Do you get paid to be a missonary?

Answer 1

Whether or not you get paid as a missionary, and how much you get paid, depends completely upon your means of becoming a missionary. But no matter what the means of your becoming a missionary, usually the pay is only enough to provide for your needs and cover the expenses you will incur as a missionary. Missions work is not a way to receive income or get rich while doing easy work, but it is a voluntary sacrifice to lay aside the riches you could have in this world to earn "treasures" in heaven. Here are some ways of becoming a missionary:

• Supporting Mission Board - For instance, if you go to the mission field through a "supporting" mission board, the mission board will raise your support for you and send you to the field. Your pay will be received through an international account that has been set up for you, and your level of pay will be determined by the board after considering how much it would cost to run a work in the country that is being considered. But a person must go through an extensive application process to be a missionary through this type of board.
• Deputation - If you go to the field through a nonsupporting mission board, or through your local church, you will need to go on "deputation": You basically find out how much it will cost to live in the country you will be a missionary to, then travel to different churches to present your work and ask for monthly support. Once you have enough monthly support, you may go to the field.
• Solitary - If you decide to go to the field by yourself, without connections to a mission board or a church, then you will be completely on your own without pay from any organizations. You will have to get a job or find support on your own. While this is not the recommended way to become a missionary, it has been done before. (An example would be Gladys Aylward)
• Short Term Missions - if you decide to go on a short term missions trip (one week to several months), then you usually have to earn the money (through a job) or raise support (from your local church, church members, family or friends) before your trip to pay for all expenses.

Now, as to HOW MUCH you get paid to be a missionary, that varies greatly.

The income for a missionary varies so much because of the exchange rates and cost of living in a particular country, etc. One missionary who lives in a particular country might need twice as much money to live there as he would need in the United States, simply because he loses half his support when he exchanges the dollar for the foreign currency. And normally, another missionary in Another Country might be able to live on what Americans would consider next to nothing, because the American dollar is worth more there. But right now, all of the missionaries around the world are suffering from the economic situation here in the States, but some countries are worse than others. It would be impossible to really put a single amount on this and have it be accurate, because their income varies so greatly. However, I will include a couple examples.

I received my examples from a mission board called Baptist International Missions, Inc. Right now, apparently Japan has the worst exchange rate for the American dollar, and it is costing missionaries more to live there. The example that I will include the most information about is Brazil. Brazil is a very large country, so this example does not include all of the areas within Brazil, but it does include most areas. To determine the amount of support that a missionary needs in the year 2009, they go by these general guidelines to come up with a "bottom line" figure:

Cost of living support per month (food, clothing, as well as supplies for the ministry, etc.): $900 per adult, $175 per child

Self-Employment taxes and social security (yes, missionaries still have to pay taxes!): $300-400 month

Housing: $600 per month (some areas in Brazil are more expensive, so this figure could go up to $800 per month)

Utilities: $250 per month

Retirement fund (BIMI requires this): $60-200 month

Medical insurance (For a family of 3 or more; this figure would be less for a couple or individual): $750

Education per child: $250 per month

Travel on field (a car, or bus fares, etc.): $250 month

Furlow fund (most missionaries are recommended to come home about every 4 years to visit supporting churches, get medical care that might not be available in the field, etc.): $100 month

Mission board administrative expenses (mission boards generally take care of a lot for missionaries. They forward all their mail, deposit support into an international account for them, etc.): $150 per month

So for an example, I will provide the bottom line figure for a family of four (Two adults, two kids) to be missionaries in the country of Brazil in the year 2009: $5110 - $5550 per month

On the other extreme, Mormon missionaries, those from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, don't get paid at all! Over 60,000 of them (currently) save their money to serve for 18 to 24 months with no financial compensation at all. Needless to say, these types of missionaries can't afford to do it forever.