Serious answer this time. As it happens, pay for evangelists works the same way as for anyone else.
If you have any choice about it, don’t accept less than what is needed to provide for the essentials of life for yourself and your dependents. Sure, living martyrdom is glamorous and all, but it’s an exceptional calling. For most people, choosing to live in squalor just makes you a pain someone’s rear in the long run. If you have the option, go for decent work that pays the bills every time.
If your employer offers you more than you strictly need, graciously accept. Use what you need, then direct the remainder towards some worthy cause. If your employer is foolishly overpaying you, save your excess diligently, because you’ll soon be looking for other employment.
If you’re the boss, pay people in this order:
- Provide for the absolute essentials of life for yourself and your dependents.
- Pay your employees what they need in order to make a living, including reasonable savings for the future.
- Pay your employees what your organization needs in order to keep it a going concern.
- Pay yourself a decent salary.
- Direct your excess towards some worthy cause.
Of course you’re going to do this badly. It’s the rare person who strikes that perfect balance between generosity and prudence. Keep working on it. If you tend to be miserly, commit acts of wanton generosity. If you tend to be wasteful, discipline yourself with acts of self-denial. If you tend to be scrupulous, find a sensible person to talk you off your ledge. If you tend to worry too little about your almsgiving and stewardship, feed yourself a steady diet of questions and better examples to kick yourself back on the right path.
It’s not complicated. Difficult, because you have to battle the just-a-bit-more demon at every turn. But not complicated.