Sunday, November 2, 2008

To Ministers Who Want To Earn Extra Income -- But Don't Know How

By Rublinette G. Ortega

While serving others, Pastors and other ministes can find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Though they have dedicated themselves to serving other people, it can create a financial problem for them. Preparing for a position in miministry can require years of education and training at expensive universities and seminaries. It requires years of study and a considerable financial investment.

Chaplains, college ministers, youth pastors, education ministers, and others on the church staff may find themselves in the same situation. These ministry positions are often paid less than the Senior Pastor, but have a similar schedule and expectation. They come to realize that they may need another stream of income just to pay for the necessities. Starting a small service business may be the best solution for them. Performing weddings as a business as described in The Wedding Income Toolkit for Ministers can be the ideal second job. It also has advantages for fellow ministers in the same church or even in small churches in the same town since they can coordinate their schedules together to meet the needs of couples.

Ministers often have graduate and post graduate degrees in a wide variety of majors. Many churches and parachurch ministries even require their ministers to have these degrees. It is true that larger churches and mega churches can afford to compensate their ministers with good salaries and adequate benefits. However, churches are non-profit organizations and are limited in their budgets. So many ministers barely make enough money to pay their bills.

Getting an additional job can be quite tricky for the Pastor or staff member because they need to be able to be on call at all hours for their churches. This Catch22 frustrates many ministers on the lower end of the pay scale. Even though they need to earn more money, they are not really sure what type of job will fit their full schedules.

Some ministers have taken part time jobs and hope that their hours do not interfere with the needs and requirements of their church duties. Others are forced into considering abandoning their ministry altogether in order to find employment that pays higher wages. Ministers who have families to care for often struggle every week to make ends meet. If they had ordinary jobs they could ask their boss for a raise, but this is not the typical way to handle the situation when a church is your employer.

Ministers and their wives will often make extra income from small jobs that assist the congregation. Many wives of ministers will give music lessons. These wives also may take full time jobs in order to help with household finances. Sometimes there are specific religious duties that require pastors and these jobs pay them extra money for attending to the details and services. These include baptisms, christenings, revivals, funerals, and weddings. Many pastors are happy to perform any of these duties for their church members at little or no cost, but are glad for the extra money that is given.

When all of these activities are considered, performing weddings is probably the easiest and best for pastors to do. First, it is a happy occasion and both religious and irreligious people are comfortable with paying the minister a fee to officiate the ceremony. Second, weddings are scheduled months in advance so that the minister can schedule around them. Third, a minimum fee can be set, and there can also be bonuses. An example of a low wedding fee would be about $200. If a pastor could perform one wedding a week, he or she could easily add $10,000 or more to his annual income. The pastor or staff member could, in essence, give themselves a raise, and maintain their schedule without going before a church board.

Consider some of these ways to begin increasing your income right now. But especially consider adding more weddings in the coming months. If you don't know how to do this, it is best to find a manual or text that will teach you how to make learn the necessary skills involved in meeting with couples, coordinator, and other professional, as well as leading rehearsals quickly and smoothly. The Wedding Income Toolkit for Ministers is an excellent tool that can give you all the things you need so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. It can help any minister get begin doing weddings in 60 days or less. This can be a perfect fit because this is a job that you are already prepared for and familiar with. If you have your such as a license or ordination for performing wedding ceremonies already then you can start to add needed money to your budget right away. - 15478

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