BI-VOCATIONAL MINISTRY

by | Sep 18, 2019 | Blog

BI-VOCATIONAL MINISTRY

I have been a Church of God pastor for over thirty-five years. I told my beautiful wife before we were married that my calling and passion was to be a Church of God pastor.  Beverly and I are both products of small Church of God congregations and understood that this calling would require unwavering commitment and selfless sacrifice.Most of my ministry Ihave been a bi-vocational pastor.I have worked as a pipefitter, construction foreman, high school baseball coach, retail sales rep, delivery truck/van driver, and a substitute schoolteacher in order to provide for my family and fulfill my calling as a local church pastor. Here is the tension:

 How do I provide for the needs of my family AND fulfill the calling of God on my life?

Living in this tension has created some issues for me internally and externally.Internally, I have struggled with feelings of inferiority and failure.  More than once, I have had to deal with the derogatory title “part-time preacher” and the emotions that go with that perception.  Externally,in the consumerist culture that has formedmuch of the thinking in the church, bi-vocational ministry is seen as the slow road to success and the path for those that just cannot get it together.  It is interesting to note the departure from a solid Biblical model exemplified by Paul in Acts 20: 34 (NLT) “You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me.”However, when your work is not valued by those over you in the Lord or your peers in ministry it creates a climate of self-doubt and questioning that is difficult to navigate.  How do you get through it?

Revisit your calling from God. Make His calling your priority!You will find peace and He will provide!

Change your attitude toward your work. Ministry is not confined in the church building. Hugh Halter says, “Your secular work is the soil in which God plants his sacred kingdom work. Therefore, your work is not a hindrance to what God is doing, but instead a significant part of what he is doing.”

Change your idea of ministry success. Do not be captivated by the “bigger is better”mindset. Faithfulness and fruitfulness are more Biblical measures of success.

Guard against unnecessary debt.Jesus said in Luke 12:15 (KJV), “…one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

The VITAL Initiative is helping the Church of Godembrace and employ bi-vocational ministry.

Why?

1

Bi-vocational pastors need support and understanding from their denominational overseers and ministry peers. Currently they are misunderstood and overlooked by most. This must be corrected.

2

The need for Bi-vocational pastors will increase in the futureto keep our churches flourishing and sustainable due to continued decline in the church and the inability to pay full-time salaries and exorbitant mortgages.

  • Church attendance continues to decline. Some demographers project by the year 2025 that America will be as unchurched as the rest of the western world.
  • Church members give less. Religious giving is down about 50% since 1990; on average, Christians give 2.5% of their income to churches
  • Churches continue to struggle to make disciples on a global scale.
  • The current consumerist church models are unsustainable.

3

Bi-vocational ministry provides an opportunity for pastors to model what it is for a Christian to be in the workforce and part of the local church body. It also helps pastors empathize with the difficulties of faithful church members who long for demonstrable models of what an authentic Disciple looks like. A powerful desire for authenticity is reverberating in the church today.

4

According to recent reports from Pew Research and Barna Research, the institutional church and professional pastorsdo not engender the same respect as in previous generations. Bi-vocational ministry allows pastors to earn the respect of a watching world.Parishioners are skeptical of the institutional church and are tired of performance driven experiences.

Finally, we can never allowthe calling of God to become just a career path to make money.It is more than that!

“If none of us got paid, God would still expect us to lead and serve the world.”(Hugh Halter)

What do you think?