What is a Typical Bivo ?
BIVOCATIONAL DESCRIPTION
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MINISTRY DESCRIPTIONS of BIVOCATIONALISM
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Bivocational Ministry [ General Description ]
Dual~career ministry
Bi-vocational Life/Work Style
Fully-Supported Minister (or Ministry)
Non church Work
Intentional Bivocational Ministry (or Preparation)
Expectations of a Bivo Pastor (or What to Expect)
Calling a Bivocational Pastor (Three Factors to Consider)
PRINTABLE VERSION of "What is a Bivocational Pastor"


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excerps from: The Dual-Career Minister
(Bi-vocational Ministry In the 21st Century) James Y. Greene, Ph. D.
Bi-vocational Ministry
is ministry performed by an individual who is partially supported in a ministerial role by a church.
Usually the person described as Bi-vocational has at least two paying jobs concurrently. One or more of those is church-related.

The non church responsibility often provides the individual's major income.
The following scenarios given for Clarification:
  • A person who works at a paid secular job from the home, or is a full-time student and receives partial salary from church-related work is seen here as Bi-vocational.
  • A person such as a military, hospital or institutional chaplain who carries a second non church job for which there is remuneration is considered here Bi-Vocational.
  • If a second source of income is from a denominational role, and receives partial salary from church-related work is seen here as Bi-Vocational.
  • If a second source of income is from a retirement or disability, and receives partial salary from church-related work is seen here as Bi-Vocational.
  • If that second job is in a ministerial role within the same church, the person would not be considered, Bi-Vocational.
  • Some financial support for the church-related responsibility constitutes Bi-Vocational, as distinguished from volunteer.
  • The person who has support from another source
    and serves in some church-related capacity with remuneration is seen as Bi-Vocational.
  • The person who has support from another source
    and serves in some church-related capacity with no remuneration is seen as a volunteer.
  • Some call a minister who is not fully supported by a church "part-time",
    That is not really fair.
    The Bi-Vocational Pastor serves "full-time" in the ministerial role, working double time
    [Ministry in the Church Field and Ministry in the Secular Work Field] "DUAL MINISTRY".
    The person is not Part-time.


TO Descriptions

Dual~career ministry
  • Dual-career ministry is descriptive of
    • a person who does not see God's world divided into so-called sacred and secular dimensions
      and does not see how they support their family as a primary issue.

  • Some of the most effective Bivocational ministers, find their ministry in both jobs,
    • and feel that God makes no distinction between them,
      and see "the jobs" as joyfully integrated ministries.

    • They simply have two or more roles in which they function as ministers;
      both are of importance in ministry.

    • They are dual- career ministers.


TO Descriptions

Bi-vocational Life/Work Style
  • The decision to pursue Bivocational ministry is a lifestyle decision.

  • The satisfactions, limitations, problems and values of concurrent involvement in two or more different jobs,however good, the process, has a major impact on the entire family's total life.

  • A decision to pursue Bivocational ministry is one of the two or three most influential commitments a person can make.

  • The balancing of two or more jobs requires unusual discipline, especially if a family is involved and is to remain healthy.


TO Descriptions

Fully-Supported Minister
(or Ministry)
  • The phenomenon in which a church or church-related institution pays all of the salary
    and expects a minister not to engage in other work is relatively recent.

  • The expectations of exclusive attention to that job, by the way, may be counter productive.


TO Descriptions

Non church Work
  • I am very uncomfortable with the commonly-used distinction between the sacred and the so-called secular.

  • My understanding of God, God's world, and the appropriate perspective for God's human creatures make me unwilling to use these terms.

  • Non church is the term I will use to emphasize that work not formally related to the church is simply that,
    not church-related.

  • The term has nothing to do with call;
    • I think God calls to non church-related work as often as to church-related work.

    • The term has nothing to do with loving service to people,
      much work which is in no way formally connected to a church is more loving and provides more service than some work paid for by churches.


