Money, Money, Money
Money is a huge issue in ministry: I mean personal money. We have recently become debt free for the first time since entering full-time ministry 9 years ago. This has been both because of some generous people and a lot of hard work earning extra money and scraping by with bear minimum [techniques and examples maybe the subject of another blog].
Becoming a vicar is not done for the money, in fact, you are not paid to do the job. Instead you receive a stipend, which is money to live on so you don’t have to work. The bottom line being that if a vicar was paid for what they did, remunerated, paid for the service provided, then there are few churches in the UK who could afford it.
This provides an odd situation where you could become the incumbent in an area you would never be able to afford to live in. There are certainly many places where the poor of the town live in the Rectory. So there you are ministering to people earning far in excess of you, living in superb houses you usually see in Home and Garden type magazines, whilst you as the vicar are scraping by trying to provide for your kids and afford a weeks holiday each year.
Having painted that picture, I am very grateful for the surprises of being in this ‘living-by-faith’ situation. We have being blessed by money through the door, holiday locations given, help in crises and the regular support by family and friends.
Such a life though provides two points of juxtaposition. Firstly, on a practical level of lifestyle between ourselves and those with more disposable income. Secondly, on managing the internal coveting and calling. Desiring a more wealthy lifestyle and desiring to follow my calling, realising that one probably excludes the other for us.
