team, consider this reflection: If a comparable-size, comparable-region church reviewed our pastor's total compensation, would they conclude we had actually looked, or merely hoped it was fine?
Key terms
- Compensation philosophy: A short, written statement of the factors and process a church uses to set and review pastoral compensation.
- Benchmark range: A low, midpoint and high compensation figure drawn from comparable-role data sources, used to evaluate whether current pay is fair relative to the market.
- Total compensation: The full aggregate value of a pastor's pay package, including base salary, housing allowance treatment and documented non-cash benefits, considered together rather than salary alone.
Failure patterns to avoid
- Setting pay once at hire and never revisiting it against any external benchmark
- Relying on a single, outdated or poorly matched benchmark source to justify a decision already made
- Treating housing allowance or other benefits informally rather than documenting them as part of total compensation
Ministry case — Plotting Pay Against Reality
Harborview Fellowship's committee gathered two benchmark sources appropriate to its size and region and discovered its pastor's total compensation sat roughly fifteen percent below the low end of the range, a gap no one had noticed because pay had simply been increased by a small percentage each year without ever comparing it to the market.
Rather than promising an immediate large increase the budget could not support, the committee documented a two-year path to bring compensation to the range midpoint, with specific percentage increases and dates, and fixed an annual review date to keep the range itself current going forward.
Lesson takeaway: A written compensation philosophy and a benchmarked salary range, reviewed on a fixed annual cycle, turn pastoral pay from an informal habit into a governed, defensible practice.
Exercise — Compensation Philosophy and Benchmark Worksheet (produces: Compensation Philosophy Statement and Benchmarked Salary Range Worksheet)
Draft a written compensation philosophy and build a benchmarked salary range to evaluate current pastoral pay and plan any needed adjustment.
- Draft a one-page compensation philosophy statement covering the factors and review cycle the church will use.
- Gather low, midpoint and high figures from at least two comparable-role benchmark sources.
- Average or reconcile the sources into a single working range for the role.
- Plot current aggregate total compensation against the range.
- Discuss and document why current pay sits where it does relative to the range.
- If below range, document a specific multi-year path with target percentages and dates.
- Fix the annual review date and assign a named owner for refreshing benchmark data each year.
Worksheet columns: Compensation component · Current amount · Benchmark low / mid / high · Position relative to range · Planned adjustment and date
Saves as you typeCompensation Philosophy and Benchmark Worksheet
Complete the Compensation Philosophy Statement and Benchmarked Salary Range Worksheet here. Your answers are kept under your name and are waiting for you when you return.
Compensation Philosophy and Benchmark Worksheet # Compensation component Current amount Benchmark low / mid / high Position relative to range Planned adjustment and date 1 2 3 4 5 6 Saving keeps it private to you; submitting shares it with your coach and church panel.Worked sample — Harborview Fellowship (illustrative example — not actual church data) (illustrative, scored 18/20)
Harborview Fellowship's committee completed its first documented compensation review using two illustrative benchmark sources appropriate to a congregation of its size.
Compensation philosophy adopted; total compensation currently sits below the benchmark range low end. A documented two-year path brings total compensation to the range midpoint by year two, with specific dollar targets and dates. Annual review fixed for the first week of the church's fiscal year.
- The committee approved a specific year-one and year-two salary and housing-allowance target, both written into the plan.
- Ruth A. was assigned to refresh both benchmark sources every year before the fixed annual review date.
The committee built a credible two-source benchmark, plotted current pay honestly, and documented a specific, realistic multi-year path with named ownership for future refresh.
BAG Index complementEmployer benefits literacy: health coverage, insured savings and flexible accounts
A short complement introducing the BAG Index employer benefits literacy module, helping a pastor's household understand the mechanics of health coverage, insured deposit protection and flexible spending or health accounts, extending this lesson's compensation benchmarking into the benefits side of total compensation.
