Ordination, Minister’s License
& Tax Breaks
Save on taxes!
Get Ordained!
- Steven thought he was called to the
ministry but after a year at Bible college he dropped
out and got a job in his home town selling satellite dish TV to
people. He’s good with computers
and helps at church where his dad is pastor. In fact he now works part time at the
church developing videos and PowerPoint presentations for his church’s
worship team. On his father’s
urging he went to his district’s committee seeking credentials as a
minister “because dad tells me the church can then pay my part time salary
as housing and I can get a tax break.”
Steven’s district committee will soon interview him.
- Robert has been a math teacher in the
public schools for 18 years then spent the last 11 years teaching in his
local Christian school that is sponsored by his church. He’s coming up for retirement in a few
years and heard from another teacher at a conference last month that he
might be able to become commissioned by his denomination and then he could
roll over some of his retirement money into the denomination’s pension fund and then he could collect that
pension and use it for housing tax free.
Robert says, “ I gave devotions every day
of the year in my classes, and some of them were certainly better than
what I hear on some Sundays.”
Robert has started taking “a few courses they require” so he can be
a commissioned minister, thinking he will then get a good tax break in
retirement. He does not intend to
pastor a church or work on staff—but he believes, “the less money good
Christians give the government the better.” Robert will soon have the required
courses for commissioning.
- Janet is a single mother who found the
Lord after she and her husband split.
She works as the church secretary at Trinity church and has been a
faithful full time church worker for nine years. Her pastor recently recommended that she
begin taking her denomination’s correspondence course “so you can move
toward ordination and get the tax breaks on your housing like the rest of
us do.” The pastor nodded
encouragement to her and said, “You have a ministry every bit as important
as any of the other staff around here.” Janet was not sure about becoming a
minister just to get the housing benefit so she called her brother in Ohio
asking him what he thought she should do.
Her brother is an Anglican priest.
- Mike, a father of three kids, owned his
own contracting business and had always been very involved in his local
church. It seemed like perfect
timing when the church had an opening for a youth worker just at the time
when the recession hit so hard he lost his business. Mike started full time youth work at the
church last year. He had no plans
to be ordained but he discovered at a seminar that he could get a $4000
tax break if he did get licensed and the church designated as housing allowance
what he was now paying for the large house he built when he was a
contractor. All of Mike’s family live in his town, and Mike never intends to move
to another town or church—if his local church can’t hire him on staff he
will “do something else—who knows what.” Mike is coming up for initial licensing
next week at his district’s ministerial credentials committee.
What would you do in each of these cases? Is it OK for a church to ordain people who
want ordained to reduce their taxes? Is
it OK to license or ordain people who have no intention of ever “moving away
from home?” Do you think it is OK to
give credentials to people who “plan to speak a little bit” in retirement so
they can consider some of their pension as tax free housing?
Here’s what I think: I’d
offer the solution that the church keeping its standards of ordination high—but
I just don’t have the confidence we’d do that… it is so hard for us to say no.
So here’s my solution: the sooner the
government ends the tax benefits for clergy the better. That will force ordained ministers to carry
our fair share of taxes and it might end the flock of tax-ducking people
seeking ministerial credentials for tax purposes instead of seeking it as a commission
to preach the gospel.
That’s what I think.
So what do you think?
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So
what do you think?
To
contribute to the thinking on this issue e-mail your response to [email protected]
Keith Drury
October, 2002. May be
duplicated for free distribution provided these lines are included.
Other
"Thinking Drafts" and writing by Keith Drury -- http://www.TuesdayColumn.com
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