Ministry and other callings

It’s difficult to determine exactly how many ministers are bivocational, but one survey estimates that one-third of US congregations have lead pastors who also hold other employment. Many other ministry personnel, such as youth pastors and Christian formation ministers, also have jobs outside the church.

The term bivocational has multiple meanings, notes Kristen Plinke Bentley in this excellent report on the multiple vocational callings embodied by church leaders and the ministry models that result. Bentley, who has served as a bivocational pastor and is now based at Lexington Theological Seminary, received a Lilly Endowment grant to research this model of ministry. She conducted case studies of Disciples of Christ congregations in Kentucky and expanded her research with surveys and interviews elsewhere to include 24 congregations.

Bentley’s research shows that there is no single right way to do bivocational ministry, and that churches continually adapt to find new ways. People arrive at bivocational ministry through different routes, sometimes intentionally and other times through circumstances beyond their control. Bentley expands the term to include those who serve as pastors without being paid at all but who understand ministry as their highest and truest calling. She also stresses that the expression of bivocational ministry differs across various racial and ethnic contexts.