Ministry in a Changing Landscape
Ministry is evolving rapidly, and many pastors in the United States are now bi-vocational or co-vocational, meaning church ministry is not their sole source of income. Some estimates suggest that 50 percent or more of pastors hold a second job while shepherding their churches. While some churches may view this reality as a failure, our leadership development department sees it as an opportunity.
Supporting Churches in Transition
Many churches are unable to afford a full-time pastor for a variety of reasons. We seek to support and guide these churches as they explore the possibility of hiring a bi-vocational pastor or transitioning into bi-vocational ministry. This approach should not be viewed as a failure of ministry, but rather as a faithful and effective way to serve. In addition, some pastors feel called to continue working outside the church while also fulfilling their pastoral responsibilities regardless of a church’s financial capacity. This is what we refer to as co-vocational ministry.
A Guide for Pastors and Church Leaders
We’re committed to serving churches with full-time pastors as well as those served by part-time pastors. For this reason, we have developed this guide, “When One Job Isn’t Enough: Bi-Vocational and Co-Vocational Opportunities for the Pastor and the Church,” for both pastors and churches who are discerning whether to pursue this alternative model. Our hope is that this resource will provide practical support by helping pastors and church leaders ask and discuss important questions.
Walking the Discernment Process Together
This guide walks alongside both pastors and church leadership teams — individually and together — as they work through the process of considering bi-vocational or co-vocational ministry. Decisions and conversations of this nature should not rest solely on the shoulders of either the pastor or the leadership team. These discussions can feel overwhelming and even nerve racking. It is our prayer that this guide will help break the ice and provide clarity for churches and pastors who are sensing a call or recognizing a need to make this transition.
Simply click the book cover at acgc.us/resources to download your digital copy.
One Response
The era of having a full-time pastor in every church has been long gone no matter the denomination. Even in mainline, churches where you have multiple churches to connect, they aren’t able to provide enough salary in many situations for a full-time pastor. In a setting like the Advent Christian Church, where churches are a bit more separated, the ability of one church to provide for a pastor is just not there when it comes to upwards of $15,000 or more just for health insurance.
On the positive side, there are so many part-time chaplaincy positions available that these two can merge to cover the cost of a pastor.
An important piece to the future of small churches having pastors is for us as clergy to get beyond the idea that we are going to retire at age 65. When Social Security and pensions start in, we now are much more able to serve churches. We need to make a push to let pastors realize there are way too many opportunities of ministry to be leaving the work simply because our culture thinks you no longer have things to offer.