Salaries for Teachers in Christian Schools

Now to him who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. Romans 4:4

I begin with a question: Should Christian teachers be grateful for their salaries?

It is an interesting question. Change the setting for a moment. Should a computer engineer be grateful for his salary at Apple?

We are tempted to say, "Of course, a job is not something that is owed to anyone." And surely that must be right, to a degree.

Let's look at this from another angle. The entire economic system in which we are situated is organized according to performance and reward. The engine of this thing runs on goods and services and value attributed to each. It most certainly doesn't run on gifts freely given.

Now the question becomes a bit more refined: Given that Christians schools are wholehearted participants in the capitalistic exchange of goods and services for a particular price, should Christian teachers be grateful for their salaries in the Christian school?

There is a troubling conflict in my mind on this question. On the one hand, I see this from the perspective of the Christian worldview, which insists that we are fallen creatures deserving of nothing and yet given everything in Jesus Christ, and even given more than that in this fallen world. No one deserves a job, nor the many creature comforts it affords us. That is the whole truth of the matter, and so yes, everyone should be resoundingly grateful for any good that comes his or her way in this world, including a job, regardless of what it happens to pay.

But now what if a totally secular employer got wind that my worldview constrains me to such a view. Would he be just in immediately reducing my salary on the grounds that I should be grateful for anything I'm given? He refuses to accept my worldview, refuses the gospel, and imposes upon me a different criterion of value, but then conveniently wants to use my worldview only to the extent that he can extract more capital from me without paying for it. Such a thing seems disingenuous, to say the least. Further it is unjust, because my employer would only accept my worldview to the extent that it enriches him in his worldview. It is sort of like the business full of cheaters taking advantage of the honest Christian employee. They advance, in a purely material sense, because they are unscrupulous, while the Christian languishes in the cheaters system because he won't cheat.

Christian schools can do the same thing. I have complained of this elsewhere, but it is unconscionable for Christian administrators and Christian boards to extract extra labor from people, or pay them a low salary, in the name of "ministry." They know full well that Christian schooling is delivered by them as a commodity and not a ministry, and yet they use the language of ministry wherever it is convenient for their purposes. Then they turn around and use the language of business and utmost marketable professionalism when discussing the quality of the product. They want the best trained and best performing teachers, but then tell them to make sacrifices when they can't offer salaries that are commensurate with the market's assessment of value, or when they unashamedly want to stretch their dollars.

Clarity comes when we consider the Romans passage cited above. Salvation is such an extravagant gift, and we are such unworthy beings, that truly it can only be received by faith on its own terms as a gift, and that gift can only be received if we are already recipients of common grace (the forbearance of God that permits evil people to live and enjoy the good in His world). Is the Christian school offering such gifts? They are more specifically operating under the larger umbrella of common grace to offer a certain amount of money in exchange for a certain amount of contracted work. In short, what they pay is merely owed to as a just obligation. It is a simple matter of justice that an employee should be paid a fair wage for his work. What is fair? That is without a doubt a more complex question, but the principle of value exchanged for value remains the controlling paradigm for this transaction. When I moved to Texas, I was stunned by the low salaries afforded to teachers in the state in general, but salaries were lower still among Christian schools. Frankly I left the Christian teaching profession partly because the Christian schools in my market paid a miserable salary for the work they demanded.

Now if all of this is true, then the "thanks" I receive for my work is my paycheck; and the thanks I give to my employer is my work. I cannot expect more than that, and they should not require it. If I go beyond the call of duty, and work beyond the expectations of my contract, then surely thanks would then be in order.

Now regardless of where I work as a Christian, I am reminded daily that I am a corrupt sinner, lavishly given the grace of God, and my gratitude therefore is to Him for His unwarranted generosity and bewildering forbearance. In short, God is generous in all things I do; my employer is not generous in paying me for my work. Gratitude is a response to generosity. Gratitude is the not a debt owed to those providing what they ought to provide.

And a last thought here: If an employer fails to pay a fair wage or an employee fails to work fairly, then in each case the failure is a failure in the area of justice and not relationships or gratitude or something else. An unjust employee should be simply fired. And an unjust employer should lose employees.