Board of Pensions "Dues Plus" Is the Right Thing to Do

Forty-five days from now the governing board of the PC(USA) Board of Pensions will vote on a proposal to restructure the medical dues and benefits they oversee for the church.  In November 2012, the BOP proposed a program informally called “Dues Plus.”  The purpose of the plan is to bridge the growing gap between dues received and benefits paid by the plan each year.

Under the current plan rules, churches pay a set percentage of pastor’s salary and housing compensation as dues for medical, pension, death benefits and disability coverage  (21% medical, 11% pension, 1% death and disability.)  Under the existing plan, medical dues are neutral in terms of the number of people covered.  A single pastor’s dues are 21% as are the dues for a pastor with spouse and six dependent children. 

Two principles are said to be at the heart of the BOP plan and each is an important expression of our theology of church and community.  First, dues are charged under a principle of “call neutrality.”  Call neutrality simply means that single or married, children or no children, a pastor’s dues are the same.  This principle eliminates any advantage or disadvantage or employing a pastor based on his or her family status.  The second principle is the community nature of the plan.  Dues are not paid into individual accounts but a pooled fund that ensures that every plan member is equally covered regardless of the resources available to their congregation.  Large church pastors and small church pastors are the same in the eyes of the plan.

Dues Plus will change all of that...sort of.

Under Dues Plus, medical dues will decrease from 21% of effective salary to 19%, however that cost will cover the pastor only.  Family coverage will require payment of an additional premium (currently estimated at $5700/year.

Few have argued with the necessity of doing something to curb the deficits and deal with rising costs to the plan caused by an ageing membership and increasing medical costs.  Some, however, argue that the Dues Plus plan is not the right fix because it violates the two principles underlying our plan; namely call neutrality and the community nature of the plan.

I disagree.

Dues Plus is certainly a departure from the way our plan works today, however it is a stretch to say that this policy shift undermines or violates the fundamental nature of the plan.

Call neutrality is an admirable principle and a worthy way of understanding our benefits plan, but we are fooling ourselves if we think that call neutrality exists anywhere in the church but in the BOP dues structure.  There continues to be a hierarchy of supposed worthiness or desirability among clergy.  From my perspective as a single early 40’s pastor, I have no illusions that I am on the same vocational footing as a 30-something pastor with wife (yes, gender matters too) and two kids.  Call neutrality is a nice idea, but it does not happen in the real world of the church and the small savings Dues Plus will offer to churches employing single pastors or the cost increase for married pastors will not turn that reality on its head.

The community nature of the plan is unchanged under Dues Plus.  Yes, there is an added cost to some churches and not to others.  The fact that the difference between current dues (21%) and proposed dues (19%) demonstrates that churches who employ single pastors will continue to subsidize coverage even for those who pay the dues plus.  Does $5700 really cover the full cost of a spouse and two children?

There are yet unanswered questions about how small churches will cope and how new worshiping communities fit into this picture. 

However, in the end, the pressing question before the church is a practical one; how can we most reasonably and responsibly use the resources our members stewardship makes available?  The Dues Plus plan is not ideal but then neither are the contemporary circumstances of healthcare or congregational finances. 

Dues Plus is an honest, thoughtful and ultimately workable solution that maintains the church’s commitment to its clergy and responds to the reality in which we find ourselves today. 

For my part, I support the BOP and thank the board’s members for their willingness to do this frequently thankless job.