World Faiths & Religions

The LDS Church at all levels has a lay, non-professional clergy, of which a very small percentage receives a living stipend. Mormons cannot choose pastoral leadership as a career, and there is no equivalent to a seminary that turns out priests who lead congregations. Rather, at every level of leadership and service, those who serve have been "called" and asked to do so by higher-ranking leaders. They maintain their external careers in business, medicine, education, law, etc., and often put in many hours of unpaid service to the LDS community every week in addition to career and family commitments. Only those few who are appointed to full-time service receive a living stipend that comes from the church's investment income.