Teaching points
- • Total compensation includes far more than salary; health coverage, retirement contributions and other benefits carry real dollar value that should be counted when comparing compensation to any benchmark
- • Deposits held at federally insured banks or credit unions are protected up to applicable coverage limits, and a household should understand this protection rather than assume all accounts carry identical risk
- • A flexible spending account or health savings account allows a household to set aside funds for qualified medical expenses, often before taxes, but each has different rules about contribution limits and whether unused funds carry over
- • Choosing among health coverage options requires comparing premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums together, since the lowest premium is not always the lowest total cost for a given household's health needs
- • A pastor's household should review its full benefits package at least annually, since enrollment mistakes or missed deadlines can be costly and difficult to correct until the next enrollment period
Household practice step: The pastor's household completing the BAG Index benefits literacy module lists every current benefit with an estimated dollar value, and identifies one benefits question to raise with the church's benefits administrator before the next enrollment period.
Supports this principle: This complement ensures the total-compensation benchmarking this lesson performs actually reflects the full value of the pastor's benefits, not salary alone, so governance is comparing complete packages rather than an incomplete and understated picture.
This module explains general benefits concepts only; it does not recommend any specific insurance carrier, bank or account provider, and the pastor's household should direct plan-specific questions to the church's benefits administrator or a qualified, licensed insurance or tax professional.
Discussion prompts
- What assumptions about our pastor's pay did today's benchmark comparison confirm or overturn?
- If current pay sits below the benchmark range, what realistic multi-year path can we commit to in writing today?
- How will we explain our compensation philosophy to the wider board or congregation in a way that builds trust?
- Who will own refreshing the benchmark data every year so the range itself stays current?
Reflection: If a comparable-size, comparable-region church reviewed our pastor's total compensation, would they conclude we had actually looked, or merely hoped it was fine?
Use these prompts to prepare your own response before the group discussion. Honest differences help the church identify where further work is needed.
Lesson 3: Benefits, Retirement and Risk Protection for Pastoral Families
What you will learn: Review and document benefits, retirement contribution structure and family risk-protection adequacy, referring the pastoral family to qualified professionals where gaps are found.
90 minutes · Personnel or compensation committee, treasurer, and, for the risk-protection portion, the pastor if willing to participate at the policy level
Scripture lens — Proverbs 27:12
12 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
King James Version (KJV) · Public domain
This proverb is offered as a frame because it commends foreseeing risk and taking sensible precaution in advance, which is the exact posture this lesson asks leadership to take toward the pastoral family's risk protection.
Materials and evidence you will use
- Current benefits and retirement plan documentation
- Comparable-role benefits benchmark data
- General public information on life, disability, health and liability insurance categories
- Benchmark comparison for at least benefits and retirement categories
- Documented referral for any identified risk-protection gap
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to
- A documented benefits inventory exists covering health coverage, retirement contribution and any additional allowances
- The retirement contribution structure has been benchmarked against comparable-role practice
- A risk-protection review has been completed covering life, disability, health and liability coverage adequacy
- Any coverage gap identified has resulted in a referral to a qualified, licensed professional chosen by the pastoral family
Study reading
Understand the concept
Your work in this lesson focuses on this outcome: Review and document benefits, retirement contribution structure and family risk-protection adequacy, referring the pastoral family to qualified professionals where gaps are found.
A documented benefits inventory, a benchmarked retirement structure, and a policy-level risk-protection review with appropriate referrals together close the provision gaps that salary alone cannot address.
Why it matters for your church
Verbal or informal benefits are vulnerable to being lost or disputed whenever pastoral or committee leadership changes.
A pastoral family without adequate disability or life coverage carries catastrophic financial risk the church could help address structurally.
Committees that attempt to give personal financial or insurance advice without qualification expose both the family and the church to poor outcomes and liability.
Examine the evidence
Use Current benefits and retirement plan documentation, Comparable-role benefits benchmark data, and General public information on life, disability, health and liability insurance categories to compare your church's present practice with its stated intentions. Look for documented patterns, missing information, and differences between what people assume and what the evidence supports.
Your completed work should be supported by Benchmark comparison for at least benefits and retirement categories, and Documented referral for any identified risk-protection gap. Record uncertainty honestly so your team knows what still needs to be verified.
