Louisville—Kentucky Baptists can play a big role in determining what’s comparable when it comes to wages and benefits for church employees—and all it takes is about a 5-minute survey.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s biennial compensation survey is sponsored by GuideStone Financial Resources, in partnership with LifeWay Research, the Kentucky Baptist Convention and other state conventions.

“There is no other tool that is this easy, this comprehensive and free for churches to use when seeking to be fair to their current staff by making sure their compensation packages are in line with other churches of comparable size and financial resources,” said Don Spencer, Church Financial Benefits Consultant at the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

He encouraged all Kentucky Baptist pastors and church staff to participate.

“More participants means a larger database of compensation information, which means better information for churches as they use the data in future years,” Spencer said.

Results from the 2016 survey will be available in the fall.

“This survey, which is one of the most comprehensive of its kind, will help scores of churches as they seek to provide for those who are called to lead their congregations,” said GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins.

The survey provides churches with a baseline for comparing salaries and employer-provided benefits.

“But the data will be only as strong as the participation,” Spencer said, adding that compensation and benefit information can be contributed anonymously.

The most recent survey results, conducted in 2014, have been viewed nearly 55,000 times.

Pastors and church employees may complete the survey online by visiting www.guidestone.org/compensationsurvey. Printed copies may be requested from the KBC’s Church Financial Benefits Department. Those churches completing the survey will be entered into a drawing for an iPad. (KBC)