Study finds increase in clergy’s salaries

Durham, N.C. — Pay for Protestant clergy in the United States has increased faster than inflation over the last 25 years, but the economic picture is still tough for many pastors, a survey conducted by Duke University’s Divinity School says.

Median pay — including the value of any free housing — is now $40,000, similar to that of school teachers and social workers, the survey said. Roman Catholic priests, with no wives and children to support, receive a median of $25,000.

Still, about 60 percent of Protestant pastors serve small churches (average attendance of 100 or less). Among them, clergy in centralized denominations — those with centralized governments and recommended salary scales such as the Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian churches — receive a median $36,000. Those in groups with congregational governments (Baptist, United Church of Christ) only get a median of $22,300.

New Testament scholar gets high-ranking post

London — The Rev. N. Thomas Wright, a prominent New Testament scholar, has been named the new bishop of Durham, the fourth-ranking post in the Church of England.

Wright, the canon theologian of Westminster Abbey since 2000, defends conservative views on the historical reliability of the New Testament. He is a much-traveled lecturer and author of more than 30 books on Christian beliefs, both scholarly and popular.

The Durham post has had a long tradition of scholar-bishops with intellectual influence. The diocese ranks behind Canterbury, York and London among English sees and its bishop sits in Parliament’s House of Lords.

A native of the northeastern region, he assumes the post April 30.

Wright was previously dean of Lichfield and a teacher at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford and Canada’s McGill University.

“I hope to be able to bring fresh insights from historical and theological work to bear on the mission and life of the church,” Wright said.

United Methodist Church reports belt-tightening

Nashville — The mission board of the 8.3 million-member United Methodist Church has frozen recruiting of new missionaries and notified 19 foreign workers their contracts won’t be renewed.

The cost-cutting moves result from ongoing budget problems. The denomination’s news service said the agency had eliminated 94 staff slots since December 2001 and that last year’s budget of $27.2 million will decrease by $7.5 million this year.

An overall report on the denomination’s national funds said receipts last year were $113 million, a 1.4 percent drop from 2001.