Registration open until 3pm, Friday, September 24th!

Finally! Help for the Bivocational Pastor

I have a friend who is a church planting missionary in Vermont. He encourages pastors already in the ministry and also mentors young men who are just starting out in ministry. One of the things he tells them is that most likely they will have to work a second job in order to provide for their families. This is often referred to as bivocational ministry. Very few pastors want to be bivocational. It is hard to work two jobs, but this is the reality that many pastors will face in ministry.

Regardless of how pastors and/or church attendees may feel about bivocational ministry, it is a growing practice in North American church life. Patricia Chang is a research professor at Boston College and has studied many denominations and written extensively about clergy issues. Chang has done extensive research on how bivocational ministry is impacting American denominations of all sizes and theological persuasions. In a major study published in the Pulpit and Pew journal of Duke University, Chang concludes that "the majority of congregations in the United States are small, with fewer than 100 regular members, and cannot typically afford their own pastor." This results in a growing need for more bivocational pastors every year.

My friend in Vermont wanted to help pastors who have to work two jobs, so he wrote a book entitled, Developing Leadership Teams in the Bivocational Church. This book helps both the pastor and the lay leaders understand the importance of sharing leadership in the church. He has been using these principles in churches in Vermont for several years. It has worked very well. I think it work will for other churches too. I want to encourage you to consider buying the book, which is available at http://www.facebook.com/l/4e1f554sYsMzpv8u_WO0jwbNoQA;Amazon.com and a variety of other online retailers. You can also request it at most Christian bookstores.

The 70/30 Principle

It is no secret that as many as eighty percent of all the over three hundred thousand churches of all denominations in America are either plateaued or declining. Having spent twenty-five years trying to turn around six of those churches as their pastor, I can attest to the difficulty of the task. A vital key to turning those churches around is to get their eyes focused upon the harvest instead of on themselves. Too often, churches exist for themselves. I have said that we have too much navel gazing going on in church and not enough eyes on the yet unborn within our sphere of influence. I believe it was Kennon L. Callahan in Effective Church Leadership, pp. 208-209,who suggested that if a church has seventy percent of its volunteers focusing on serving within the church and thirty percent serving the outreach into the unreached community, that church is in maintenance mode. On the other hand, if a church uses seventy percent of its volunteers in outreach and only thirty percent within the church family, it is in a missional mode. Do yourself a favor, if you are a leader in your church, and get familiar with how your church family stacks up against this fact. If I am ever allowed to serve as a pastor again, rest assured that I will be proactively seeking to get the 70/30 principle correct! Remember that He who died for the church came to seek and to save the lost! (Luke 19:10)

Who Is Your Client?

It's a valid question. I serve in denominational work and we are often heard to say that we serve the churches. Having spent thirty-one years as a pastor of a local church, I was often expected to answer the question by saying that I serve the members of the XYZ Church. If you are a member of a local church, who is your client?

The church of Jesus Christ is described in many ways. It is said to be an unstoppable force, militant army, movement of God on earth, etc. But who should be the church's client? If the church is the bride of Christ, then it would seem to me that we should have the same goals and purpose as does the bridegroom. He came to seek and to save the lost.(Luke 19:10) Does it not stand to reason that our client should be the "yet unborn" family members in this world.(John 3:3) In other words, our clients are the unreached, unchurched, unredeemed who live in our cities and communities. How would this change the way we do denominational work if we saw the masses of folk living within our territory as our target group. In my case, I cannot get away from the fact that our Lord has placed me in the Baptist Convention of New York where twenty-eight million people live and twenty-seven million have no relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord. Pushing back the darkness of lostness in this territory is what keeps me up late at night and wakes me up early every morning. How would this kind of thinking impact your church? How would this kind of thinking impact the way you live your life today? Who really is your client?

Just a thought.