Often ministry resources like Pastors Edge are begun and aimed at full-time ministry leaders. Yet we know that two-thirds of all churches in the United States are served by bivocational pastors. The challenges of a bivocational pastor are multifold, as they must shoulder the responsibilities of a senior pastor while at the same time providing for their financial needs through another source of income.
Surprisingly, little in the way of statistical information and concrete ministry resources exist that specifically address bivocational ministry. In fact, much of mainstream ministry resources assume that the user is dedicated full-time to their church. Most often, this is not the case. A bivocational pastors faces three primary challenges in their role:
The time challenge. In today’s more fragile economy and tighter job market, it is not uncommon for an average person to work 50-60 hours per week. The bivocational pastor would consider this normal. Time management is a tremendous burden for the bivocational pastor. Certain jobs lend themselves to this role—tradecrafts like plumbing and electrical, school teachers and bus drivers, nonprofit directors and funeral home operators, for instance. The greater the daytime flexibility in terms of time and hours, the better the fit for a bivocational pastor.
In a bivocational role, a pastor must be especially diligent to plan times of rest. Simply put, one cannot burn the candle at both ends indefinitely. Since the higher paying job usually demands a person’s first fruits in terms of time (after all, the mortgage must be met!), then both the church and the family must be keenly aware and flexible to ensure the pastor can both do what he needs to do, and still have time to engage in what he wants to do.
The ministry challenge. Church leadership development often focuses on vision, mission and lofty goals, ignoring the practical side of ministry. The bivocational pastor is typically more often focused on what it takes to get through the week. Beyond his other job, there’s a message to prepare, meetings to attend and members to care for. Depending on the church there may also be campus duties to perform (everything from managing the church building to mowing the grass). A bivocational pastor is challenged with discerning what he must do, and what others can handle.
Further, the church must also understand the incarnational ministry of the bivocational pastor. Working out in the “real world” is, in fact, a part of his ministry. The pastor’s role as an “average Joe” in a bivocational situation rarely spoken of in church leadership circles and conferences, even though the vast majority of Pastors in the United States are bivocational. Often the teaching to pastors assumes they are ministry-employed full-time, with the support of staff and budget dollars--making some of their developmental and operational ideas difficult if not impossible to execute. A bivocational pastor must clearly communicate to his congregation how God is using him in his “day job” on a regular basis, then, to help them grasp the dual-role nature of his position.
The developmental/relational challenge. A 1992 study showed the average bivocational pastor was 49 years old, with few younger than 30. Perhaps this generally older demographic is a reflection of the maturity needed to handle the additional stress that carrying two jobs holds. The fact is, though, that bivocational pastors as a group are aging. Further, the number of bivocational pastors holding that role for more than 3 years is shrinking.
The church planting movement currently underway in evangelical circles nationwide is akin to bivocational pastoral duties. However, many planters begin with multi-year support already set, and are able to dedicate themselves full-time to planting a church. A bivocational pastor, on the other hand, often takes an existing church and is challenged with maintaining and growing a small congregation over time, while still attending to work outside of ministry. Time for friendships, leadership and spiritual development and family are at a premium. A bivocational pastor, then, most also be adept at setting aside time for personal development, and to build strong friendships for accountability and spiritual growth.
Pastors Edge. At Pastors Edge, many of the church leaders we come into contact with are bivocational. The special needs of this dedicated group lead our team to pray for them regularly and provide as many practical tools as possible. We find no less passion for preaching, and a desire for people to hear and respond to God’s Word, from bivocational pastors than full-time pastors. Additionally we find bivocational pastors just as savvy about an engaging and professional sermon presentation that not only keeps the attention of the listener, but also draws them toward Christ and gives practical advice on God-centered living. Bivocational pastors are a unique, dedicated and self-sacrificing group who form the foundation of the church, in the heartland and across the nation.
