Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders voted to adopt the pay scale from its North American region for the world church headquarters employees.
Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders voted to adopt the pay scale from its North American region for the world church headquarters employees. These changes were voted, along with the reaffirmation of various existing related allowances, by the church’s executive committee April 16 during Spring Meeting.
After voting at last year’s Annual Council to decentralize the pay scale with each world division, or region, setting their own wage system, the church’s executive committee approved the world church headquarters’ or the General Conference’s pay scale based on a pastor’s salary of 102 percent, which will take effect July 1, 2003. The world church president will be paid at 118 percent.
“The change [assumes that having] a single wage scale developed in one part of the world doesn’t make sense,” says Bob Lemon, treasurer for the Adventist world church. “It’s now going to be a [region by region] decision.”
Other salaries set within the limitations of the remuneration scale were for the church’s Health Ministries department and its legal affairs branch, the Office of General Counsel. These two departments have a cap of 156.25 percent (that is, as much as 56.25 percent higher than a local pastor). These salaries were voted for the Health Ministries department director and associates, who have either medical or dental degrees, and the Office of General Counsel, where attorneys must have a law degree.
At the 2002 Annual Council meeting, the other major yearly business session of church leaders, delegates voted that a division (region) president can be paid not more than 25 percent more than the highest paid pastor in that region. Delegates also voted to reaffirm existing policy provisions applicable to staff at the world headquarters.
Executive committee members also authorized compensation for time spent by the spouse of the world church president for official travel, including speaking to church members, employees, and employee spouses, and participating in protocol functions. It referred the policy details to the GC Human Resources Committee.
