One morning I explained to an elder at my church my present life situation. "I am working two jobs right now, I am also the clerk of session and I am the one in charge of running the church's youth group. I am looking for a call in the PCUSA as a pastor but nothing has worked out just yet."
"Bi-vocational ministry," She sighed, "Like it or not, is the way of the future." The elder crossed her arms and smiled a smile that communicated "I am glad I am not in your place mixed with a little, you better figure that one out."
This concession bothers me. It bother's me on so many levels. Today I want to just talk about why Bi-vocational ministry (by in large) does not work. Bi-vocational ministry is not the next best step for churches that are dying. It is just the easiest step. It is the step that requires the least amount of work upfront for a congregation. It is also the least imaginative step for a church that does not have the funds for a full time pastor. In the long run it is also the step that is the least stable for the church and most threatening to the longevity of the pastor. Here are the problems I see in assuming that bi-vocational ministry is the next course of action we should be taking in order to keep the church lights on.
1. Pastors have short tenures
These pastors usually don't last long. From the moment your new bi-vocational pastor walks into your church office a struggle begins. The struggle is for the pastor to what they feel called to doing versus what is actually supporting their family. The second job, the thing that is actually paying the bills and buying the groceries, that job is going to eventually win. Maybe the first couple of years are balanced. Maybe in the beginning they are better qualified as a pastor. But in a few years, they will be better at the job that is actually supporting them. In a few years the church will have some issue, as churches always do, and the pastor will be the bad guy. At that point the pastor has to ask, "Why am I not doing the other job that pays well and that I am good at and also is not as stressful instead of this?" Then they will leave, and your church will have to go through the whole process again.
2. Bi-vocational ministers are hard to find.
People who truly feel called to bi-vocational ministry are few and far between. They are locked to the area where they are already working. When you can find them, they are looking for church work that will fit their other work schedules. Being a pastor often means moving around the country every few years after receiving a new call. Asking a person to move to your area in order to become a bi-vocational minister is basically asking them to walk away from their source of financial support in order to take a call that will not. If you cannot find one living within 10 miles of your church, you are probably not in a great position to even find one of these elusive mystery pastors.
3. It is not very fair to the people you want to call
Since when is it the churches job to gobble up leaders and spit them out?
Most people who are pastors have spent a long time getting to that place. They have put in years and years in higher education and free internships. They have student debts and families they are trying to raise. They deserve the respect, they deserve the money. I am sorry that your church is broke. That wasn't there fault. Don't punish them for it. If you expect a certain standard of education and experience for your pastor you need to pay them according to that standard.
There are other options to help a church afford a pastor. They require a little more work from the congregation. But they are healthier paths. I will look into those next time on ... SEMINARY IN A CAN! Dun dun dun
I feel ya...I've also been an elder in charge of a bunch of things, doing about 10-15 hours of church work as a volunteer while working and seeking a call. I've been lucky enough to just recently be offered a call to be a shared pastor for 2 rural churches. They've each done the part time thing, the lay pastor thing, the Sunday supply thing. Each of those leaders had other jobs. Those arrangements did not serve them well, so they're pooling their resources to come up with minimum terms of call so they can share a full time pastor. I can't imagine working a secular job to support myself and then being able to function in church leadership as anything more than a worship leader. Even just as a highly committed elder, it's taxing. Yes, bivocational ministry often provides a Sunday service in a place that wouldn't otherwise have one, but the life of the church the rest of the time suffers or becomes bare bones. That doesn't make for the rich community that congregations are in need of, and it frustrates the minister who would like to serve with more depth, but can't. It's tough enough to serve on minimum terms of call, but at least you get to do fully what you're called to do. Scraping together other work and then on top of that putting in some not insignificant number of hours of ministry is a recipe for burnout. Also, pastoring requires a huge skill set. To have another profession along with its own specific skill set requires a huge amount of education, and it's hardly possible or fair to get such qualified people to do work for which they are not fairly compensated. There's got to be a better way. We're going to need more sharing, merging, or otherwise coming together of churches to maintain the dedicated, educated, and mentally healthy clergy that we need.
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