In recent years, the issue of pastors’ salaries has gradually been improved in some churches. However, it is undeniable that the same issue, especially for young pastors, is still one of the most serious problems that the Chinese church has to face. In today's materialistic society, unmarried pastors who are affected by the low or even unpaid salaries have to deal with the marriage crisis that has begun to emerge in their lives. For example, a secondary crisis arising from this is: where can they find their significant other? It has become an unprecedented severe test.
A few decades ago, although the economic situation of the church had been worse for a long time, and pastors were more poverty-stricken, people had a more simple and clean heart and few material needs that could easily be satisfied at that time. Therefore, despite being poor, most of the time, pastors were able to get married smoothly in that period.
Today, with the development of the times, social changes, and especially the rapid growth of China's economy, common people in China have started to make more and more money, whereas, many pastors in the church are still getting paid 1,000 or even 500 yuan per month as a living allowance. So, we are witnessing that single male pastors worry about not getting married, and married ones are concerned about raising a family...
A male believer M (pseudonym) has been serving full-time in a church for five to six years. He is no longer a new pastor, but his monthly salary is only over 1,000 yuan with which he can barely "support" himself in 2022. Yet, M has to provide for himself, his wife, and a child with this amount of money. Thankfully, he has already married and has one child, so M doesn’t have to worry about how to get married anymore, but instead worries about how to maintain their small family.
M finds that the situation of single pastors, especially male pastors, is even worse.
Many believers in the church know that the salary of pastors, especially young pastors, is notoriously low. As a result, often no single female Christians are willing to marry them. In fact, most single female believers are aware that those single pastors are actually very good in all aspects, except for one problem, that is, being poor with no money.
Having no money has become a stumbling block for countless single pastors.
It is no exaggeration to say that many beggars are richer than pastors.
I still remember that people living not too far from my hometown used to “beg” to earn a living. With begging as a profession, many people made a lot of money, starting to build houses for their children to get married.
Now, times have changed. Begging to raise money, which can be defined as a fraud in a strict sense, has long since disappeared. However, pastors still remain as poor as ever. Therefore, with materialism in today's society, not many people are willing to marry a pastor, which we can understand to a degree.
We can naturally understand and may even sympathize with these pastors. However, it is not us who are really anxious, but those single pastors who cannot find a partner or get married as a result of being impoverished. Obviously, they do want to get married. But what solution do they have to not being able to marry for being in a financial disadvantage as pastors? Many of them choose to give up serving full-time in exchange for finding another secular job. Often after doing this, they get married soon since some people are willing to marry them for the simple reason that after quitting that position, they earn several times more in salary than a pastor.
Perhaps, we should not simply blame those former pastors who were forced to give up their positions for money and marriage. We need to consider what the church and believers have to do so that these precious pastors can stay and serve with peace in mind instead of worrying about money or even not getting married. Pastors’ job is to nurture the church and believers. Meanwhile, the job of the church and believers is to ensure the pastors can serve without any worries.
Of course, pastors should have faith. But at the same time, we should also agree that they need to live as well, for they are also human beings with the same feelings as us.
If these problems are not confronted and resolved, the male and female pastors will be hurt, impacting the development of the Chinese church.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
最近几年，关于教会传道人的薪资问题在一些教会里面已经逐渐得到一些改善。然而不可否认的是，传道人尤其是年轻传道人的薪资待遇问题依然是中国教会所要面对的最严重的问题之一。而在当今这样一个物欲横流的社会，受传道人低薪资待遇甚至无薪资待遇的影响，未婚传道人的结婚危机开始显现出来，比如其中由此产生的一个次生危机就是：去哪里寻找自己的另一半，愈来愈成为前所未有的严峻考验。
几十年前，虽然在很长的时期内教会的经济状况更加糟糕，传道人也更加贫穷，但是那时候人们的心也更加纯朴，对于物质的需要不多，很容易就能够得到满足。因此，那时候，传道人虽然贫穷，可是大多数时候还是能够顺利结婚。
而到了今天，随着时代的发展、社会的变迁，尤其是中国经济的飞速发展，当中国老百姓的钱袋子开始不断鼓起来的时候，在教会中却依然有着许多传道人拿着每个月1000块钱甚至500块钱的生活费。因此，我们就看见，单身男性传道人为结婚发愁，结了婚的男性传道人为养家发愁……
M弟兄在某地一所教会全职服事，并且已经服事了五六年的时间，不再是一名新传道人了，可是他每个月的薪资却只有一千多块钱。一千多块钱，放在2022年的今天，也就只够字面上的 ”养活“ 自己罢了，可是，M弟兄却要用这一千多块钱养活自己、妻子还有一个孩子，是的，值得感恩的是，M弟兄已经结婚生子了，不用再为了如何结婚而发愁，他现在需要发愁的，是如何养活他们这个小家庭。
而他发现，其他单身传道人尤其是弟兄传道人，情况则要更加的恶劣。
由于传道人特别是年轻传道人的薪资待遇出了名的低，以至于教会里的众多信徒都知道，而知道的结果，常常就是没有单身姊妹愿意跟这些单身弟兄传道人结婚。其实，单身姊妹们大都知道，那些单身弟兄传道人人其实挺好、哪里都好，问题只有一个，那就是穷，没有钱。（==英文当summary）
没有钱，成为了摆在无数单身传道人面前的拦路虎。
