NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Low clergy salaries challenge pastors to be true to their calling, according to a study by researchers at Duke University Divinity School, a United Methodist-related theological school.

According to United Methodist News Service, The study determined low clergy compensation is harming the church and distorting its mission. Its findings are detailed in "How Much Should We Pay the Pastor: A Fresh Look at Clergy Salaries in the 21st Century," part of the divinity school's Pulpit & Pew pastoral leadership project.

The study found that the competitive approaches used by most Protestant denominations in determining pastors' salaries leave clergy members financially vulnerable and also change ministry from a "calling" to a "career."

The salary and benefit situation, the study determined, is especially problematic for African-American pastors, and its findings raised concern about the mobility of women clergy. To obtain their data, researchers surveyed 883 clergy serving local congregations of 81 denominations in 2001.

"We are not saying that churches necessarily need to run out tomorrow and pay their clergy more, although that may be the case," said the Rev. Becky McMillan, a labor economist and associate director of Pulpit & Pew. She coauthored the study with Matthew J. Price, director of analytical research at the Episcopal Church Pension Group in New York. "But it is time for them to step back and think purposefully about how they're paying their pastors and why."

The study recommended that Protestant churches reconsider how they set clergy pay by narrowing the gap between pastors of large and small congregations and by providing all pastors with a "living wage." While regional differences in salaries are not large, the differences in salary by church size varied greatly throughout the country, the study found. (Study results put the average Methodist church membership at fewer than 200 members.)

With the exception of the very largest Protestant churches, researchers discovered that pastors' salaries in "connectional" denominations -- such as the United Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran and Presbyterian churches -- are consistently higher than clergy salaries in "congregational" churches.

That's because the connectional churches have more centralized authority, whereas the congregational churches -- Baptists, Pentecostals and United Church of Christ, for example -- have more local autonomy.

The study revealed that nearly 60 percent of Protestant pastors serve in small churches with fewer than 100 in average Sunday morning attendance. The median compensation, which includes housing, is $36,000 for pastors in connectional churches and $22,300 for those in congregational churches.

Results showed that the median salary at churches with average weekly attendance of 351 to 1,000 people is $66,000 for connectional pastors and $59,315 for congregational ones.

But the study also found that only a small percentage of pastors, regardless of the church structure, earn what most Americans would consider a professional-level salary. The median salary, including housing, was $40,000 for all full-time pastors in the study.

In the United Methodist Church, the denominational average compensation for pastors in 2003 is $45,717, according to the General Council on Finance and Administration, the financial arm of the United Methodist Church.

"Churches need to take a serious look at the pay of clergy and look at how strongly they want to be in mission and ministry in their communities," said Craig This, director of research at the denomination's General Council on Ministries. "You pay a part-time salary, you get a part-time minister."

The entire study can be found online at the Pew & Pulpit Web site at www.pulpitandpew.duke.edu.