Parsonages are Still Important for Rural Churches



I've been thinking about parsonages a bit lately and how helpful they are to rural churches. I live in a parsonage. I never thought I would or even considered it. It is a great fit for our family, our church, and our community. 

I am talking about rural churches here, not city churches. Our county has no stoplight or grocery store. We're just a 20 minute drive from a grocery store, but there are parts of the county that are further from groceries. The realities are different for rural, suburban, and city churches.

Three Benefits to having a parsonage for a rural church:

  • It helps the church have a local pastor. Without a parsonage, the pastor might choose or be forced to live outside the community. In a rural context, it's a problem for the pastor to be from somewhere else. I think he comes across as a rented preacher.
  • The pastor doesn't have to worry about being stuck with a house. If a pastor chooses to leave a church or is forced out, he can be stuck with a house if the market in his rural community is not strong. That's a sad reality, but every pastor is temporary either through choice or death. 
  • It is cheaper for the church. Many rural churches couldn't have a full-time pastor without a parsonage because they couldn't afford to increase the salary to cover a mortgage and insurance. Without a parsonage, I don't think our church could consider a full-time pastor. 

The big reason that most pastors would rather own their own home is that by living in a parsonage you give up on home appreciation that helps you with retirement. Rural communities often don't have home values that appreciate, though. In a small town, your home value is not necessarily your way to building wealth like in a city. 

The solution to that wealth-building problem is for rural churches to create or increase a retirement package for the pastor. My church does that. The church can set the pastor up for retirement at a much lower cost by adding some money to his retirement account every month. It makes a big difference and adds up over the long run. That is cheaper than selling the parsonage and increasing the pastor's salary and benefits for a small rural church.


*photo generated with Canva Magic Media ai photo generator. My prompt: "Illustration of a farmhouse next to a church."

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