TO Descriptions

Intentional Bivocational Ministry
(or Preparation)
  • Students who are exploring their sense of call to the ministry should consider advantages of Bivocational or dual career ministries.

  • Some of the students who do consider these advantages,
    will make a calculated intentional choice
    to prepare for and carry a church-related job and a non church job concurrently.

  • If the decision is that God may be leading toward such dual responsibilities,
    • Experience in carrying several different types of responsibilities is valuable.
    • Intentional Bivocational preparation in college
      will mean that the student majors in something which will provide a satisfying, productive, marketable skill.
      Nursing,
      Accounting
      Computer work, for example, would be productive and marketable.

      One of these might be especially satisfying.
      All three of these, would have the additional advantage of involving skills complementary to those used primarily in ministry.

  • Intentional Bivocational preparation will usually, though not always, include seminary training.
  • The minister who sees himself as intentionally Bivocational may plan to continue such a life work style throughout his career.
  • He may, on the other hand, commit to preparation in both career fields and be open to either fully supported or Bivocational ministry challenges.


TO Descriptions

Expectations of a Bivo Pastor
(or What to Expect)
  • Bivocational Pastors have the same general responsiblities in their pastorates as all other pastors.
  • What are some of these responsibiblities? Three studies have been done with bivocational pastors on how they use their time in a normal week. One study was done with seventy-five Louisiana bivocational pastors; One with ninety-five Alabama bivocational pastors; another was done with 100 Tennessee bivocational pastors
Areas of Time Management Louisiana 95 Alabama Bivo Pastors 100 Tennessee Bivo Pastors
Secular Work 40 hours per week 37.07 hours per week  
Personal / Family time 16.4 hours per week 10.91 hours per week  
Bible Study / Prayer 7.6 hours per week 06.80 hours per week 08.10 hours per week
Sermon preparation 7 hours per week 06.96 hours per week 05.80 hours per week
Leading Church Services 4 hours per week 05.23 hours per week 03.60 hours per week
Visitation (Soul Winning) 3 hours per week 03.55 hours per week 05.75 hours per week
Visitation (Sick People) 4 hours per week 03.11 hours per week 04.00 hours per week
Visitation (propects) 2.5 hours per week 02.32 hours per week
Other Church Activities 2.7 hours per week 02.07 hours per week 01.50 hours per week
Counseling 1.5 hours per week 01.97 hours per week 02.10 hours per week
Church Administration 1.9 hours per week 01.45 hours per week  
Denominatinal Work 1.2 hours per week 00.95 hours per week  
* Total Hours secular 40.0 hours per week 37.07 hours per week 40.0 hours per week
* Total Hours personal (family & Bible Study) 24.0 hours per week 10.91 hours per week 16.0 hours per week
* Total Hours church 27.8 hours per week 27.61 hours per week 22.75 hours per week
* Total Hours 91.8 hours per week 92.39 hours per week 86.85 hours per week
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Click Here for PRINTABLE VERSION of "Bivocational or Vocational ?"

Three Factors Which Influence Calling a Bi-vocational Pastor



1. Limited Finances
If the income of the church is not sufficient to pay the pastor an adequate salary, calling a Bi-vocational pastor is one of the best routes to pursue.

Finances are often limited because of building debt, high maintenance costs, or the need for additional parking or educational space.

A church should not consider itself a fully-funded church if the pastor is trying to live on an inadequate salary or his wife is expected to work to make it possible for him to pastor the church.

2. The field is small.
Many churches are located in sparsely populated communities.
A Bi-vocational pastor should be considered if the church field is small and the number of prospects are few

3. The church selects a pastor who feels called to a dual role.

Many pastors believe God has called them to serve in a dual role.
They have a call to pastor in addition to a call in another vocation.
Some feel God would have them work at a second vocation to free more church funds for ministry and missions.

During the selection process, some churches decide to call a pastor who is committed to a Bi-vocational role.
This most often proves to be a win/win situation for both church and pastor.

