THE POOR PARSON.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 250, 21 October 1919, Page 5

THE POOR PARSON.

INADEQUACY OF STIPENDS. INCREASED COST OF LIVING. "Doth Job Serve God for Naught?" was the sardonic query of Satan when aeked by the Almighty to consider the virtue 3of His servant. Apparently many servants of God nowadays are very nearly serving for naught, judging by inquiries made regarding ministers' stipends by a representative of the Auckland "Star." A stipend of £200 per annum in 1914, was worth 80/ per week in purchasing value, but with the sovereign only really being worth 13/ in buying value now, it will be evident that the 80/ per week is really reduced to 62/. The wonder is that under such-' conditions young men can be found to become candidates for the ministry. Certainly they cannot be accused of being attracted by the "loaves and fishes." It was the statement published recently that the Anglicans had in effect said that stipends of the clergy must be increased that caused inquiries to be made as to the minimum figures paid ministers in the respective churches. The minimum is of course the important point, because after all the prizes are few, being rcetricted to certain big churches in cities. At a gathering of 400 Congregations' ministers in Chester, England, Mr. T. A. Rigby, who entertained them at r garden party, appealed for a revised scale of stipends in view of the change economic conditions. He added that ex-en an increase of 50 per cent, upon pre-war standards was not equal to the advance paid in other walks of life. In Xew Zealand the minimum in the Congregational Church wae long before the war fixed at £200 per annum. The ruestion of increasing ministers' stipends has been receiving a lot of attention inClreat Britain. The Presbyterian Church re cently raised a thanksgiving fund fo; Peace, totalling £45,265), which i 3 to he devoted to supplementing the smaller stipends of ministers. In Xew Zealand the Presbyterian General Assembly, at the recent sitting decided that in future no call from a church to a minister should be entertained unless at least £250 per annum was offered. There is also usually a manse attached to the Presbyterian Churches. Thie discussion will no doubt result in stirring up ch'irches where the £200 was being paid to give the extra £50 per annum. The Methodist Church is also bestirring itself in the matter of increasing the stipends of ministers to compensate them to some extent for the higher cost of living. A committee has already met to draft a scheme of increases which will be submitted at the approaching Synod next November. This ie to be considered, and then sent on to the quarterly meetinga before being finally dealt with at the New Zealand Conference, whi<m meets next February in Auckland. That it is high time something was done in th c matter, may be judged by the fact that married Home Missioncrs :get £200 a year, and probationers £IGO. ilt should, however, not be forgotten that in the Methodist Church there is a furnished house to fixed ministers ac well as an allowance for each child. It would appear that in some churches 1 probationers for the ministry get ledß than £160 per annum, for a business man had an application for employment from a young man who said he had inI tended being a mihieter, but found ii I impossible to live on £100 a year ! Under such circumstances it ie not tt Vbe wondered at that there is a dearth of young men anxious to go in for holy orders. I In Wellington Diocese the Anglican j Church some time ago. started a Central I Fund system which was aleo adopted at the last synod at Auckland. Under this 'scheme all salaries of clergymen'are paid in to a central fund, which ie augmented by donations totalling £5000 per annum. j The object of this fund ie to augment I the salaries of the ministers in the back'blocks who did a lot of hard work foi comparatively little pay. A minimum oi £300 is aimed at by the Anglicans. A glance at the returns of the Auck land Diocese under date of March 31st i 1919, clearly indicates the imperativi ' need there was for such steps to b( ; taken. A few stipends were as low ai 1 £169, £183, and £196. Seventeei j clergymen were in receipt of £200 pc ,' annum, or under that cum, and anothe I thirty got over £200 and up to £301 ' per annum. A residence of course i usually provided for Anglican vicars, bu , not curates, and generally the vicar I receive the Easter offerings, which, untoi tunately, are naturally largest in th city churches, where the clergymen ge I the higher stipends. ! In the Baptist Church, the minimur was £185 per annum, but the recen conference decided that a bonus must b added, and strongly recommended a fixe. ' increase. It is considered • that i: ' future no Baptist Church will ask minister to taJce charge under at leas £225 a year. Here again it is only the mirihriui that is referred to, for in the cit churches the pastors receive a stipen equivalent to those paid by other creedi The fact remains that ministers ac whole have not had commensurate ac ditions to their stipends to meet th higher cost of living. "How can w 'be expected to preach against sweating, aeked one minister, "if the church i guilty of under paying its parsons?" There is another point worthy of coi eideration by all churches, that is th pay to superannuated parsons. This, < , course, was fixed long before the war o definite lines. The result is that the mc , who have grown old in the service of th , various churches and have had to n tire on account of age, are left with a [ ' allowance that will provide just aboi . one half of what the same sum woul have done five years ago. While there : , a movement in the various ehurchee t I improve the financial position of mini: ters in active service, those who hay borno the heat and burden of the da t in years gone by should surely not b , forgotten.