A new series of articles on how the offerings given are used here at St. John’s.

How are offerings used for covering salary and benefits?

Congregational leaders have been working on a 2026 Spending Plan since the beginning of July when our account manager from Concordia Benefit Plans contacted Pastor Albers and Wendy Husmann (Bookkeeper) about St. John’s choices for the new year. Each year a commitment for health benefits must be made by the middle of September for open enrollment in the first several weeks of November.

Worker benefits are just one piece of the rather complex puzzle of providing for ministry at St. John’s.  More than 85% of our annual spending plan is dedicated to salary and benefits, most of which are related to our school’s ministry.

Over the years the calculation of salaries and wages has become more and more complex. The really great news is that in the last several years we have dramatically increased the amounts we pay our faculty, staff and leadership. While this increases the dollar amount of our annual spending plan, it makes it possible to recruit new teachers and staff. 

Salaries are calculated using several factors, and it actually sounds more complicated than it is! Many years ago St. John’s adopted a salary scale from the Indiana District of the LCMS that relies on two primary factors: base salary and a “multiplier” that combines both the category of the worker and years of experience.

• Base Salary: There are actually several base “salaries” at St. John’s that take several factors into consideration, everything from positions of leadership to support staff.
• Experience Multiplier: Even if St. John’s would keep base salaries the same from one year to the next, a salaried worker would see a slight increase to her/his actual salary. However, this multiplier also takes into consideration whether a worker is a “contracted” or “called” worker (someone on the LCMS roster).

To this calculation other factors are taken into consideration and additional amounts are added to the salary amount.

• Additional education: those who have an additional earned degree will be paid more than those with a bachelor’s degree
• Additional responsibilities: several faculty or staff take on additional duties which result in an increase to their salaries, as compared to another person with the same years of experience.

Hourly workers have also seen an increase in their rate of pay. In the spending plan you may see a worker that is scheduled for a certain number of hours per week. Workers regularly scheduled for 20 or more hours (50% FTE) must be provided retirement benefits and those scheduled for 30 or more (75% FTE) must be included in our health insurance plan.

Speaking of benefits, St. John’s provides a full range of benefits to workers:

HEALTH, DENTAL AND VISION  (Concordia Health Plan, aka CHP)

• Our current health plan is a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) that qualifies for a Health Savings Account (HSA). St. John’s provides workers a contribution to their HSA that is equivalent to 50% of their annual deductible. 
• Workers can then add to their HSA, lowering their taxable income and increasing the amount available to spend on qualified expenses.
• St. John’s also currently provides a dental and vision plan for workers.
• Workers can also add children, a spouse, or their entire family to the health plan. The employee’s share of this cost depends on which family members are added.

DISABILITY (Concordia Disability and Survivor Plan, aka CDSP)

• Our benefits also include coverage for short- and long-term disability benefits. For example, workers on a leave because of a short-term disability will receive 70% of their salary while on leave. In some cases St. John’s provides wage continuation for the remaining amount.
• Survivor benefits are essentially a term life insurance policy that provides a lump-sum for spouses or minor children in the event that a worker dies while employed by St. John’s.

RETIREMENT (Concordia Retirement Plan, aka CRP)

• Most full-time salaried workers, after five years of credible service, will receive a traditional pension through a defined benefit plan. St. John’s contributes an amount each year based on a worker’s salary.
• Some workers are covered by a retirement “account” and can receive benefits through a 403(b) plan after only three years of credible service.
• Any worker that is covered by the CRP can participate in a supplemental 403(b) plan.

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Next month: Operational Expenses for church and school