In Episode 109 of The Church Lobby, I interviewed Andrew Hamilton about some of the great information from his book, The Future is Bivocational: Shaping Christian Leaders for a Post-Christian World. But there was a lot of great information we didn’t have time for.
This guest article is an excerpt from Andrew’s book. These ten points are especially helpful if you’re considering the possibility that being a bivocational pastor might be the right choice for you, your family, and your church.
— Karl Vaters
Why would you intentionally choose to spread your energies across two different areas of work, rather than just giving your all to one project?
There are some legitimate reasons to do so, and some that are not so convincing. If you intend to head down this route then it’s essential to assess your motivations and intentions. Here are some of the more immediate and personal benefits.
Reason 1: You See The Missional Potential
As I read about Paul’s life, I have no doubt he saw the missional potency of being physically present in the business community, and of being in significant relationships with other people in the region.
This reality only hit home personally as I began to manage my own business, and realized how quickly and easily I had become enmeshed in the community.
Some full-time pastors have excellent community connections, but I also know that, for some, mission is another task to be completed when they escape the bubble that church so often becomes. For the person employed in their local community, mission becomes an integrated part of life.
If you see the missional potential of connecting with your community through a job of some sort, then it is also worth considering what type of work will best serve your missionary endeavors.
It’s obvious that jobs requiring face-to-face contact enable a sharing of life in a more significant way, than running an online business will ever allow. So if you hope to release your missional energy, then begin by considering roles that will place you in close proximity to the people with whom you want to connect.
In the early days of my irrigation business, I found myself working for a client who pulled up a camping chair with a beer in his front porch and wanted to chat. As we got to know one another, he discovered I was a pastor and I heard him speak of his upcoming wedding.
“Who’s doing the wedding for you?” I asked.
“We don’t know yet. You don’t do weddings do you?”
“Yeah I do as a matter of fact,” I responded.
From there we spent some time in pre-marriage counseling before I conducted their wedding a little later that year. I still hear from him each time his sprinklers fail and he needs a hand, but it’s always a conversation that is a little warmer than most because we have celebrated one of life’s special moments together.
As well as the customer connection, there is the workplace networking that occurs. I have spent time helping several younger men establish their irrigation businesses and navigate the challenges that go with being a solo operator.
As a person who has now been in business longer than most, I occasionally receive calls from competitors asking for my advice or thoughts on how they can complete a job. I have intentionally positioned myself to be generous in this way by sharing my expertise, and it has enabled a healthy network.
If you live with a missionary/ministry mindset then no matter what job you do you will see opportunity everywhere. What matters is simply being yourself and responding to the Spirit as He calls you to engage with different people at different times.
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Reason 2: To Embrace A New Paradigm Of Ministry
There is no question that our understanding of what it means to be the church and do ministry has been shaped predominantly by the full-time pastoral model in the Christendom-based church.
With this imagination come expectations that the pastor will perform certain duties. Some of the more traditional expectations of a pastor are that he or she will:
- Be available to church members around the clock
- Visit church members in their homes
- Take responsibility for a lion’s share of Sunday morning duties
- Make sure all aspects of the church are functioning
- Fill the gaps when they appear, whether it’s children’s ministry, youth or cleaning duties
- Be the servant of the church.
A part-time pastor can move out of the traditional paradigm, become less a general practitioner and more of a specialist, functioning in the area of their giftedness and strengths. This simple role shift can also catalyze a broader scale reimagining of mission and purpose within the whole church, and lead to significant change.
A bivocational pastor, who is freed of traditional expectations, may then be able to think creatively and innovatively about what shape church may take and what forms of ministry may connect with their local community.
Reason 3: Credibility
Some observe the pastoral life as privileged, a role where you largely set your own working hours and use your discretion to choose where to spend time.
Paul was aware that some may have viewed him as milking the church for funds simply to look out for himself. That’s why, in 2 Corinthians 2:17, he wrote: ‘Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.’
Clearly, there were (and still are) a number who identified ministry as a way to make money. Paul was adamant that he did not want to be categorized as one of them. By choosing the bivocational life, he hoped to make a statement about his commitment and integrity.
Reason 4: Job Sharing Works Better
The idea that one person has the capacity to bring all that is needed to help a church flourish is seriously flawed. While the single, full-time model may ensure the pastor is fully employed, even the most seemingly omnicompetent pastor has areas of weakness, and will need to devolve work to others.
Unpaid help has been the way church ministries have operated for many years; however, it would seem we are currently looking more and more to specialized paid staff for oversight of ministry areas, with volunteers merely assisting. It is now common for even smaller churches to have paid part-time children’s workers, youth workers, and worship leaders.
A downside to this approach is that volunteers may no longer be seen (by themselves or others) as ministers in their own right, but simply as helpers to the main ‘minister’ and this is problematic both theologically and practically.
Reason 5: You Want To Be Independent Of Your Church’s finances
There are good reasons for not accepting funds from your church. These include alleviating any financial difficulty the church may be facing, freeing up funds for other staff members, or simply because you don’t need the extra income.
When a pastor chooses this path it is usually a noble gesture, and an indication of their desire for the church to flourish and not be under any burden. Occasionally the choice not to receive funds may be made from unhealthy reasons, such as being free from oversight or accountability.
