News and Views

By Rev. Erik Alsgaard

In a normal year, the report of the Commission on Equitable Compensation would draw little to no debate or conversation during Annual Conference. The Commission, which is responsible for setting minimum salary requirements and housing allowances for full-time clergy serving in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, presented its recommendations May 15. After not one but two amendments to the report, it was adopted after nearly 50 minutes of debate.

There was little to no discussion about the base minimum salary, which will be $52,692 for full time service in 2026, a 2.5 percent increase. Likewise, the increase in housing allowance to $23,151 – an increase of $674 – drew no discussion.

Instead, the reimbursement amount for professional and business expenses was the whirlwind that drew in conference members. In the end, conference members voted to tie reimbursement to 10 percent of a pastor’s cash salary.

That conversation started when the Rev. Dae Hwa Park, pastor at Good Shepherd and Savage UMCs, offered an amendment to the reimbursement amount. He moved that the amount be raised from the recommended $4,100 per year to “$6,000 or 10 percent of the base cash salary, whichever is lower.”

“Over the last 15 years,” he said, “the reimbursement has remained at $4,100,” while noting that expenses such as continuing education, travel, gasoline, and other expenses have gone up dramatically.

After a few questions about budget implications of the proposed amendment, the Rev. Sarah Schlieckert, superintendent of the Annapolis District and parts of the Washington Central District, moved to amend the amendment by removing the dollar amount and only using the 10 percent of cash salary figure.

The Rev. Bonnie McCubbin, BWC historian and pastor at Old Otterbein UMC in Baltimore, spoke against the amendment to the amendment. “If we tie it to cash salary that would mean, as a part-time pastor, my reimbursements would be cut in half,” she said. “I think we need to keep a standard number rather than a percentage.”

Bill Buck, lay member from Magothy UMC, addressed the fact that for many smaller churches like his, continuing to increase costs for providing for clergy is getting prohibitive. “We are now going into a cooperative parish with a church down the road,” he said. “I do believe in fairness for all, whether they are a full-time or part-time pastor. However, this could make it very difficult for us to afford a full-time pastor.”

After the amendment to the amendment passed, the amended recommendation from Equitable Compensation passed.

Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, however, was moved to offer a reflection after the debate.

“What we’ve just experienced tells us that there is a larger conversation that needs to happen,” she said. “(This is) about our stewardship. I feel the pain from everyone who is involved in this conversation.”

She noted that there are clergy in the BWC who are on assistance programs to help feed their children, while there are churches finding it increasingly difficult to afford a pastor.

“Here’s something else I know,” the bishop said. “If a clergy person is serving three-quarters, one-half, or one-quarter time, you cannot expect that clergy to perform full-time ministry. This is a serious matter … that we must we engage as a conference. We have to privilege mission and ministry above everything else.”

2026 BUDGET

The Rev. Daryl Williams, president of the Conference Council on Finance and Administration (CFA), presented the 2026 budget recommendation, which was approved unanimously without debate.

CFA data shows a budget of $18,216,765 for 2026, including a mission share income budget of $11,953,825. This represents a decrease of 2.2 percent in mission share asking compared to the 2025 budget. The collection rate – the rate at which CFA assumes it will collect mission share giving from local churches – is set at 85 percent. The benevolence factor – the percentage churches are apportioned based on their operating expenditures less certain exclusions – is set at 17.25 percent, a drop from 17.40 percent in 2025.

Williams celebrated that CFA had, after many years, achieved their goal of bringing the mission share askings below $12 million. He also celebrated that conference debt was paid in full in the third quarter of 2024, saving the conference several hundreds of thousands of dollars. And, he celebrated that the conference camping and retreat ministries finances have rebounded to pre-covid levels as of 2024.