#CHURCHTALK 31: How do Pastors make money?

There was a time when choosing to become a pastor was synonymous with choosing to become shamefully poor in life. In those days, the society mocked those who elected to pursue that line of work as a career. They called them people with "no ambition".

But, today, some of the richest people in Africa and the world at large are pastors. Some of the most influential people are pastors. And the society doesn't like that too. Makes me wonder what society really wants for pastors. What are the real intentions towards pastors?

In today's society, there are still many pastors who are very poor, and some who are in the middle class. And there are those who are rich, and some others who are very wealthy too.

So many more pastors are in fact poor, while few are rich. Much fewer are wealthy. This is similar to what is obtainable in the human society: many people are poor, few are in the middle class, while fewer (the top 1%) are wealthy.

Liberal political movements campaign on imposing higher taxes on the wealthy. But, in every country of the world where this has been achieved, the wealthy still remain the wealthy. So, we can conclude that being wealthy is a function of following principles, not just about 'gathering money'.

So, how do pastors make money? How do they become wealthy? This is the question we shall be looking at in today's #ChurchTalk.

Reason No. 1: "They are thieves! They steal tithes and offerings."

The unfortunate practice of pilfering church funds isn't new to this generation. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot was known to steal from the church purse. All the other disciples and Jesus knew this, yet they kept Judas in-charge of their treasury as a group. Makes you wonder, right?

Pastor Sarah Omakwu is the senior pastor of the 13,000-member-strong Family Worship Center, Abuja. She is an advocate for godly relationships, strong families and a society where those who govern and the governed do right and be right.

Was Jesus trying to paint the picture that He didn't care about the pilfering of ministerial funds? Was He trying to show us how slow He is at trying to judge a sinner? That He cared more about giving the sinner a longer rope, in hope that they might perhaps repent? Or was He trying to show us in Judas the type of destruction that happens in the life of one who steals from the parcel that funds God's work? Your guess is as good as mine.

But, one interesting thing about this assertion is that those who are often quick to accuse pastors as being thieves have no proof, and do so very presumptously because in their minds, "how else is he making all that money; he is in-charge of all those monies that are collected in church as tithes and offerings. That must be why he is able to buy fancy suits." In a nutshell, the rich pastor is seen as a thief, while the poor pastor is left alone to his poverty. 

One thing is verifiable though: in most churches, pastors are paid a monthly salary or stipend from the tithes and offerings collected. In Nigeria, most pastors earn less than N50,000 monthly, paid from the respective church purses, except for senior pastors and/or overseers who are often paid more. 

The reason for such paltry salaries is often not far-fetched: most churches can't afford to pay them better for obvious reasons. Two reasons come to mind readily: most churches are disproportionately populated by poor and middle class people who do not earn enough to pay higher amounts of money as tithe, nor give larger amounts as offerings when they attend church. And secondly, churches are often charity organisations which cater to the financial and sundry needs of her members and immediate community. 

So, church funds are often under pressure by the many welfare needs which church leaders appropriate it for. Any of these two factors or their combination easily influences the amounts pastors can be paid, especially since their work is more "sacrificial" in nature.

But, how is it that despite these, a few pastors, mainly general overseers, are often rich or wealthy? Well, quite simply, it is because of other reasons, not just "thievery". Let's face it, there is only so much that one can steal from the church purse and be wealthy. 

Pastor Aloysius Ohanebo is the General Overseer of the over 100,000-member-strong Watchman Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement, Worldwide. A strong conservative and believer in the principles of accountability in leadership, he is passionate about investing financially and otherwise into worldwide missions and evangelistic projects which target to reach people of all ages with the gospel. 

Reason No. 2: Goodwill, Gifts and Rewards

Pastors often enjoy so much goodwill from members of their churches, as well as others who may have at one time or the other been blessed by their ministration, action or words. A person who has just made N1 million from an investment of N100,000 could give their pastor a tip-off to invest as well. That's goodwill. A person could recommend a pastor whom he has heard speak so well to a panel event where the pastor will be paid $10,000 to speak for one (1) hour only. That's goodwill.

A pastor can be gifted $1million by someone who feels led to do so as a show of admiration or gratitude. That's a gift. A pastor can be gifted a car by someone who feels like getting him a gift.

A pastor can be "rewarded" financially by a church member whom he has once been a blessing to. These are not wrong, and serve as huge sources of income to many middle class, rich and wealthy pastors, depending on the financial capacity of their audiences.