By choosing not to take income from the church, you do run the risk of starting to perceive yourself as a volunteer, and cutting yourself some breaks that would never be given to a paid staff member. If, as you envisage taking this route, you see yourself skipping the meetings you dislike and taking weekends away whenever you feel like it, then you have already mentally switched roles and need to acknowledge that your brain is no longer in the game as it once was when dollars were involved.
It might seem like I am taking a rather low view of people’s capacity to operate without funding, but the simple fact is that money makes a difference. Some who wish to head down this path may do so with the best of intentions, but soon discover they have lost focus and purpose.
You can most definitely serve a church in an unpaid way, although it would be important to clarify the expectations of your role.
Reason 6: You Need More Money To Live
In the past, it was generally accepted that pastors would sacrifice financially and live on less than others because that was the nature of the role. Pastors couldn’t appear wealthy, or to profit from the ministry, or it was said that they were being paid too much.
While Paul chose to limit the support he received from churches to ensure that accusation would be groundless, there was also no doubting that he believed a worker was worthy of his/her hire.
Even with the increased salaries pastors now earn, many still live their entire lives on a very modest income, and enter their later years with little to draw on. Some would say this is simply the cost of ministry, and it is the pastor’s job to trust God for their financial future. It would be more accurate to say that it is for all of us to do this.
Just as Paul chose to reject any financial support, a pastor may also choose that course, however it is another thing entirely to have it imposed by others, to be kept poor by those who would not appreciate similar treatment in their own workplace.
While you can survive on a meagre amount of money if necessary, working outside the church should be seen as a valid option to bolster the family budget. Many professionals and tradespeople can easily earn two to three times the hourly rate of the pastor, meaning they can use the time outside the church to considerably boost finances.
Reason 7: You Don’t Have To ‘Come Out’ Quite As Quickly
I have observed a variety of responses in people when I let them know I am a pastor. Some don’t care, some are curious, and others definitely respond with a resistance and a distancing that has seen some potentially healthy new relationships fall flat before going anywhere.
I recall meeting my neighbor across the back fence shortly after moving into our new home. As we chatted, we discovered we were around the same age and stage of life, so I invited him and his wife around for a drink that same evening.
There was a tangible warmth and receptivity for the first half of the night, until the conversation shifted to our jobs. I mentioned that I was a pastor as well as an irrigation repairer and then watched as the shutters snapped down and the guard went up. I don’t know what experience he’d had with Christians before, but he wasn’t up for another one. We never spoke again for more than a couple of minutes.
Responses aren’t always as extreme as that, but nowadays I introduce myself as a small business owner and I have never experienced the same disengagement. Admittedly it’s not exciting. It’s a very garden variety sounding job, but neither does it have the potential for offence or instant ‘social distancing’.
In time, I let people know I am a Christian, involved significantly in a local church and subsequently that I am one of the pastors. By this point we are friends and the information is no longer delivered in a vacuum.
Reason 8: Your Prophetic Voice Is Not Tamed
Sometimes, as a pastor, certain things need to be said to a congregation, things that could well impact the giving or attendance in weeks to come.
How many pastors have held back on speaking hard truths, or have trodden more cautiously than they would prefer because of the potential financial consequences? For example, to speak of greed in a church, where there is abundant wealth, may well be risky business. If, however, your livelihood is no longer solely dependent on those people, you can be less restrained.
When you have a sustainable source of income outside of the church then you may be more likely to speak boldly to issues that require it.
Reason 9: You Understand How Other Non-Pastors Feel After A Hard Day
As a pastor it’s been frustrating to show up to an evening Bible study group, only to hear that two people have stayed home because they had a ‘hard day at work’, or were just too weary after the commute to venture out again.
I remember a leader in one church who would nod off at around 9.00 pm, just before the meeting was due to finish. As a full-timer, I had prepared for this meeting and wanted to make the best use of the time, and here he was nodding off.
I wanted to yell: “Wake up!”
In the last thirteen years I have felt his pain. Coming home from some brutally hard days in the summer sun, I have had to turn around and leave again thirty minutes later to lead a meeting. I couldn’t even skulk in the background because I was facilitating, but everything in me just wanted to be in bed.
I think we sometimes forget how hard people work, and what they sacrifice to attend our meetings, so now if I notice someone looking weary, or taking a nap while I’m speaking, I just assume they have been working hard and probably need to catch-up on sleep. I understand their world much better.
Reason 10: Your Church Can’t Afford A Full-timer
I have put this most common reason at the very end of my list, as this is certainly not the best reason to be bivocational, even though it was my own starting point when I was a youth pastor, employed two days per week to establish a youth ministry that was already stretching the church budget.
If your church can’t afford to employ you more than two or three days a week then you are inevitably going to rely on your spouse working, or finding additional work yourself to supplement your budget.
Many pastors find themselves in this situation, but it’s often perceived as a problem that will be fixed once the church grows and the finances improve.
Without a doubt, a change of mindset on your part will be the most important ingredient here: to see this as an opportunity rather than a roadblock. The church’s finances may pick up but, if they don’t, then it will be helpful to see the secular work as an opportunity to encounter life as the rest of the church community does.
(This article is an excerpt from Andrew Hamilton’s book, The Future is Bivocational: Shaping Christian Leaders for a Post-Christian World. It is used by permission from the author.)
(Photo by Maggie Jones | Flickr)
