Every year Baptist Churches of SA & NT provides a minimum recommended ministers stipend package, as the basis for payment to pastors and church workers.
For SA, this has been based on the SA Teacher’s Enterprise Agreement and NT churches have often added a percentage increase to this.
In response to feedback from pastors and churches, a Stipend Review Taskforce was established in 2024 to review the basis for recommendations, including the appropriateness of benchmarking to teachers’ salaries, the appropriateness of the current seven levels of stipends, and the development of NT specific recommendations. A final report was received and accepted by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and the Assembly Board on 30 September 2024.
In the resource link below is a letter from Melinda Cousins which provides an outline of the review and details of the new calculation framework that has been approved by the Assembly Board, as well as the new Pastoral Stipend & Employment Recommendations for 2025.
Churches can adapt the recommendation to suit the particular circumstances of the pastor and the church.
Link to Salary, Wage and Stipend Resources
The following documents are available via the link above:
- Ministers Stipend Package (effective 1 January 2024)
- Letter & Pastoral Stipend & Employment Recommendations for SA & NT churches (effective 1 January 2025)
- Pastoral Stipends – A perspective
- Using the Pastoral Stipend Recommendations
- Using a Pastoral Exempt Benefits Account
- Exempt Benefits 101 – ATO TR 2019/3
- Excel worksheets for SA & NT to assist with 2025 stipend calculations