Prepare for the shared exercise
Document current benefits and retirement provisions against benchmark practice, and complete a policy-level risk-protection review with referrals for any identified gap. The Benefits, Retirement and Risk-Protection Review Checklist produces the Benefits, Retirement and Risk-Protection Review Checklist, which contributes to the principle's principal deliverable.
Before working with your team, consider this reflection: If our pastor became unable to work tomorrow, would our current benefits and risk-protection structures actually protect their family, or would we be discovering the gaps for the first time in crisis?
Key terms
- Benefits inventory: A documented list of all non-salary provisions a church makes for its pastor, including health coverage, retirement contribution and additional allowances.
- Risk-protection review: A policy-level checklist assessing whether structures exist to protect a pastoral family against loss of income or health from death, disability or illness, without requiring personal financial disclosure.
- Qualified referral: Connecting the pastoral family with a licensed, independent insurance or financial professional of their own choosing for individualized advice, rather than the church committee attempting to give that advice itself.
Failure patterns to avoid
- Assuming benefits are adequate because they have never been formally reviewed or complained about
- Delaying retirement contribution structure because it feels like a lower priority than salary, ignoring the cost of lost compounding time
- Committees attempting to recommend specific insurance products or investment choices instead of referring to qualified professionals
Ministry case — The Coverage No One Had Checked
Harborview Fellowship's committee discovered during its first risk-protection review that its pastor had employer-sponsored health coverage but no disability insurance of any kind, a gap that had simply never come up because no one had ever asked the question in a structured way.
Rather than attempting to select a policy themselves, the committee referred the pastoral family to two independent, licensed insurance agents for a disability-coverage quote, and separately budgeted a modest annual allowance the family could apply toward whichever coverage they chose, keeping the decision itself in the family's hands.
Lesson takeaway: A documented benefits inventory, a benchmarked retirement structure, and a policy-level risk-protection review with appropriate referrals together close the provision gaps that salary alone cannot address.
Exercise — Benefits, Retirement and Risk-Protection Review Checklist (produces: Benefits, Retirement and Risk-Protection Review Checklist)
Document current benefits and retirement provisions against benchmark practice, and complete a policy-level risk-protection review with referrals for any identified gap.
- List every current documented and informal benefit in the inventory column.
- Compare each benefit against the benchmark source and note whether it is comparable, ahead, or behind typical practice.
- Document the current retirement contribution structure and compare it against the benchmark.
- Work through the four risk-protection categories as policy-level yes, unclear, or no questions.
- For every unclear or no answer, record a specific referral action and target date.
- Confirm any budget implications of closing identified gaps and note them for the 90-day action plan.
- Summarize the overall benefits and risk-protection status for the module deliverable.
Worksheet columns: Benefit or risk category · Current status · Benchmark comparison · Referral or action needed · Target date
Saves as you typeBenefits, Retirement and Risk-Protection Review Checklist
Complete the Benefits, Retirement and Risk-Protection Review Checklist here. Your answers are kept under your name and are waiting for you when you return.
Benefits, Retirement and Risk-Protection Review Checklist # Benefit or risk category Current status Benchmark comparison Referral or action needed Target date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Saving keeps it private to you; submitting shares it with your coach and church panel.Worked sample — Harborview Fellowship (illustrative example — not actual church data) (illustrative, scored 18/20)
Harborview Fellowship's committee completed its first documented benefits and risk-protection review using an illustrative comparable-size benchmark.
Benefits and risk-protection review completed: health coverage comparable to benchmark, retirement contribution behind benchmark with a phased plan approved, and disability coverage gap identified with a referral and budget allowance approved within four weeks.
- The committee approved a 3% retirement contribution beginning in the next budget year, with a written commitment to review toward the 5% benchmark the following year.
- The treasurer was assigned to provide the pastoral family with a list of two independent, licensed insurance agents and a modest annual coverage allowance within four weeks.
