Is there anything wrong with pastors being wealthy?

Of course not. There’s nothing wrong with anyone being wealthy. The Bible, while it includes any number of warnings about the dangers that come with wealth, likewise presents wealth as a blessing. While the possession of wealth is by no means a sin, there are certainly sinful ways of acquiring wealth and sinful responses to having wealth. Some of those can happen with pastors.

While he certainly was no pastor, Bagwan Rajneesh was a cultic guru who lived a lavish lifestyle on the backs of his deluded donors. His acolytes worked 16 hour days while he collected a fleet of Rolls-Royce cars. It’s possible for pastors to take advantage of their own flock in a similar way. Elders are worthy of double honor; the worker is worthy of his wages; we don’t muzzle the ox while he is threshing the grain. Yea and amen. I’d argue that in the vast majority of churches the greater problem is a failure to sufficiently provide for the pastor. There could be, however, some where the pastor is living rather high on the hog from the church’s budget.

One of the challenges, however, is that “high on the hog” is rather subjective. Some, driven by envy, grumble at anything beyond poverty for pastors. Some, driven by pride, actually want the world to see their pastor living well. And some pastors, driven by greed, see the church as their personal piggy bank. One key, however, to easing this is for decisions on pay to be made by the elders of the church, not by the pastor himself. Often in Presbyterian churches the pastor’s provision must be approved by the presbytery. This should help the parishioners to not make the mistake of thinking their tithes make them stockholders, and the pastor their employee.

Often envy turns up when a pastor is wealthy, but not as a result of his provision from the church. Whether it is writing books that sell well, or investing prudently, or even inheriting wealth, any of these might create a significant gap in wealth between a pastor and his congregation. This should never be a problem. Earning money in the market place is a good thing. As is receiving an inheritance.

What can be a problem, however, is the prideful display of wealth. While I would never suggest that those who have been blessed financially must not be able to have nice things, I would suggest that often what we think are “nice things” are really “things that show off my wealth.” The wealthy ought to be modest, not intentionally drawing attention to their wealth nor boasting in it. This applies not just to the pastor, but to all believers.

The wealthiest man I knew growing up owned multiple multi-million dollar businesses across several states. He was also one of the most humble man I ever knew. He lived in a normal suburban neighborhood. He drove a beautiful Mercedes, but it was 13 years old. He had a vacation home on a lake but never spoke of it. He was comfortable, generous and never sought the spotlight. He was wealthy because God blessed him. Who could ever grumble about that?

I suspect that most times someone raises an alarm about a pastor’s wealth, the envy of the one raising the alarm should be the real concern. I think all of us, wherever God has us, would do well to embrace modesty with respect to all that He has given us.