$500,000 pay for New Creation Church employee

[Sabian]

"wealth is good"

 

some of these churches are run like money making organizations preparing a "concert" style worship. they have so many ushers.

 

 

Greed is good, so says Pastor Gekko

 

Concert have paparazzi and posse or not?

 

[Drive_carcar]

When I saw this article this morning, I fully expected the backlash in every forums. To outsiders, it seems to be the most culpable sin to be drawing a big salary as a pastor.

 

One common expectation of many people - Christians and non-Christians alike, is that to be a pastor, one has to live like a pauper. However as far as I know, nowhere does the Bible require a pastor to be paid like a slave. Although it does beg the question, if the pastor is paid so much, what kind of priorities he / she might have?

 

As a Christian myself, I believe a pastor has to be reasonably paid - according to the resources (as in membership strength, financial strength) of the church. That said, the pastor is also expected to be a role model in modest living, financial discipline. and sacrificial giving.

 

There is no biblical basis for requiring any church leaders, or for that matter any devoted Christians to be living in poverty. God does bless some Christians with wealth, but that's only because these people have an added burden of sharing their wealth unselfishly with the needy.

[Nitro]

This is not far from the truth, churches like City Harvest and New Creation are amongst a relatively new breed of churches, politically correct term is "evangelical" or "charismatic", the "not-so-nice" term is "health and wealth" church.

 

Basically what the basic premise of their message is " You give to the church and God will reward you". Could be 2x your donation, 10x....whatever God deems fit....which of course is b-------t, but people will buy into this, cos it's money we're talking about, and who doesn't want more of it?

 

The consistency of this message is to be seen to be believed, I attended the New Creation church for a while, more out of boredom as it is a pretty entertaining service, and the people who attend are by and large, pretty nice people, they've just been suckered in by the lights, the sounds and of course, prince's charisma, he's a pretty funny guy!

 

But if you ask anyone from those churches, to quote a verse from the Bible, they will unerringly quote : Jer 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

 

And the church will bolster this with messages of servitude and how that all adds up to prospering you, and one of the ways to serve is to give and money is a good gift.

 

I still remember the ex-owner of Ken Air, who was a member of New Creation, after his business went bust, he still quoted this verse plus an additional : "My God will not fail me". He was talking about money, but he didn't realise that God doesn't care about money, He cares more about your soul and the life you lead here on earth.

 

It's only people like prince (and where the f do you get a surname like prince, unless you're a rockstar?) and the city harvest charlatans who've successfully turned the focus on money and how to make a lot of it!

 

"let he who is without sin, cast the first stone" Who are you to judge the pastor and the churches? This kinda religous thing better not anyhow say. If he's bogus, fine...but if he's really man of God, then gd luck to you. I salute your courage to say all these openly man...

 

Don't mind me but you sound pretty much like an upset ex church member from either churches. I can feel the unhappines when I read. Like you got a Vendetta or something against his surname Prince. Personal attack sia.. SALUTE!

Edited March 30, 2009 by Nitro

[Albeniz]

One common expectation of many people - Christians and non-Christians alike, is that to be a pastor, one has to live like a pauper. However as far as I know, nowhere does the Bible require a pastor to be paid like a slave. Although it does beg the question, if the pastor is paid so much, what kind of priorities he / she might have?

 

We don't expect a pastor to live like a pauper. But S$500,000 per year is way out of the question.

 

[Silver_blade]

I agree. Often, people just draw parallel with the lifestyle of buddhist monk.

 

But I find New Creation's statement questionable. It may be taken out of context...but assuming it is not....it reflect on the kind of value they have. Looks like man's effort is greater than God's grace.

Edited March 30, 2009 by Silver_blade

[Jetabout777]

When I saw this article this morning, I fully expected the backlash in every forums. To outsiders, it seems to be the most culpable sin to be drawing a big salary as a pastor.

 

One common expectation of many people - Christians and non-Christians alike, is that to be a pastor, one has to live like a pauper. However as far as I know, nowhere does the Bible require a pastor to be paid like a slave. Although it does beg the question, if the pastor is paid so much, what kind of priorities he / she might have?

 

As a Christian myself, I believe a pastor has to be reasonably paid - according to the resources (as in membership strength, financial strength) of the church. That said, the pastor is also expected to be a role model in modest living, financial discipline. and sacrificial giving.

 

There is no biblical basis for requiring any church leaders, or for that matter any devoted Christians to be living in poverty. God does bless some Christians with wealth, but that's only because these people have an added burden of sharing their wealth unselfishly with the needy.

