Last week my wife and I attended the annual state convention small church/bivocational ministers retreat at one of our conference centers. The setting in the Uwharrie Mountains was beautiful and the testimonies of these servant leaders left me both inspired and humbled. These pastors and directors of missions may be partially funded but they are definitely fully involved in their ministries.
The Apostle Paul said that the man of God is worthy of his hire, but he was also one to say that he proudly worked to pay his own expenses. He took the offerings of churches such as that in Philippi, but he saw these as extra blessings from God that served more to reward the givers than himself as the recipient. Paul worked a secular job because it set him free from any unnecessary ties to a local congregation. Financially he was free to come and go. He was in the middle of the society he was trying to reach. He proved himself to be a man of integrity that was beholden to no one but God.
Bivocational ministers represent a growing class of Christian servants in our society. With the coming demise of the builder generation that paid most of the bills for our churches, new sources of support for our ministers must be found even as we seek to teach younger generations the biblical basis of tithing. The bivocational ministry lifestyle represents one of the most positive. One denominational leader recently has said that within a few decades perhaps half of our pastors will need to be bivocational. New church planters are being told that bivocational status may be a necessary part of their work if they are to have a healthy church plant.
The blessings of a bivocational ministry setting include many that are limited or ignored by being a fully funded minister. Among these are being involved with the secular world on an ongoing basis. Fellow workers, employers, and employees constitute a relational family different from the church, opening doors to ministry that would otherwise be closed or unknown.
Church members are required to see themselves as ministers because the "paid" staff will not always be available due to work schedules. The lay leadership must step forward and get the work done instead of waiting for the pastor to take care of matters. Spiritual gifts takes on a more obvious and critical role as the church membership must become the church in action.
The finacnial situation can bring additional blessings as the bivocational minister receives income from a source in addition to the church. This financial support might include extra retirement and health insurance that the church would be hard pressed to provide. These church funds then become available for other ministry and mission needs.
I have often called these men and women in bivocational ministry "God's Jugglers". They must find time for secular jobs, church ministry, personal spiritual development, and THEIR FAMILIES. As the congregation supports their bivocational pastor, they must provide that encouragement to make personal family time a priority. If the church family will understand and cooperate, there is no reason for a bivocational minister's family to feel any ill effect from the minister' work.
In associational work we must applaud our bivocational ministers, we must pray for them, and we must support them in every way we can. Without them a lot of churches would never get started and a lot of developing churches would close their doors.
