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 bivocational. But I do believe more of you should consider this path. Allow me to offer eight reasons why:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 do their ability to pay a pastor or staff person full-time. But these churches still need pastors.
- 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 stay a tentmaker. 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.
- 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.
- 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 bivocational 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.
- A bivocational 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.
- A bivocational pastor or staff person has transferrable skills. A number of full-time church leaders have never worked outside of vocational ministry. They don’t understand the business and secular world. Bivocational 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.
Bivocational 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?
Posted on January 19, 2015
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
More from Thom
143 Comments
Thanks for the post Dr. Rainer. I am a bi-vocational assistant pastor of a small congregation (~35-40 adults with a predominately 55+ demographic). I am a “volunteer” AP and love every minute of it. But a question that I have (and saw a few comments on this re your article) is this…what percentage of a Church’s budget should go to a Pastor’s salary? One comment above was the salary was about 1/4. Ours is probably 35-55% on average for the Senior Pastor (and that is the only salaried position). Last month it was almost 70%. It is not that the people are not giving. It is the “demographic challenges” and the fact that those who are younger are working in jobs that are more service oriented vs professional. I guess what I am asking is what in your experience is a healthy percentage of a budget tied to salaries? When should a person consider going bi-vo for the health and growth of the Church?
Blessings,
Tim (in TN)
I pastor a church of 50 and drive between 20 and 30 hours a week for a limousine service. I believe chauffeuring is an excellent option as part-time work for a pastor (if he doesn’t mind driving, of course). Some of my jobs have me driving people to a place, and then waiting for them to bring them back home. That makes for good sermon preparation time (while still on the clock!). Other trips have me dropping people off at the airport which allows me to catch up on phone calls while without passengers, and also time to listen to great podcasts.
It also makes for great opportunities in meeting people from the area who always ask if I drive full-time. When I tell them that I drive part-time then they ask what else I do which is the perfect opportunity to share how I pastor and give them some info about the church. I have even had some unsaved passengers ask me the difference between Baptist churches and other denominations, and other Bible questions.
I must also say it helps to work for nice owners who understand my pastoral ministry and therefore do not schedule me for jobs which interfere with church or other ministry obligations.
Dr. Rainer,
THANK YOU for this timely and encouraging article and podcast. I have been full-time on staff at my Church for 12 years and during that time I had a small part-time job. Now I felt led to step out of Full-time “on staff” and go part-time and bump up my other part-time hours. The call to be out in the market place as a Christian is exciting and challenging. I wish there was a greater emphasis from the pulpit to encourage the congregant that if they are a Christian, they are in “ministry.” Some are called to the Pastorate, and most are called to the market place. We need both, but often the emphasis on the “sacred” is esteemed greater than the “secular.” I appreciate your thoughtfulness and insights as always!
Blessings,
Pat
I have been a bivocational pastor for nearly 5 years now and I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything. I am a 30 year old man now but when I graduated from Bible College in 2008, my dream was to become a full time pastor right out of school… but thats not what happened. I began working for a small church in central Florida that paid me $100 per week to be the assistant/family pastor. At first, I hated it. I thought that my role here meant that I wasnt as talented or gifted as many of my friends who I graduated with. But as I began working a job outside of the church, I began to see what ministry was all about. I worked that job for nearly 2 years and was able to build some incredible relationships with peoole who didnt know Jesus and my hrart began to break for these people. Over time, I realized the importance of reaching people means that, I must be willing to be used in whatever way God chooses in order to reach the 3 people I was able to influence in that 2 year period. 3 people doesnt sound like very much. I mean lets face it… I’m never going to be invited to speak at a conference to tell the story of how I reached 3 people but it doesnt matter. I got to see these people not only become Christians, but I almost inherited a fatherly role in the lives of these people. They trusted me. They loved me. And they wanted to learn more about the Jesus I claimed to love and serve. What God used me to do in reaching 3 people multiplied in their lives as they began to reach their families with the same gospel that they had encountered. Thats ministry! This is actually a long story and I suppose I could go on and on but I guess my point is that God used this bivocational experience to not only reach 3 people, but it changed me. That’s also a long story. But the change ultimately has made me more appreciative of the working volunteer in a church, helped me understand the unchurched and dechurched, amd created in me a new heart for ministry.
What a great story! Thanks for sharing, Brandon.
Brandon, I want to sincerely share how grateful I am that you shared your story. Thank you. People like yourself who walk in the spirit are an inspiration. As a person caught in the middle of how to best serve a secular work place and the local church this story spoke to me.