The committee completed a thorough review, correctly stayed within a referral role rather than recommending specific products, and documented specific dated actions for both identified gaps.
BAG Index complementRetirement accounts, employer contributions and compounding
A short complement introducing the BAG Index retirement literacy module, explaining how retirement accounts, employer contributions and compounding work together over time, extending this lesson's benefits and risk-protection review into long-term financial security for the pastor's family.
Teaching points
- • Compounding means investment growth earns its own growth over time, which is why starting retirement contributions earlier, even at a smaller amount, generally outperforms starting later at a larger amount
- • An employer contribution to a retirement account, sometimes called a match, is effectively additional compensation that a household forfeits entirely if it does not contribute enough to receive it
- • Retirement accounts commonly differ in their tax treatment, with some allowing contributions before tax and taxing withdrawals later, and others taxing contributions now so that qualified withdrawals later are not taxed
- • Vesting schedules determine when a pastor's household fully owns employer contributions, and leaving a position before full vesting can mean forfeiting some or all unvested employer funds
- • A pastor's household should review its retirement account statement at least annually to confirm contributions are actually being made as intended and that the account is not sitting in an unintended, overly conservative or overly aggressive default
Household practice step: The pastor's household completing the BAG Index retirement literacy module confirms it is contributing enough to receive any full employer match available, and reviews its most recent retirement account statement for accuracy.
Supports this principle: This complement extends this lesson's benefits and risk-protection review into the specific mechanics of retirement saving, helping the church confirm that any retirement benefit it offers is actually being understood and used rather than left on the table unclaimed.
This module explains general retirement-account and compounding concepts only; it does not recommend specific investment selections, funds or providers, and the pastor's household should consult a qualified, licensed investment or financial professional for individualized retirement decisions.
Discussion prompts
- Which benefit or coverage area had never been formally reviewed before today, and why had it gone unexamined?
- How comfortable are we, as a committee, staying within the boundary of referral rather than giving advice ourselves?
- What would a modest, consistent retirement contribution structure cost us now compared to the value of decades of compounding for our pastor?
- How will we communicate today's review to the pastoral family in a way that feels like support rather than scrutiny?
Reflection: If our pastor became unable to work tomorrow, would our current benefits and risk-protection structures actually protect their family, or would we be discovering the gaps for the first time in crisis?
Use these prompts to prepare your own response before the group discussion. Honest differences help the church identify where further work is needed.
Lesson 4: Rest, Renewal and Longevity in Ministry
What you will learn: Build and adopt a written rest-and-renewal policy covering weekly sabbath, vacation, sabbatical eligibility and pastoral coverage during absences.
80 minutes · Personnel or compensation committee, board chair, and pastor
Scripture lens — Mark 6:31
31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
King James Version (KJV) · Public domain
This passage is offered as a frame because it shows rest being actively commanded in the midst of urgent, ongoing ministry demand, not offered only once the work was finished, which mirrors the proactive posture this lesson asks leadership to take.
Materials and evidence you will use
- Any existing time-off or vacation policy documents
- Records, even informal, of vacation days actually taken over the past two years
- Completed artifacts from lessons one through three
- Documented comparison of actual vacation usage against policy
- Named pastoral-coverage plan for sabbath, vacation and sabbatical
- Scheduled governance approval meeting date
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to
- A written rest-and-renewal policy exists covering weekly sabbath expectation, vacation allotment and sabbatical eligibility
- A pastoral-coverage plan exists describing how ministry needs are met while the pastor rests
- Leadership has agreed on a method for actively tracking whether rest is genuinely taken, not merely permitted
- The completed Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan has been assembled and scheduled for governance approval
Study reading
Understand the concept
Your work in this lesson focuses on this outcome: Build and adopt a written rest-and-renewal policy covering weekly sabbath, vacation, sabbatical eligibility and pastoral coverage during absences.
A rest-and-renewal policy is only real once it is paired with active coverage and active tracking; today's work completes the Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan and hands it to governance for approval and annual renewal.
Why it matters for your church
Rest that depends solely on a pastor's own initiative to claim it will, in most cases, not reliably happen.