Reason No. 3: Personal development and work

The very nature of their work being sacrificial, most pastors learn and invest into personal development so much. 

And when they do, some of them are able to write books which they sell. Recently, I made an analysis about how much a person can make from writing books, and I discovered that for pastors who often have a large following, it's easy to make billions of naira from writing books only.

If a Pastor's book that sells at a profit of N100 (the actual profits are often more than this though) only sells 200,000 copies world wide, the pastor would have made N20million from publishing only one book.

Bishop David Oyedepo is the presiding bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide (aka Winners Chapel), headquartered at Canaanland, Ogun state where he hosts over 200,000 congregants at every Sunday service. His passion for evangelism and church planting has been evident since the 1990s when his ministry purchased its first private jet for African Missions projects. The author of over 70 books, Oyedepo is also an architect and astute businessman with investments across various sectors of the economy. He is reputed by Forbes to be the richest pastor in Africa, with a networth of $150million as at 2011.

But, we know that amongst the wealthiest pastors in Nigeria, 100% of them have at least 20-70 books to their names. This means that they have made atleast between N400 million and N1.4billion from their personal effort of writing and publishing books ONLY. This fund doesn't belong to the churches they pastor. They earned it well by authoring the books.

Reason No. 4: Financial intelligence 

Because most of the rich and wealthy pastors are also well-known voracious readers and writers, it is no surprise that they know a lot about financial education and investments. 

Can you imagine how much richer the pastor who made N400million from writing books would be if he invested half of that money into profitable stocks, bonds, or other assets with higher ROIs? And what if the one that earned N1.4billion does that too? Is it possible that this is how they became wealthy? 

Many of them spend a lot of time praying, almost as much as they spend reading. That's a combo that can make any person very successful. A lot of them are very disciplined about their finances, and those of their churches too. This is the reason why many pastors seek to diversify the income streams of their churches by setting up church-owned and run businesses in sectors that contribute much to societal development, like education (secondary schools and universities), agriculture, food (bakeries and the like), etc. These become another source of income for the church to execute social impact and corporate projects, and others as they may deem fit. 

A lot of them also invest their own funds to own and run other such businesses, which become another source of personal income to them as well.

Reason No. 5: By exploiting their members

This is similar to Reason No. 1. While it is true that some pastors are manipulative and money-oriented, it is also true that in terms of being wealthy, there is only so much you can manipulate people into giving you in order to attain that level.

Pastor Poju Oyemade is the senior pastor of The Covenant Nation, Lagos. He is the convener of The Platform, a yearly event hosted on October 1st to discuss salient issues of national importance in Nigeria's socio-political sphere. A prolific teacher of the word, Pastor Poju is also the author of various books. 

Most people who accuse pastors of exploiting their members, however, are those who do not accept that it is necessary to pay tithes in church. They believe that tithes make pastors rich. I would urge them to think again and be more straightforward with their real intentions. 

Reason No. 6: Speaking engagements

Most society people are very oblivious about the amounts of money that pastors earn from attending speaking engagements outside their churches. 

To put this into perspective, I'd like to remind readers that speakers such as Brian Tracy are paid millions of dollars to speak at events.

When most pastors are invited to speak at events outside their churches, most of them are paid very handsomely to attend. When they are invited within their churches (perhaps by a branch of the churches they pastor), they are also usually given a token or gift too. 

There are pastors who are known to not honor invitations to speaking engagements outside their churches. They do not earn from this. 

Let us conclude by looking at the Apostle Paul's statements on this issue:

1Timothy 5:17-18 [AMP] 

17. Let the elders who perform the duties of their office well be considered doubly worthy of honor [and of adequate financial support], especially those who labor faithfully in preaching and teaching.

18. For the Scripture says, You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain, and again, The laborer is worthy of his hire.

1 Corinthians 9:7-14 [KJV] 

7. Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?

8. Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?

9. For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?

10. Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

11. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?

12. If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.

13. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?

14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

If a pastor works genuinely and earns from his/her work, I think they should be left alone to their profit, even as they were left alone to their labor. In every labor, their is profit, including pastoral labor.

Chukwubuikem Paul Anunaso is a CNBC Africa opinion writer and civil/structural engineer in Lagos, Nigeria. He is also the editor of The Paul Anunaso Blog, and can be reached at anunaso.cp@gmail.com

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