Taking a slightly different angle…I see a possible benefit of a bi-vocational pastor is a greater sense of accountability and ownership in the church being transferred to the laity. In the case of “professional” clergy, the expectations are sometimes such that it is assumed that the pastor does all the visitations, small group leadership/bible study, etc. I wonder if those expectations might be tempered if it was known that the pastor has other commitments and responsibilities.
True.
Consider the financial services industry as a tool for tent making. The conference table is often a pastoral atmosphere, the money and time flexibility are great, and the skills that make for a good church planter or evangelist are the same skills that can make a successful financial advisor.
Thanks for that suggestion, Barry.
When I was a full-time pastor I practiced #1 and #2 by serving as a chaplain for our community Fire Department and county-wide EMS system. I devoted a full day each week to be out with our first responders and run calls with them. This “hobby” later became a full-time ministry for my wife and I. Now we invite pastors to join our ministry where we have built relationships with more agencies who are now wanting chaplains to serve them. The biggest problem we have is convincing pastors to get out of the office and join us. While we know how busy it is to be in ministry we also know the value of scheduling time to rub elbows with the world. It is discouraging to meet so many pastors who never engage anyone except the churched and don’t seem to have a passion to get out and practice what they preach.
Well said, Ralph. Thank you.
Dr. Rainer,
I prefer (and use) the term “cross-vocational” and have filled that role for 7 years. I teach on faculty of a Christian college, serve in local churches as a transitional pastor, and do some contract work with LifeWay Kids.
I have found having income away from my church role has been very freeing. I also have greater access to unbelievers than I ever did on full time church staff. My people in the pew love knowing I go to work Monday through Friday just like they do. It helps us connect better in conversation.
Serving cross-vocationally has stretched my ministry influence and allows me to be much more intentional in ministry.
Great post, Shane
That is an incredible testimony of your work and ministry, Shane. Thanks for sharing it.
While I understand many of the points made in this article and also in the comments, my personal experience in both full-time vocational ministry and as a bi-vocational church planter have left me on the fence. I served for eight years in full-time vocational ministry before becoming a bi-vocational church planter. The reason for becoming bi-vocational was purely out of necessity. I could not support a family on the little income NAMB, our state board of missions and a few local churches provided (I am eternally grateful for them all for giving what support they gave). My issue became (and still is) that I am “unqualified” for the secular job market in many respects. My bachelors degree is in Biblical studies and my seminary degree is in Biblical studies. I could not get a secular job that adequately replaced the lost income from my full-time ministry position (which was on the lower end of that scale). I took a job in retail and have now been in that position for six years. While it does not pay much, it has allowed me some flexibility for ministry. At the same time, it has put an enormous financial strain on my family. Needless to say, I have not found #8 as being the case at all. Many secular businesses do not want to hire someone whose main experience is in ministry and whose educational background is ministry-related.
After having experience on both sides, I would recommend better compensation for church planters so they may have more freedom with their time, energy and resources to devote to the church plant. I believe I could have done a much better job from the beginning if I had planted a church without having to divide my time and energy. As a result of being bi-vocational, the church plant naturally was relegated to last on my plate with my family and then my full-time job getting the priorities. In talking with others in our local church planting network, they all feel the same way.
Thanks, Jim.
I am very fortunate to be able to work a second job that is not too taxing on me, while at the same time being very flexible with my role as a pastor. I am considered a “full-time” pastor at my church, but they know that my salary lacks and that I do need to work some on my family’s cattle ranch a day or so or more per week in order to make ends meet. Most of the time I appreciate my situation because my office job gives me relief from the fields and my ranch job gives me relief from the office. However, I do want to throw in here that the ministry does suffer when the pastor is not ready and available at all times, because I have found that much of ministry is not able to be placed on a line in a calendar or schedule; much of it is very spontaneous, and not having the ability to be spontaneous cuts a lot of opportunity away. I am also finding that a pastor with good enough pay for the pastor’s comfort (not extravagance, but comfort), benefits, and the like exist mostly in lands that have unicorns and fairies and stuff……
That’s funny . . .
Many of these make sense. Number 7 speaks of someone who has no business being a pastor, of a hireling. If you can’t accept full time employment in ministry with the understanding that you serve God and not men, you have no business in that calling. Once you learn to trust God and let go of the fear of not having an income, you can be as bold as the situation requires. Don’t think I don’t know what it’s like. I’ve been in that precise situation.