A congregation without a coverage plan for pastoral absences tends to discourage the pastor from taking earned rest at all.
A rest policy that exists only on paper, without active tracking, provides no real protection against long-term burnout.
Examine the evidence
Use Any existing time-off or vacation policy documents, Records, even informal, of vacation days actually taken over the past two years, and Completed artifacts from lessons one through three to compare your church's present practice with its stated intentions. Look for documented patterns, missing information, and differences between what people assume and what the evidence supports.
Your completed work should be supported by Documented comparison of actual vacation usage against policy, Named pastoral-coverage plan for sabbath, vacation and sabbatical, and Scheduled governance approval meeting date. Record uncertainty honestly so your team knows what still needs to be verified.
Prepare for the shared exercise
Draft a written weekly sabbath, vacation and sabbatical policy paired with a concrete pastoral-coverage plan, and assemble the completed Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan for governance approval. The Rest and Renewal Policy Worksheet produces the Rest and Renewal Policy Draft with Pastoral Coverage Plan, which contributes to the principle's principal deliverable.
Before working with your team, consider this reflection: A year from now, at our next scheduled review, what evidence would convince us that our pastor's rest, pay and protection are genuinely better, not just better documented?
Key terms
- Sabbath rhythm: A specific, protected weekly period of rest the pastor is expected to keep, with clear expectations about what protecting it means in practice.
- Sabbatical: An extended period of rest and renewal, typically measured in weeks, made available after a defined number of years of service, distinct from ordinary annual vacation.
- Pastoral-coverage plan: A documented description of who handles preaching, pastoral emergencies and administrative continuity during a pastor's planned absence.
Failure patterns to avoid
- Adopting a generous vacation policy on paper while never checking whether it is actually used
- Treating sabbatical as an unaffordable luxury without ever documenting even a modest starting provision
- Building a rest policy with no coverage plan, guaranteeing it collapses under the first real ministry pressure
Ministry case — The Vacation That Was Never Taken
Harborview Fellowship's committee discovered its pastor had a documented three-week annual vacation allotment but had taken only four days off combined over the past two years, largely because no coverage plan existed for Sunday preaching or pastoral emergencies during any extended absence.
The committee responded by identifying and training two lay leaders and a retired area pastor willing to rotate pulpit and emergency-coverage duties, and the board chair committed to a brief quarterly check-in on vacation days scheduled, after which the pastor took a full week off within two months for the first time in years.
Lesson takeaway: A rest-and-renewal policy is only real once it is paired with active coverage and active tracking; today's work completes the Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan and hands it to governance for approval and annual renewal.
Exercise — Rest and Renewal Policy Worksheet (produces: Rest and Renewal Policy Draft with Pastoral Coverage Plan)
Draft a written weekly sabbath, vacation and sabbatical policy paired with a concrete pastoral-coverage plan, and assemble the completed Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan for governance approval.
- Document a specific weekly sabbath expectation and what protecting it means in practice.
- Document the current vacation allotment and compare it honestly against actual days taken in the past two years.
- Draft a realistic sabbatical eligibility threshold and duration appropriate to the church's size and resources.
- Name, by role or person, who provides preaching, emergency and administrative coverage during each type of absence.
- Agree on a simple, low-friction method for tracking whether rest is actually taken each quarter.
- Assemble all four lessons' artifacts into the single Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan document.
- Draft the remaining open 90-day action-plan lines with owner, due date, resources, success measure, status and review date, and schedule the governance approval meeting.
Worksheet columns: Rest category · Policy provision · Coverage plan · Tracking method · Review date
Saves as you typeRest and Renewal Policy Worksheet
Complete the Rest and Renewal Policy Draft with Pastoral Coverage Plan here. Your answers are kept under your name and are waiting for you when you return.
Rest and Renewal Policy Worksheet # Rest category Policy provision Coverage plan Tracking method Review date 1 2 3 4 5 Saving keeps it private to you; submitting shares it with your coach and church panel.Worked sample — Harborview Fellowship (illustrative example — not actual church data) (illustrative, scored 19/20)
Harborview Fellowship's committee completed its first written rest-and-renewal policy and assembled its full Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan for board approval.
