[German Version]

Together with old-age pension and survivors’ benefits, the ministerial stipend is the heart of the adequate livelihood the churches owe their clergy, who can then devote themselves totally to their pastoral ministry as a full-time vocation and be financially independent to fulfill the duties assigned to them at ordination. This obligation to support the clergy follows from the decision made by the Early Church and consciously ratified by the churches of the Reformation that minist…