Introduction

Picture a pastor who works a ‘secular’ full-time job in addition to pastoring a church. Do you immediately think of this as a desirable state or undesirable state? Some would say it depends on the situation, others might say it’s never a good situation. Would any see it as a goal?

When most people in Western evangelical circles hear the phrase “bivocational”, a prototypical image of a certain kind of pastor materializes in their mind. Perhaps a young, hard-working seminary graduate who takes a job with a small country church that cannot pay a full salary, so he picks up extra work in construction to make ends meet. Or maybe you picture a pastor in his late thirties who ventures out from the safety of a worship leader role in a multi-staff megachurch—eager to do church planting—but to help get started, he takes a job as a delivery driver to support his family during the long uphill battle of growing a congregation to the point where they can pay his full salary.

Being a bivocational pastor (at least in North America) traditionally means someone who is a Bible college or seminary graduate and is paid a less than full-time equivalent wage by a church. They could be the sole pastor of a small church or church plant, an associate pastor, a part-time pastor of youth, or take on one of many other roles. It is typically a person who sees their primary calling as pastoral, is trained in a Bible-based institution, and pursues a pastoral line of work, yet is unable to draw enough income from ministry to pay all the bills life brings their way. Rather than walk away from ministry defeated, they press on with the pursuit of their pastoral calling and seek other ways of supplementing their income. Often, but not always, the goal of this person is to become a traditional vocational pastor—one who is paid full-time by a church for their work in the ministry. A vocational pastor role usually comes with an increasing level of visibility and influence in the church, but realistically it comes with more financial reliance on the church as well.

For many pastors in a ‘traditional’ bivocational situation, their perspective is that it is not a desirable state, and a common goal would be to become vocational. These bivocational pastors and their families are typically very dedicated to God’s work, committed to the local church, willing to take courageous risks, and shoulder a great load. Of course, some remain (or become) bivocational for unhealthy reasons—secular industry notoriety, keeping up a worldly lifestyle, or hanging on to an excuse for partial effectiveness or lack of priority of ministry. And still others are part of churches that need to reexamine their priorities and willingness to sacrifice to enable their leader to focus on the study and delivery of God’s word, maturing of their congregations, and training of leaders. However, these scenarios are typically the exception—most bivocational pastors and their churches are committed, God-fearing, and to be commended. We need more of them. But they are not the focus of this primer.

For both bivocational and vocational pastors pursuing ministry, after being trained in an institution, most are compensated directly by local churches for their work in the church. And this is certainly helpful and necessary in almost all scenarios. However, is it sustainable? Are our churches truly growing in maturity as they grow in numbers? Are there enough bivocational and vocational pastors to meet the pastoral needs of the global church?

A significant theme of this primer is not that we need to radically change or eliminate either of these types of pastoral roles, but rather we need to heavily invest in a different kind of pastoral role—and in a central way. For the health and growth of the church, we need to train and develop vocationed pastors. What are they?

Imagine a man in his mid-thirties who works as a family physician. He has a heart for shepherding and counseling, a desire to serve in his church, and has considered enrolling in an online seminary to take his faith to the next level—not because he desires to quit his job and work at a church, but he wants to develop as a mature disciple and leader in the church. He forms men’s Bible studies in his home periodically but it’s hard to get people to attend other than a few friends. He loves attending church, Sunday school, and a few men’s breakfasts or outings when they come up, but he is restless and feels underutilized. When his church rolls out a small group program and offers a robust leadership training pathway as part of leading a group and serving as an elder, he jumps in and thrives. The life priorities pulling on his family’s time, which had relaxed in a worldly direction a bit too much given no one had ever asked any differently, began naturally to make significant shifts as his family created space for the new asks on the table as part of an expanding role in serving God’s church.

A “vocationed” pastor is typically first trained in a traditional “tent-making” vocation (medicine, education, finance, engineering, business, a trade, etc.), is working actively in their field, and then later is trained as a pastor / elder / shepherd. They continue to work and receive full-time income from their vocation but begin to reshape their lives around being an overseer of God’s flock and leader in the church. In some churches, this role may be simply called an “elder”, but the terms are being intentionally distinguished for a myriad of reasons. In many (but certainly not all!) evangelical churches, elders lead from a church business or administrative duty perspective but lack either shepherding care engagement or robust training (or both). Also, the phrase vocationed pastor in no way implies that official ordination in a church or denomination must be the end goal, but it certainly could be an option.

The sections that follow expand upon the need for this vocationed pastor role, contrast what it looks like to locate pastors within the church and within institutions, and overview an example pathway for churches and pastors to consider investing in training vocationed pastors.

Disclaimer: while the concepts/principles discussed below can (and should) be extrapolated to a global context, most of the discussion assumes a Western church setting.