Pros and cons of bivocational planting

By J. West

In working with church planters, one of the key questions is always how to provide clergy to launch a parish before it has enough resources to be self sufficient. In some cases, it’s possible to raise external funds from the province, diocese or mother church to temporarily support the planter (typically two years). But in other cases, it’s not.

Bivocational clergy are a common answer to this lack of resources. They are also increasingly used by established parishes, including in The Episcopal Church. For example, a 2013 policy document from The Episcopal Diocese of Texas says:

In the past several years, the Church has been faced with a growing need for clergy leadership in smaller congregations and in churches with unique challenges and circumstances. Studies indicate that most congregations with an average Sunday attendance of 30-75 find it difficult to fund the services of a full-time priest. Congregations with an average Sunday attendance of fewer than 30 are accustomed to utilizing supply and part-time Priests-in-Charge.
…
Begun in 2004, the Bi-Vocational Priesthood Program gives the Diocese of Texas the ability to provide for the needs of its smallest churches. Bi-Vocational Priests are called to the priesthood but have independent means of income, including retirement or other professions.

At the same time, there are disadvantages to the bivocational approach. Here’s an overview of the arguments.

Advantages

Many have noted both the prevalence and advantages of bivocational clergy.  The strongest argument is that it allows churches to be created and congregations to be served that — under conditions of limited resources — might otherwise not be served.

Others make even stronger arguments. One of the most enthusiastic advocates is Ed Stetzer, who in an Oct 15 column noted that already one-third of American clergy are bivocational:

Bivocational ministry offers a great opportunity for evangelism. Bivocational pastors are uniquely positioned to live out their pastoral calling as the lead missionary to their local community. As a well-equipped and gifted emissary of the gospel, these ministers can lead their congregations by demonstrating the power of evangelism to build the local church.

In a mission field that is moving in an increasingly secular direction, bivocational pastors are on the frontlines of gospel witness.

In focusing on how bivocational pastoring can facilitate effective evangelism, I will first argue that full-time ministry can potentially hamper cultural engagement. In light of these challenges, I will outline the role of bivocational pastors in leading the church into a season of fruitful evangelism.

Disadvantages

On the skeptical side, last week I saw a tweet of an article by Pastor John Starke, a graduate of Southeastern Baptist Seminary and lead pastor of a NYC parish. The tweet refers to a 2015 article, entitled “Cautions Against Bi-vocational Ministry,” posted to Medium.com.  His main points include

• Bivocational ministry is harder between two careers than between two churches
• The Biblical demands on a pastor are not part time — and multiple part-time pastors aren’t going to be available in most of the country
• Something will suffer, most likely the pastor’s family
• Rather plant 100 under-resourced churches, plant 10 properly resourced churches

I encourage any potential clergyman — or planting team — to read the entire article. These are serious and well-considered arguments.

Conclusion

Based on my own work with church planters — as well with secular entrepreneurs trying to launch a company in their spare time — I think there are two ways that part-time planters can actually work.

One is when the planter doesn’t have to be bivocational, but can get by long term on a part-time salary. The most common example I’ve seen is a military (or other) retiree, but there are also cases of extremely sympathetic (and gainfully employed) spouses. In this case, the pastor is not worrying about supporting his family, but on growing the parish.

The other is when the bivocational period is a temporary measure, typically 2-3 years. I’ve known lots of entrepreneurs who start companies in their spare time, hoping to sprint to creating a self-supporting organization; if they make it, they’re a hero, but if not, eventually they give up.

Short term, a bivocational church planter can leverage the enthusiasm of the launch team and other supporters: a capable part-time leader with a vision and a good team can achieve miracles. Longer term, if the church can’t support the clergy, there will be limits to how long he can sustain the push and contribute to the parish growth, and usually the momentum will stall. (Given the consumerist mentality of American church shoppers, flagging momentum also means that many volunteers will jump ship for some other church).

So in my opinion, the key is to know whether the bivocational calling is a sprint, or a marathon. If a sprint, then there must be a realistic prospect of making it to the finish line — consistent with Christ’s admonition in Luke 14:28-30.

If there is no realistic hope of achieving self-sufficiency in a reasonable amount of time, then it appears there are three alternatives: don’t launch, hold off on launching until adequate resources, or plan to create a small parish with a permanently part-time clergyman. The latter approach poses other challenges, which requires a more complete discussion another time.

Why we Plant: Churches Planting Churches

By Father Lee Nelson, SSC

"As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions which had been reached by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily." Acts 16:4-5

One of the realizations the reader of the Acts of the Apostles will make is that while the ancient Church was passionate about evangelism, it was every bit as passionate, if not more so, about establishing churches in every city of the world. In a sense, you could say that evangelism was a bridge to the establishment of a local church with local leadership granted authority by the apostles. The above verse speaks of the time just before Paul is called into Macedonia, where he would preach the Gospel in Europe for the first time. The churches of Asia are experiencing explosive growth following the Council of Jerusalem, and for good reason. The Council had made clear her expectations of Gentiles coming to the Faith, and they were not so high as some might have expected. Yet, Luke does not recount that the number of disciples grew, but that the number of churches grew as they received the decisions of the Council. So what we see is the dynamic and exponential growth of churches under the authority of the Apostles and subsequently the proclamation of the Gospel through those churches. This results in the dynamic and exponential growth of the numbers of disciples, but that growth is contingent on the numbers of churches.

Today, research shows us the same phenomenon. In towns with more churches, more people go to church, even when you correct for every other variable. A rising tide truly does lift all ships. We have long been told that personal and individual evangelism is essential to church growth, but does this really fit the bill of the New Testament? The Lord Jesus made fishermen fishers of men. Had they seen a rod and reel, they would not have understood it. These men fished with nets. They were all-or-nothing sorts and as they were taught to become fishers of men, The Lord taught them to rely upon the building up of the ecclesial community to make disciples. You may remember the disciples coming to shore after a long, fruitless night. Jesus commands Peter to put down his nets, and a great catch - 153 fish! - are hauled in. You see, the Church is the great net in which are caught up all the nations of the world. (John 21:11) Personal evangelism, though important, can never be a replacement for the local church.

In the United States, we live in the largest mission field in the Western Hemisphere. There are roughly 120 million unreached Americans. A lack of church planting, as much as cultural forces, has brought us to this point. Population has expanded, and the number of churches has remained relatively stable. It is our conviction at Christ Church that The Lord is calling us to be part of a movement of churches planting churches. It is our belief that as long as there are unchurched people in our city, there is a need for more churches, not less. We also know from the research that new churches make more disciples than older ones. Churches under three years old make three times the disciples as churches fifteen years old or older.

So that is the goal, and we are already going about that work. When I came to Christ Church, the bishop also gave me responsibility for our student ministry at Texas A&M. They had about 25 students and one family. We now have ten families ready to go in that mission. A permanent full-time planter will be starting up in November and December.

Here in Waco, we are beginning to pull together a group of people who will explore a call to plant another parish church in the area. Who knows what it will be like. Would you pray that the Lord will put clarity and passion in that group of people?

The vision at Christ Church is to become a church that plants other churches. We will do that by training up our members - especially students - as planters and evangelists. As these students disperse, they will do so with the skills and tools of church planting in their tool chests. They will know how to catechize. They will know how to find appropriate space, start small, and build patterns of sustainable growth. In other words, they will be fishers of men, mature Christians able to build up the body through replication. 


From the weekly parish email newsletter of Christ Church, Waco.