Bad joke
The other day I made a “money joke” with some of our staff members. It was about how Pastors use their positions to “fleece” people for money. One of my colleagues urged me not to even joke about this and referred me to this fast-growing Instagram account, PreachersnSneakers.
Ah no
I quickly looked up the account and I was amused at first, then, well then, saddened.
You have a great point
In many ways I can sympathise with this dude and his followers. It’s really not about the cost of a pair of shoes, but about a perception of how preachers earn and spend their money.
Occupational hazard
Being a pastor for the past 40 years, I have experienced my fair share of criticism and shaming. A favourite remark is, “What do you actually do all week? You only work for an hour on Sunday”. And of course, there are the occasional remarks and snide comments about money!
Preachers are in the public eye, and therefore will attract both detractors and fans. It’s a kind of occupational hazard.
Some people are not happy
But, back to my PreachernSneakers dude. The alarming thing on his IG account are some of the comments by followers. We pastors have really pi**ed off a lot people. And this is not a surprise to me.
Many of the comments are true, but it’s not quite the full story. We often generalise things when we already have a bias. I thought, of all the pastors out there, which ones can actually afford expensive sneakers?
Is there a balance?
My guess is, some pastors are given expensive stuff, while others are in a position where they earn enough money to buy expensive stuff. But, even if they can afford expensive stuff, should they spend it on expensive stuff? We all figure Jesus didn’t so why do they?
My view of things
Anyway, my own perception is that the so called “celebrity pastors” have the opportunity to earn the bucks to buy $1,000 shoes. The Pastors wearing $1,000 sneakers generally come from megachurches or big ministries. And how many of them are there?
What do the numbers say?
So, I crunched some numbers and made some educated assumptions.
I have used USA stats because they are the most reliable. But I reckon this could be transferred to most countries in the world where Christianity is easily expressed.
There are about 384,000 churches in the USA. Of these, 1650 are mega churches. A mega church is considered to be a church with 2000 or more people attending Sunday services. However, the average size of a congregation in America is 75.
Here are some other stats about pastors you might find interesting.
Megachurches should not be the standard
This means that megachurches make up 0,004% of all churches in America. If 50% of all churches have a full-time pastor (which I think is conservative) and Mega Churches have 10 pastors on staff (even though, only the top guys will earn enough for expensive shoes or be given expensive shoes) that means that around 0,01% of pastors are wearing expensive sneakers. That is one expensive-sneaker-wearing-pastor to every 1000 pastors.
It’s actually not about sneakers.
I know it’s not about sneakers. But the point I am making is that there are truckloads of women and men trying their level best to lead churches. Even if you don’t like church and pastors, give them a break for at least trying to help people to live better lives. Most of the pastors I know aren’t earning a lot of money and never went into the ministry to make money and don’t have $1000 sneakers.
Us Pastors need to discuss this
However, the PreachersnSneakers dude does raise the question of what kind of image pastors project. And it is worth a discussion. Even if one can afford expensive stuff, should a pastor buy the stuff?
If not, should the same thing not apply to all Christ followers?
Having said all that, I do wish some of the more highly profiled pastors would be more aware of how people see them. Their ability to wear or have expensive stuff does affect all of us in ministry. And I am sure they are sick of the “moderation” discussion, as one person’s moderation is another’s excess! But this should continue to be a tension to manage. And PrechersnSneakers and his followers are worth listening too.
Don’t let others determine your response
Finally and importantly, I am saddened that people leave the faith because of someone else’s behaviour. This means they are being controlled by the badly-behaved or excessive Pastor or Christian. And that can’t be good.
Leave your kind comments below!
You’re on point Mark. I love your balanced approach.
Thanks Alice
As church staff, and not just pastors, we need to be mindful of those in our midst who are struggling and cannot afford to even keep the roof over their heads. We cause internal struggle for them as they cannot reconcile their lack and their pastor’s seemingly easy life. We sometimes destroy the message by pursuing excess and things that your average community member cannot attain, and I understand that ‘yard’ stick is immeasurable for the most part, but we are chosen and then choose the vocation of serving our communities and we need to be relevant without destroying the message we carry. We commit to serving the community and a life of public service carries with it the responsibility of discipline and restraint. A lot of pastors sacrifice for many years to be financially independent and sometimes it is eventually ends up in a ‘lack’ mentality or fear of losing it all, and sometimes an ‘I deserve it now’ mentality – after all, they’ve served their communities from their own poor house for too long. But at the beginning and at the end of it all, we serve our communities by honouring the tithes and offerings that come in to our churches with discipline and restraint. Btw I have not read the preachers / sneakers article but I will. Thanks for hitting the tough subjects and being open to starting a conversation!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Lu
Wow this made me think about my own opinions and how quick I am to give my opinion, thanks for opening my eyes Mark, love your blog.
Thanks for your comment Christa.
Really enjoyed this Mark! I’ve been following this IG page for a while and I believe you addressed the tension here. I hope many read this as I’ve heard and read people taking opposite stances without considering other perspectives. Again I say, you’ve addressed the tension and I think this is an important topic to discuss amongst pastors.
Thanks for your comments Dylan. It is a sensitive subject, and things are often fairly complex!
Why don’t you teach the true 7th day Sabbath?
Hey Elvis, thanks for taking the time to comment, but this blog is not around doctrine. Have a great day.
Thats it… I will never be able to become a pastor – love my Grass Hoppers too much….
Hi Anthon – there is always hope. Dont’t give up
I can write a lot about this but the conclusion remains the same:
Pastor’s are entitled to nice stuff as much as anyone else is.