One metric used to measure corporate health and vitality is transparency and openness. How open is the information, structure, and policy of the organization to those inside and outside the process. We learn that when Sessions, churches, companies, Wall Street tend to be opaque, closed, or secretive in their dealings bad things usually happen.
From a career in Federal service, and the corporate world of a hospital before that, I am amazed just how open we Presbyterians are with data and information. It is all there for any and all to see, if they choose to take an interest. Clergy pay, church information, financial data is all there, for all. We may disagree on matters of ideology or theology, but compared to many institutions in our culture, we are a very healthy organization by and large.
On that matter of clergy pay in BNP we learn that if one goes by the Bureau of Labor Statistics clergy pay will run from the top 7%of all wage earners, to that of the bottom 20%, highest to lowest. In others terms the same people with a M.Div. and fully qualified by the any standard can earn either an income on par with family practice MDs, to that who earns a full 10% below poverty level for a family of four. At $44,000 per year in family income, a family of four qualifies for reduced lunch programs and other income support programs from the state/federal levels. NJ has one of the highest cost of living relative to the nation in terms of the basics of food and shelter, and highest in the nation relative in terms of taxes paid.
I do not know if this a commentary on us, our relative values as a people, or the state of health of our churches. But the data and information is there, for all to see, and draw their own conclusions.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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