Items to Consider When Calling a Bi-vocational Pastor
Both the church and pastor must have a positive attitude toward the Bi-vocational status.

Both the church and pastor must understand the role each is to play.

Both must hold realistic expectations of the other.
Some leadership roles may be assumed by the church membership.

The Bi-vocational pastor must be one who is not afraid of hard work, who manages his time well, and who does not feel the need to control everything in the Church.

Items to be Negotiated by the Church and Prospective Bi-vocational Pastor
The amount of time to be given by the pastor for ministry, study, and church administration.

Plans for managing church activities and for maintenance of church facilities.

Plans for responding to crises in the church family and community.

A respectable salary package which includes housing, insurance, auto expenses, professional expenses, and retirement.

The Advantages of Bi-vocational Status
The financial base of both church and pastor is usually stronger.
(The church can do more for missions and ministry when staff financial needs are kept to a minimum.
The pastor’s family can live with less financial strain when there are two incomes).

The Bi-vocational pastor often experiences greater freedom to lead because his total livelihood is not threatened by non-supportive leadership.

More laity, become involved in the ministry of the church.

The Bi-vocational pastor is not expected to be superman.

The Bi-vocational pastor is usually more in touch with the real world.

The Bi-vocational pastor has more opportunities for personal witnessing.

Because of time constraints it is less likely that the Bi-vocational pastor will succumb to the temptation to become lazy.

The Bi-vocational pastor does not have time to become involved in convention controversy.

The Bi-vocational church is more apt to allow their pastor to be real.

Often, the Bi-vocational pastor’s family has a more flexible social life.

Bi-vocational pastors are more often able to plan and work toward reasonable goals.

The Advantages of Vocational or Fully-Funded Status
The fully-funded pastor has more flexibility with his time and should, therefore, have less stress related to time management.

The fully-funded pastor has more time for sermon preparation, visitation, local ministry, and family related activities.

The vocational pastor is able to focus entirely on the ministry of the church.

The vocational pastor has opportunity to attend convention, retreats, conferences, fellowship meetings, training events, etc.

The vocational pastor may respond more quickly to a crisis need in the church.

The vocational pastor can be available for more one-on-one discipling.

Bi-vocational to Vocational Status
There is much more involved in moving from Bi-vocational to vocational status than simply increasing the salary of the pastor a few hundred or thousand dollars.

The goal should be to make it possible for the pastor to live on the same level as the average church member.

Attention should be given to housing, insurance, disability, conference and convention expenses, and retirement.

Just because a pastor moves from Bi-vocational status to give full attention to the church does not mean he automatically becomes superman.

He cannot visit all the sick, homebound, and prospects, keep up the church facilities and grounds, lead every program, run the church office, and fully prepare to preach God’s Word.

An agreement should be reached about personal time.

It is wise for a pastor to take some time off during the week because the weekend is normally very busy and demanding.

Should a Church Move from Vocational to Bi-vocational Status?
Should a church find itself in a declining situation and unable to maintain the facilities and fully fund a pastor, it should not consider calling a Bi-vocational pastor as a step backward.

More and more pastors are sensing a call to serve Bi-vocationally.

Since the biblical model of Bi-vocational ministry is presented through the Apostle Paul, no pastor or church should feel inadequate because of Bi-vocational leadership.

The advantage of Bi-vocational status as presented earlier should be given closer examination.

Often a Director of Missions or state Director of Bi-vocational Ministry can provide counsel and insight in making the transition in this direction.

If a church is to successfully move to a Bi-vocational status, it must first reach agreement regarding “Items to Consider” and “Items to be Negotiated” listed in this brochure.

Moving to Bi-vocational status can bring relief, satisfaction, and a new sense of direction to a church which has struggled for years to maintain a vocational status.

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Gary Mitchell, Strategist
P.O. Box 311
Alexandria, LA 71309-0311
318-449-4293 office
800-622-6549 ext. 293 office
337-457-7694 home
318-446-3844 Cell
E-mail: gary.mitchell@lbc.org