Bivocational ministry is often a necessity for pastors in today’s economy.
However, some are choosing bivocational ministry as a means to better know their communities and live on mission in the marketplace.
Whatever the reason, many bivocational pastors are finding unexpected blessings for themselves and their churches while navigating the unique challenges of bivocational ministry.
Here’s some advice from well-seasoned bivocational ministers for those considering a similar path.
Put your family first.
One of the biggest strains of being a bivocational pastor is the stress it creates on your family. James DeBoe, a longtime bivocational pastor and doctor, served 28 years as pastor of a Brethren in Christ church in rural Virginia while running his medical practice.
One of the best decisions in his career was setting a regular lunch date with his wife. The two had been at odds. He was spending too much time at work, causing a strain on their marriage.
In the middle of a medical exam, he says, he felt God tell him he needed to take his wife to lunch. The feeling was so intense he walked out of the exam room—leaving a patient on the table—and called his wife to invite her to lunch.
"After repeating this lunch date a few times, she was much happier," he says.
Finny Kuruvilla, a bivocational pastor in Boston, takes Fridays off to spend time with family. In the winter, that often means ice-skating or other activities. He teaches science to his kids, who are homeschooled, and once a week, he takes one of the kids to a local Mexican restaurant, where they snack and chat.
"We sit for an hour, eat chips and salsa—it costs me $2," he says.
"Guard the hearts of your spouse and children," says Philip Nation, teaching pastor at The Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee, and director of content development at LifeWay. "Don’t let them be ministerial widows and orphans. Love them well and you will lead better in the church."
Find a second job you like.
Andrew Weaver, pastor of United Lutheran Church in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, has an unusual job for a bivocational pastor. He is a balloon artist, specializing in giant art installations such as a 70-foot-long balloon river—complete with kayakers—he did for a local art fair.
Weaver says having a second job is good for a pastor’s mental health.
"If all the pastor does is serve the church and lives within the church walls, that can be very isolating," he says. "Getting beyond the church walls is important for every pastor."
Remember the mission, even when money is tight.
Most bivocational pastors will hit a rough spot, says Jorge Garcia, pastor of Gracia y Paz Covenant Church in Chula Vista, California. Sometimes money is tight. Sometimes there is too much to do and not enough time.
Don’t give up, says Garcia, who works as a sales engineer during the day. Just do what needs to be done and press on.
"You have the opportunity to serve God as a pastor for a particular flock of people," he says. "If you need to sell pizzas, you sell pizzas."
Learn to say no.
Randy Singer, a lawyer, writer, and pastor of Trinity Church in Virginia Beach, tracks every hour he spends on each job. Those hours add up quickly, and there is usually still work to be done even after he reaches 60 or 70 hours.
Singer has learned to do only the things that matter most. He even pauses before answering an email, knowing he can easily be caught up in a time-consuming conversation. He skips social media and limits meetings.
Sometimes, he says, you have to leave things undone. "You can work yourself to death trying to do both jobs."
Make developing leaders a priority.
Bivocational pastors can’t do it all, says Brian Dye of Legacy Christian Fellowship in Chicago. Dye, who pastors a church plant on the city’s West Side, stresses the importance of sharing responsibility with the congregation and developing leaders for the church.
It involves some risk. Lay people will need time and space to grow into a leadership role, and they won’t always get it right the first time. Having faith that God is at work in everyone at church helps, says Dye.
"Trust that God will raise up leaders to fill the need," he says.
Delegate as much as you can, says Singer. "Find and develop leaders who can run ministries at the church—and let them do their jobs."
Show up.
Ministry always requires the power of presence, whether a pastor is fully supported or bivocational.
Gary Mitchell, a longtime bivocational pastor and consultant in Louisiana, recalls serving at a small church in the 1980s. A couple in the church asked Mitchell to visit their estranged son, who was dying of AIDS.
Mitchell was afraid. This was early in the AIDS epidemic, when no one understood how the disease worked. The young man, thin and covered in sores, was in an isolation ward.
Mitchell eventually was able to talk and pray with the young man. That made all the difference in the world to the young man and to his parents.
Mitchell believes some pastors forget that caring for people is an essential part of ministry.
Love your work in the "real world."
Or, at the least, learn from it. Many of your church members struggle to even like the job they have. According to Gallup’s 2015 State of the American Workplace report, 68 percent of American workers are "not engaged" or are "actively disengaged" from their workplaces and less likely to be productive.
"It’s a good thing to admit we sometimes struggle like everyone else," says Nation. "It’s a better thing to show how faith intersects our work and guides us through the struggles. In your full-time work, learn how God is shaping your character and leading you to ministry opportunities that would not happen otherwise."
Don’t be too busy for God.
Sometimes even a pastor with two jobs has to slow down and listen.
That’s a lesson John Pippin, who stepped down last year after 30 years as a bivocational pastor at Corinth Church of Christ in Sparta, Tennessee, says he sometimes forgot.
Pippin says he’s thankful for the time he spent in bivocational ministry, but he’s glad for a break. At times, he felt as if he were on a treadmill—always preparing for the next sermon but not growing spiritually.