 

I totally agree with living modestly with a reasonable pay cheque that will ensure the pastor at best a comfortable life, not an extravagant one.

[Falc]

It's true that God did not call any of the workers in his field to be paupers specifically, and the workers of the field should be able to share in the blessings, both material and spiritual, that they help brought to their hearers.

 

BUT such a princely sum is nowhere near the level of poverty, it's not even near the level of upper middle class living, it is ultra-luxury living already, aka travel through this world in style in first class :)

 

Bottom line, how is good stewardship of the money given to God and His Kingdom been exercised or evident here. It will be good if the church can explain instead of choosing silence.

[Silver_blade]

 

One common expectation of many people - Christians and non-Christians alike, is that to be a pastor, one has to live like a pauper. However as far as I know, nowhere does the Bible require a pastor to be paid like a slave. Although it does beg the question, if the pastor is paid so much, what kind of priorities he / she might have?

 

 

We don't expect a pastor to live like a pauper. But S$500,000 per year is way out of the question.

Again, it boils down to what the members of the respective church feel. If all of them are super rich, $500k to them may be peanuts. Some church members are more generous towards pastors, church workers, etc...and don't really mind.

 

 

[Nitro]

500k is indeed alot! But yet again, media might have escalated it?

[Silver_blade]

....media might have escalated it?

Doubt so lah...otherwise the church would have said so.

[Rickster]

I totally agree with living modestly with a reasonable pay cheque that will ensure the pastor at best a comfortable life, not an extravagant one.

 

Wats a reasonable pay? Would 100K /annum suffice?

 

[Falc]

Some peg pastor's pay to that of teachers. In this case, if true, they are pegging it to principals or maybe even minister of education?

[Silver_blade]

Hee, hee....difficult for everyone to agree on a sum which is acceptable. It bit like the argument on whether buying a honda Jazz is stupid. Tho I find it a huge sum to be paid to a pastor, but I also accept that as long as the people who are paying are happy, who are we to question? The money comes from the members, not the public.

[Rickster]

500k is indeed alot! But yet again, media might have escalated it?

 

Its 500K per annum or per month?

 

[Ngck]

When I saw this article this morning, I fully expected the backlash in every forums. To outsiders, it seems to be the most culpable sin to be drawing a big salary as a pastor.

 

One common expectation of many people - Christians and non-Christians alike, is that to be a pastor, one has to live like a pauper. However as far as I know, nowhere does the Bible require a pastor to be paid like a slave. Although it does beg the question, if the pastor is paid so much, what kind of priorities he / she might have?

 

As a Christian myself, I believe a pastor has to be reasonably paid - according to the resources (as in membership strength, financial strength) of the church. That said, the pastor is also expected to be a role model in modest living, financial discipline. and sacrificial giving.

 

There is no biblical basis for requiring any church leaders, or for that matter any devoted Christians to be living in poverty. God does bless some Christians with wealth, but that's only because these people have an added burden of sharing their wealth unselfishly with the needy.

 

you from there?

 

but i dun expect him to live like a king too....

 

[Rickster]

Some peg pastor's pay to that of teachers. In this case, if true, they are pegging it to principals or maybe even minister of education?

 

If NCC peg their pastor's pay to MOE, then i guess $100K/annum would be a nice sum.

[Rickster]

Hee, hee....difficult for everyone to agree on a sum which is acceptable. It bit like the argument on whether buying a honda Jazz is stupid. Tho I find it a huge sum to be paid to a pastor, but I also accept that as long as the people who are paying are happy, who are we to question? The money comes from the members, not the public.

 

Thats right. As long as the members r not complaining, then i guess its non of our concern unless we r frm that church.

[Jetabout777]

Again, it boils down to what the members of the respective church feel. If all of them are super rich, $500k to them may be peanuts. Some church members are more generous towards pastors, church workers, etc...and don't really mind.

 

It is true that the kind of remuneration a pastor may receive is totally up to the members. However, just to sidetrack, I think that this kind of fat remuneration packages will not be of any benefit to future generations of pastoral staff. It will be inevitable that some will be lured into joining the calling of God because of $$$, and it is really difficult to filter out who is true or not.

 

This is similar to some industries like banking, where at one stage paid heaps, and look at the number of people who aspired to be part of the banking industry.

 

I think this divine calling into the church ministry will be warped in time to come. Expect the christian faith to be diluted thoroughly.