Rest and renewal policy adopted covering weekly sabbath, three-week vacation and a newly established four-week sabbatical after seven years, each paired with a named coverage plan and a quarterly tracking check-in. Full Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan assembled and scheduled for board approval.
- The board approved training two lay leaders and confirming a retired area pastor as a rotating coverage team within one month.
- The full Pastoral Wellbeing and Compensation Plan, combining all four lessons' artifacts, was scheduled for formal board approval at the next regular meeting.
The committee built a complete rest policy paired with a concrete, realistic coverage plan, correctly diagnosed the coverage gap as the true root cause of past underuse, and fully assembled the module deliverable for governance approval.
BAG Index complementLife, disability and health insurance as family risk management
A short complement introducing the BAG Index family risk-management module, covering life, disability and health insurance as tools for protecting a pastor's family against specific financial risks, extending this lesson's benefits and risk-protection review.
Teaching points
- • Life insurance is designed to replace lost income and cover specific obligations for a pastor's family if the pastor dies, and coverage needs should be calculated from real obligations, not a rule of thumb alone
- • Disability insurance replaces a portion of income if illness or injury prevents a pastor from working, and many households underestimate how much they rely on continued income until a gap actually occurs
- • Health insurance protects against the financial risk of medical costs, and understanding deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums and network rules helps a household anticipate real costs rather than being surprised by them
- • Coverage gaps often appear precisely at employment transitions, such as between ministry positions, which is why continuity of coverage deserves specific attention during any pastoral transition planning
- • Because insurance needs depend on a family's specific obligations, dependents and existing coverage, a generic recommended coverage amount is far less useful than an individualized needs calculation
Household practice step: The pastor's household completing the BAG Index family risk-management module lists its current life, disability and health coverage, and identifies one specific gap or question to raise with a licensed insurance professional.
Supports this principle: This complement gives concrete shape to this lesson's risk-protection review, helping governance confirm that the benefits it believes it is providing actually translate into real protection for the pastor's family against the most disruptive financial risks.
This module explains general categories of risk-management insurance only; it does not recommend any specific insurance carrier, policy or coverage amount, and the pastor's household should work with a qualified, licensed insurance professional to determine its actual coverage needs.
Discussion prompts
- What has historically prevented our pastor from taking full advantage of any existing vacation policy?
- Who could realistically provide pastoral and preaching coverage during a planned absence, and have we ever asked them directly?
- What would a modest, realistic first sabbatical provision look like for a church our size?
- How will we make sure this entire plan is actually revisited next year, not just approved once and filed away?
Reflection: A year from now, at our next scheduled review, what evidence would convince us that our pastor's rest, pay and protection are genuinely better, not just better documented?
Use these prompts to prepare your own response before the group discussion. Honest differences help the church identify where further work is needed.
Rate this principle
Rate each area from 0 to 4 as the church is today, not as you hope it will be.
- 0 — Not Established: Nothing is in place for this area today.
- 1 — Emerging: Something has been started but it is informal and inconsistent.
- 2 — Developing: It works in parts of the church but is not documented or dependable.
- 3 — Established: It is documented, consistently followed and reviewed.
- 4 — Exemplary: It is a strength others could learn from, with evidence to prove it.
1. Compensation Fairness and Documentation
Weighted 20% of the Provide for Your Pastors' Wellbeing score.
What this represents: A written compensation philosophy and benchmarked salary range exist, and pastoral pay is reviewed against that range on a fixed annual cycle by a governance body.
Reference points for your rating
- 0 — Not established:
- Pastoral pay was set once, long ago, by informal agreement, with no written philosophy and no comparison to any external benchmark.
- 2 — Developing:
- A rough benchmark comparison has been done once, but there is no written compensation philosophy and no fixed review cycle.
- 4 — Exemplary:
- The compensation philosophy, benchmarked range and review cycle are documented, followed without exception, and adjusted proactively when benchmark data or church size changes, without waiting for the pastor to raise the issue.