One of his professors warned him early on that Sunday comes every seven days, and he had to have a sermon ready—or, in his case, two sermons a week, along with pastoral care and visitation.
The deadlines were unrelenting.
Looking back, Pippin says he developed some bad habits. He was spending a great deal of time studying the Bible, but he was always preparing for the next sermon.
"That doesn’t help you grow," he says.
Pippin’s advice for other pastors: Don’t always be in a rush to write the next sermon. Instead, listen to what the Scriptures are teaching you.
"Slow down and give it time to stick," he says. "That’s the part I think I missed."
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8 Reasons Some Full-Time Pastors Should Go Bi-Vocational Tom Rainer
Some of you reading this post may need to get a new job. At least you may need to get an additional job.
Without a doubt, many churches will always need full-time vocational pastors and church staff. I am not suggesting all of you, even the majority of you, should go bi-vocational. But I do believe more of you should consider this path. Allow me to offer eight reasons why:
1. A secular or marketplace job will put you in the middle of culture on a regular basis. Opportunities to develop relationships with non-believers will be greater. Opportunities to minister to people who would not set foot in a church will be greater as well.
2. Full-time pastors and church staff often get missionally stale in their "holy huddles." Perhaps the best way to break out of that Christian-only huddle is to be employed in a secular position.
3. Smaller churches are increasingly unable to afford full-time pastors or staff. I have written on this site a few times about the flow of people from smaller churches to larger churches. As resources depart from the smaller churches, so does their ability to pay a pastor or staff person full time. But these churches still need pastors.
4. The digital world is offering more opportunities for flexible secular jobs than ever. I recently spoke to an IT professional who is also a pastor of a church. He spends about 25 hours a week in his IT job. He has declined good full-time opportunities in secular jobs because he wants to remain a tent-maker. I spoke to another staff person of a church who is an entrepreneur in the digital world. Those kinds of opportunities are growing every day.
5. More churches are moving toward multiple teaching/preaching pastors. What was once common in large churches is now becoming increasingly common in medium and small churches. Many of these teaching pastors are in churches that cannot afford a second full-time pastor.
6. More churches would like to expand staff, but don't have the resources to do so. This issue is similar to #5 above, but here it refers to bi-vocational positions other than a lead pastor or teaching pastor. By the way, this approach allows church leaders to "raise up" people within their own churches—people they know and trust.
7. A bi-vocational pastor or church staff can have greater freedom than a person in a full-time role. One of the secrets of church life is that many pastors and church staff are hindered from leading because their jobs would be in jeopardy. That is an unpleasant but clear and present reality. If a pastor or staff person has a job with other income, he or she may feel the freedom to move forward without succumbing to such pressure.
8. A bi-vocational pastor or staff person has transferable skills. A number of full-time church leaders have never worked outside of vocational ministry. They don't understand the business and secular world. Bi-vocational ministers have secular skills they can use in their churches. They also have skills to support themselves if they find themselves no longer employed with their churches.
Bi-vocational ministry is a clear and definitive trend in church life. Some of the reasons for its growth are not that healthy. But many are. It is a great opportunity to make a greater difference in this culture in which we live. It is really a great opportunity to be a missionary on the field.
What do you of think of this issue? What are you seeing in your church and others?
Thom S. Rainer is the president of LifeWay Christian Resources. For the original article, visit thomrainer.com.
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Bivocational Pastor
By Ray Gilder
Should any pastor be bivocational? It’s a question that has been around for a long time. In order to give an informed answer, it would help to understand what we mean by "bivocational."
The basic understanding of the term is a person who has two vocations. When used in regard to a pastor, it indicates the pastor has another source of income beyond the church.
The term "part-time" is not an accurate way to describe a bivocational pastor. He may be receiving a partial salary, but he is still a full-time pastor. The best way to define a pastor who receives all of his income from a church is fully funded, not full-time.
Here are just a few of the myths about bivocational pastors and churches:
If a bivocational pastor had enough faith, he would just quit his job and trust God to meet his needs.
If a bivocational pastor were a good enough preacher, he could get a bigger church.
A small congregation doesn’t deserve to be called a church.
A church is not a real church if it does not have a full menu of activities.
So, should any pastor be bivocational? The answer is "yes" if any of the following conditions apply:
1. If he is inspired by the example of the Apostle Paul. Paul supported himself by making tents (Acts 18:3) while he focused on preaching the Gospel and starting churches. He refused to be a burden to others (2 Thessalonians 3:7-9).
2. If he is willing to work so a small church can have a pastor.
3. If he does not view this church as a stepping stone to a bigger and "better" church.
4. If he is willing to invest his life in a small church setting which may never be able to pay him a full-time salary.
5. If he is interested in taking the light of Christ into the marketplace of the world.
6. If he would like to see his church invest more of its money in ministry and missions.
7. If he is committed to planting a church in a community where there is little or no Gospel witness.
8. If he feels led to be an intentional bivocational pastor, perhaps because he has a business or career that God had provided and is using to provide for his family. Many of these experience a call to ministry later in life. http://pastors.com/8-reasons-to-be-a-bivocational-pastor/