If you are a bivocational pastor and have ideas, insight and resources you'd like to share with your fellow laborers in Christ, we'd love to hear from you! A few resources we've found for bivocational pastors include:
- “The Tentmaking Pastor: The Joy of Bivocational Ministry” by Dennis W. Bickers (Baker Book House, 2000)
- "The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry" by Dennis Bickers (Beacon Hill Press, 2004)
- “Our Pastor Has An Outside Job” by John Y. Elliot (Judson Press, 1980)
- "The Bivocational Pastor” by Luther M. Dorr (Broadman Press, 1988)
-----------------
Eugene Mason serves as Communications Director for Cross Pointe Church under the leadership of Dr. James Merritt. He is the director of communicorps.org, a free online communications ministry resource for churches.
Comments
Thank you for your excellent article on bivocational ministry. Because I am a bivocational pastor, and have been for the entire 30 years I have spent in the ministry, I can truly relate to this article. Most people, when they think of pastors, tend to automatically assume that being a pastor is a full-time profession. While we are not full-time in the essence of the phrase, we are certainly full-time with regard to the duties that are expected of the pastor.
Several years ago, I served as President of the Alabama Baptist Bivocational Ministers Fellowship. The friendships I made through this group of men certainly helped to reinforce the importance of bivocational ministry in my own life. I have truly benefitted from the relationships that came as a result of my involvement in this group.
I am employed full-time as a Corrections Officer in a Juvenile Detention Facility. Because all of the officers in our facility are required to work rotating weekends, it is necessary for me to work the overnight shift exclusively, as working day shift or evening shift would take me away from services on Sundays much of the time. I have also found that much of my duties with regard to community and hospital visitation can be done in the mornings after concluding my shift. In addition, I have also discovered that some of my best bible study and sermon preparation time comes in the mornings, when I am all alone in the house. My wife is at work, and our daughter is in school, so that gives me the time I need to be able to do what I need to do on a weekly basis without being disturbed.
I also learned much of what I know about bivocational ministry from watching my father as I was growing up. He was a high school teacher full-time, and I never knew a time when he was not a pastor of a church. His principles of time management have stayed with me over the years, even though I didn’t know I would one day follow him down a similar path in my life.
Thank you again for your insightful article.
Blessings,
David Reed
1444 Highway 311
Shelby, AL 35143
Thank you for this great article alerting people to the unique situations that many bivocational pastors face. Though the challenges of bivocational ministry are real, there are also many benefits. You can read about some of those benefits at this link:
http://thoughtsfromdrt.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-do-not-want-to-be-bivocational.html
Though finances are a big reason why some pastors are in bivocational situations, for younger men, especially church planters, there is a second reason, which is a desire to be missional. Many young men realize that sitting in a church office all day will not help them encounter, engage and reach an increasingly unchurched culture. Therefore, they will often look for a second job that gives them such encounters. Working as a barrista at Starbucks (or similar settings) is a favorite for many young church planters. Though they may make money at this type of job, their real motivation for holding the second job is to engage the lost in natural ways.
One last thing I would like to point out, and please do not take this as a criticism. You use the phrase “full time” at several points in the article to refer to pastors who serve churches that are able to fully fund their ministries so they do not have to work a second job. The use of that term implies that pastors who are not fully funded are only “part time.” This is rarely the case. In my experience, I have yet to meet a “part time” pastor. Sermon preparation, visitation night and deacons meetings take the same amount of time whether a pastor leads a church of 30 or a church of 300. Therefore, ALL pastors are “full time.” But some are also “fully-funded” while others are only “partially-funded,” which requires them to work a second vocational job, resulting in them being “bi-vocational.” If you could help spread the word that bivocational pastors are not part time, nor are they second class pastors, it would go a long way toward encouraging pastors in challenging situations.
Terry Dorsett
www.terrydorsett.com
Thank you for your comments on bivocational ministry. After serving a small, rural church for 20 years in that role I have dedicated much of my ministry to developing resources specifically designed to assist bivocational ministers. You were very kind to mention a couple. In addition I have written a number of other books which can be found on my website, www.bivocationalministry.com. I have a blog at http://bivocationalministry.blogspot.com and I publish a monthly e-newsletter for bivocational ministers which your readers can subscribe to through my website. I also do a number of workshops designed for bivocational and small church leaders. This year I have led such workshops for American Baptists, Southern Baptists, Church of the Nazarene, a Lutheran church, and United Methodists. Let me also mention another resource written by Terry Dorsett called “Developing Leadership Teams in the Bivocational Church.” I think your readers will find it helpful as well.