很多乞丐都比传道人有钱，这句话并不夸张。
笔者犹记得，在离笔者老家不算太远的一个地方，那个地方的人们曾经一度盛行”乞讨“，是的，就是乞讨，乞讨就是他们的工作，靠着乞讨，很多人赚了很多钱，赚钱以后就开始盖房子，然后为自己的子女娶媳妇、找人家。
现在，随着时代的变迁，这种严格意义上来说属于诈骗的行为早已经近乎绝迹。只是，传道人却依然如同往日一般贫穷。因此，在今天这样一个物欲横流的时代，没有多少人愿意跟传道人结婚，我们也就可以稍稍理解一二了。
我们自然能够理解一二，并且可能也会同情这些传道人们，可真正着急的自然不是我们，而是那些因为没有钱而找不到对象、结不了婚的单身传道人们。明明很想结婚，但是却因为是传道人，所以没有钱结婚，那怎么办？很多传道人选择了放弃全职服事，去外面另找一份工作。而往往这样做以后，就有人愿意喜欢他们，因此不久就顺利结婚的，原因很简单——因为放弃做传道人以后，薪资待遇是原来做传道人时候的好几倍。
或许，我们不该简单地苛责这些为了钱、为了婚姻而被迫放弃传道人身份的那些曾经的传道人们。我们需要考虑的是，教会和信徒需要怎样做，才能够留下这些宝贵的传道人，让他们能够安心服事而不是为了钱而操心，甚至于无法结婚。传道人的工作是牧养教会和信徒，而教会和信徒的工作，则是为传道人做好保障，让他们能够没有任何后顾之忧地服事。
传道人当然需要有信心，但是同时，我们也当看到——传道人也需要生活，他们也是人，跟我们一样性情的人。
如果不直面和解决这些问题，受损的是这些男性和女性传道人，而最终受损的则是中国教会的未来。
基层牧者薪资之痛性别篇（下）| 未婚男性年轻传道人的结婚危机：去哪里寻找自己的另一半？
In recent years, the issue of pastors’ salaries has gradually been improved in some churches. However, it is undeniable that the same issue, especially for young pastors, is still one of the most serious problems that the Chinese church has to face. In today's materialistic society, unmarried pastors who are affected by the low or even unpaid salaries have to deal with the marriage crisis that has begun to emerge in their lives. For example, a secondary crisis arising from this is: where can they find their significant other? It has become an unprecedented severe test.
A few decades ago, although the economic situation of the church had been worse for a long time, and pastors were more poverty-stricken, people had a more simple and clean heart and few material needs that could easily be satisfied at that time. Therefore, despite being poor, most of the time, pastors were able to get married smoothly in that period.
Today, with the development of the times, social changes, and especially the rapid growth of China's economy, common people in China have started to make more and more money, whereas, many pastors in the church are still getting paid 1,000 or even 500 yuan per month as a living allowance. So, we are witnessing that single male pastors worry about not getting married, and married ones are concerned about raising a family...
A male believer M (pseudonym) has been serving full-time in a church for five to six years. He is no longer a new pastor, but his monthly salary is only over 1,000 yuan with which he can barely "support" himself in 2022. Yet, M has to provide for himself, his wife, and a child with this amount of money. Thankfully, he has already married and has one child, so M doesn’t have to worry about how to get married anymore, but instead worries about how to maintain their small family.
M finds that the situation of single pastors, especially male pastors, is even worse.
Many believers in the church know that the salary of pastors, especially young pastors, is notoriously low. As a result, often no single female Christians are willing to marry them. In fact, most single female believers are aware that those single pastors are actually very good in all aspects, except for one problem, that is, being poor with no money.
Having no money has become a stumbling block for countless single pastors.
It is no exaggeration to say that many beggars are richer than pastors.
I still remember that people living not too far from my hometown used to “beg” to earn a living. With begging as a profession, many people made a lot of money, starting to build houses for their children to get married.
Now, times have changed. Begging to raise money, which can be defined as a fraud in a strict sense, has long since disappeared. However, pastors still remain as poor as ever. Therefore, with materialism in today's society, not many people are willing to marry a pastor, which we can understand to a degree.
We can naturally understand and may even sympathize with these pastors. However, it is not us who are really anxious, but those single pastors who cannot find a partner or get married as a result of being impoverished. Obviously, they do want to get married. But what solution do they have to not being able to marry for being in a financial disadvantage as pastors? Many of them choose to give up serving full-time in exchange for finding another secular job. Often after doing this, they get married soon since some people are willing to marry them for the simple reason that after quitting that position, they earn several times more in salary than a pastor.
Perhaps, we should not simply blame those former pastors who were forced to give up their positions for money and marriage. We need to consider what the church and believers have to do so that these precious pastors can stay and serve with peace in mind instead of worrying about money or even not getting married. Pastors’ job is to nurture the church and believers. Meanwhile, the job of the church and believers is to ensure the pastors can serve without any worries.
Of course, pastors should have faith. But at the same time, we should also agree that they need to live as well, for they are also human beings with the same feelings as us.
If these problems are not confronted and resolved, the male and female pastors will be hurt, impacting the development of the Chinese church.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
Churches Must Consider Future Marriage of Poor Sing Male Young Pastors
