“About a third (36 percent) say they worry every month about making ends meet. Forty-six percent say they worry about not being able to save for the future. Sixty percent say the compensation paid by the church isn’t enough to support their family,” noted LifeWay.

Nearly two-thirds of pastors’ spouses have said that the salary received by their church is not enough to live off of, according to a recently released survey by LifeWay Research.

In research released Tuesday, LifeWay found that 60 percent of surveyed spouses of pastors agreed with the statement “Our family’s financial situation requires more than the salary received from the church.”

“About a third (36 percent) say they worry every month about making ends meet. Forty-six percent say they worry about not being able to save for the future. Sixty percent say the compensation paid by the church isn’t enough to support their family,” noted LifeWay.

Fifty-five percent of respondents said that they have a job outside of their spouse’s church; of that number, 26 percent work for a different ministry, church, or nonprofit.

Data for the survey was drawn from a mail survey conducted June 21 to Aug. 2, with the sample space being 720 pastor spouses from various Protestant denominations.

“LifeWay Research’s survey focused mainly on spouses of a senior pastor or solo pastor at Protestant churches from a variety of denominations, including Baptist (29 percent), non-denominational (15 percent), Methodist (9 percent), Lutheran (9 percent) and Assemblies of God (7 percent) congregations,” explained LifeWay.

“The survey also included spouses of Presbyterian (4 percent), Pentecostal/charismatic (3 percent), Church of Christ (3 percent) and Church of God (2 percent) pastors, among others.”

Other findings included 59 percent saying that congregational demands interfere with family free time and 72 percent saying their spouse has experienced resistance to their leadership.

LifeWay also found that 85 percent of respondents also said that their church takes “good care of us” and 86 percent saying their church considers their marriage should be a “role model” for the congregation’s marital relationships.

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