Use the closest reference point, then select 1 or 3 when your church falls between two descriptions.
2. Benefits and Retirement Adequacy
Weighted 20% of the Provide for Your Pastors' Wellbeing score.
What this represents: A documented, benchmarked benefits and retirement package is in place and reviewed annually alongside the compensation review.
Reference points for your rating
- 0 — Not established:
- The church provides no structured benefits and no retirement contribution beyond base salary, and no one has evaluated whether this is adequate.
- 2 — Developing:
- A documented benefits package exists covering health coverage and a modest retirement contribution, but it has never been benchmarked against comparable roles.
- 4 — Exemplary:
- Benefits and retirement provisions meet or exceed benchmark for comparable roles, are explained clearly to the pastor in writing every year, and are adjusted as family circumstances or benchmark data change.
Use the closest reference point, then select 1 or 3 when your church falls between two descriptions.
3. Risk Protection for the Pastoral Family
Weighted 20% of the Provide for Your Pastors' Wellbeing score.
What this represents: A risk-protection review is completed on a fixed cycle, gaps are documented, and the pastoral family has been referred to qualified, licensed insurance and financial professionals as needed.
Reference points for your rating
- 0 — Not established:
- No one has ever reviewed whether the pastoral family has adequate life, disability, health or liability coverage.
- 2 — Developing:
- A risk-protection checklist has been completed once, surfacing gaps, but no referral to a qualified, licensed professional has yet occurred.
- 4 — Exemplary:
- Risk protection is reviewed annually, coverage is verified as adequate by qualified professionals chosen by the pastoral family, and the church has budgeted appropriately to support adequate coverage levels.
Use the closest reference point, then select 1 or 3 when your church falls between two descriptions.
4. Rest, Renewal and Sustainability
Weighted 20% of the Provide for Your Pastors' Wellbeing score.
What this represents: A written rest-and-renewal policy covering weekly sabbath, vacation and sabbatical eligibility is followed consistently, with a documented pastoral-coverage plan during absences.
Reference points for your rating
- 0 — Not established:
- There is no policy on sabbath, vacation or sabbatical; the pastor takes time off only when personally willing to insist on it.
- 2 — Developing:
- A written vacation and weekly-rest policy exists and is mostly followed, but there is no sabbatical provision and no plan for pastoral coverage during rest.
- 4 — Exemplary:
- Rest and renewal are treated as a governance responsibility, tracked and protected proactively by leadership, and the pastor is actively encouraged, not merely permitted, to use the full policy every year.
Use the closest reference point, then select 1 or 3 when your church falls between two descriptions.
5. Governance and Confidentiality
Weighted 20% of the Provide for Your Pastors' Wellbeing score.
What this represents: A designated governance body reviews compensation and wellbeing annually, works from documented policy and benchmark data rather than from personal disclosures, and protects confidentiality consistently.
Reference points for your rating
- 0 — Not established:
- Compensation and wellbeing decisions are made informally by whoever happens to be present, with no confidentiality protections and no documented process.
- 2 — Developing:
- A personnel or compensation committee meets periodically and generally works from policy and benchmarks, but practice around confidentiality is inconsistent.
- 4 — Exemplary:
- Governance of pastoral wellbeing is a mature, minuted, annual discipline that consistently separates policy-level decision-making from any personal financial information the pastor's household may choose to share in confidence.
Use the closest reference point, then select 1 or 3 when your church falls between two descriptions.
90-day plan for Provide for Your Pastors' Wellbeing
Name the first three moves, who owns each one and when it is due.
Completion checklist
- • All four lessons marked complete
- • All four exercises submitted
- • Required evidence uploaded
- • Named principal deliverable generated and approved
- • 90-day action plan created with owners and dates
- • Coach review recorded
0 of 4 exercises written · 0 of 5 areas rated
Leland Rubin
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Participant Workbook
Sample contents created by Allan Bell - CPA, CMA, MBA, for illustrative purposes.
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