I am part of the H.R. Committee at my church. In addition to developing a personnell policy manual, we are interested in finding out what salary AME churches with similar demographics are paying their employees. To that extent, any salary, salary ranges that you can provide for the following positions would be appreciated: administrative assistant, church secretary, sexton,and minister of music. Our church has a a medium-sized congregation and is located in the midwest. The metropolitan area is about 500,000. We are the only AME church in the area. We are especially interested in the salary for the administrative assistant and church secretary.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2003

Answers

Ingrid, Position Title alone is not enough information to fairly answer your question. What are the job requirements and expected duties that would be involved and what do you consider a "medium-sized congregation?

These factors have significant bearing on what a reasonable salary would be as well as whether you are talking about part time or full time with benefits.

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2003

Hello Sis. Weekley, Greetings in Jesus name. I received your email with the job description for the administrative assistant position. I served as a church administrative secretary at a 200 active member AME church in Brooklyn, New York, the church was number 3 in the district. There was no receptionist, I handled all the administrative needs of the congregation and the Pastor. I read the job description, I handled all of that and then some (smile). I loved the job (ministry) and I served in that capacity for almost 5 years. When I left in September of 2002 I was receiving a salary of $28,000.00 per year. My suggestion to you, since this is a larger congregation and this person will need to supervise another person as well would be to offer something in the low to mid 30's, nothing less than 30K. In corporate america Administrative assistants can make anywhere between 35-50K, but I I realize that churches can't pay that kind of money, the only reason I resigned was because my financial needs have become greater, not because I didn't love the job. I thank God every day for blessing me with that job, it was fulfilling and God blessed me to be a blessing and others to bless me. I was also a member at the time I was hired. I am returning to the corporate world, but I never learned as much about people and the inner workings of the church as I did working for the highly intelligent, awesome Shepherd I worked with at that church. Make sure the person you hire is personable and loves the Lord, it will help in the day to day. I gave the church 6 weeks notice to give them time to find someone and I trained the new person they hired and put together an office operation manual for her and I also gave a copy to the pastor and steward and trustee vice chairs. I am only mentioning this not to toot my own horn, because I was supposed to do those things, you should always leave a place better than you found it. I mention this to say that you want a very responsible person in this position, someone who has discretion and is kind and spiritually and emotionally mature as well as MS office savvy. I don't know if you want to hire a member or not, it has its pros and cons for the church and the person who takes the job. If the member can be discrete and keep from informing the congregation of everything that takes place in the church office or with the financial affairs of the church, then it works out well, but if they use the position as a means to obtain gossip that is not helpful at all. The person who had the job before me was a member who was let go as a result of relaying any and all info to the congregation. Some pastors and boards choose the route of a non member and sometimes that is best.

I hope this helps, if I can be of further assistance please let me know.

Peace and Love, Kim Stembridge Brooklyn, New York

-- Anonymous, February 05, 2003