A bivocational minister warns against bivocational ministry

I started as a parish associate at Rivermont Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga this week. I’m excited about it, but I have to say, my family is holding their breath. They didn’t allow me to enter into this agreement without a series of promises that outweighed my ordination vows with their urgency. (“Do you promise to take your day off? Will you say ‘no’ when you need to?”)

I write, speak, and consult a lot already, but I had a bit of a lull between now and when my next book comes out, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to jump back into bi-vocational ministry. But, I jump into it with a bit of trepidation, and I think that our churches should have some concern as well.

We know that there’s a crisis right now, as many (perhaps roughly half, and some say 70%) of our congregations can no longer afford a full-time minister. We’ve tried different models—particularly yoking congregations (where two or more congregations stay as a worshiping community and a pastor goes from church to church to lead services and serve them) and merging congregations (When two or more congregations combine into one). Now, it seems that bi-vocational ministry is all the rage… at least in our minds. I have written about this before, but it’s good to keep reflecting on it.