Will Dole
If you had told me 15 years ago that I would be a bivocational pastor today, it’s doubtful I would’ve believed you. At the time, I was working—bivocationally—with a small parachurch ministry and desperately hoping to be fully funded so I could focus on ministry.
It was around that point that a friend asked me: “Why do you think God is keeping you from full support?”
It had never occurred to me that God may, in fact, have a purpose in my remaining bivocational. Kids aren’t lying in bed at night dreaming of bivocational ministry. Few Bible college or seminary students set their sights on work outside of vocational ministry.
But the National Survey of Religious Leaders indicates 47% of evangelical pastors have some sort of income outside of church work. That number is substantially lower for those in rural ministry, although these differences may be due, at least in part, to an older pastoral cohort which is more likely to rely on pension or retirement income than on a second job.
So, if nearly half of evangelical pastors are bivocational, what do they wish you knew?
1. Every bivocational ministry is different.
This might seem obvious, but it’s worth pointing out. Selling real estate and pastoring an established church in a city is different from working as a mechanic and church planter in a small town.
Each ministry role, each “secular” job, and each pastor are different. This is important for the pastor to embrace as he evaluates his time and labor, and it’s important for the church to recognize in setting pastoral expectations.
An important subset of this is recognizing these differences even as they manifest within a single pastorate. When we planted Remsen Bible Fellowship in 2019, I worked full time for the USPS. About three years in, I left that job, and my wife and I opened a coffee shop in our town. We also joined a mission agency to raise funding.
This gave me more hours for ministry, but it also created the new stresses of business ownership and decreased income. The shift in time and stress made caring for members easier but sermon writing more difficult. Don’t assume every bivocational role is the same.
2. Bivocational doesn’t mean wealthy.
A second job may help pay the bills but often still doesn’t quite get there, especially for pastors with a family and/or healthcare costs. Two part-time jobs may well be less than one good job, in terms of income.
Serving bivocationally is rarely something pastors do because of the love of money or a desire to be rich (1 T. 6:9-10). Rather, it’s generally a necessity. As Brian Primer, a pastor in Fernwood, Idaho, put it, “bivocational ministry [means]…we more often than not, have the finances we need to buy food and pay the bills.”
Don’t let the fact that your pastor has other employment cause the church to neglect your responsibility to financially honor the man who ministers to you the Word of God.
Dave Donnerberg, a pastor in Libby, Montana, who served bivocationally for a number of years in Idaho, pointed out to me the importance of 1 Corinthians 9:14: “The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel” (CSB, cf., Gal. 6:6).
3. There’s no such thing as balance.
While finances are a significant issue, the most common pain point I’ve heard from bivocational pastors is the issue of competing priorities. “How do I balance church, outside work, family, and my own walk with the Lord?”
Pastor Donnerberg told me, “There is no such thing as balance.” Luke Wolford, a pastor in Mason City, Illinois, concurs: “Something has to give. You can’t do as much ministry as you would like.”
When splitting time between ministry and other work, there can be immense guilt when the ministry receives less focus than we would like. There’s a spiritual weight (Heb. 13:17) that is qualitatively different than, say, working at the bank during the day and mowing some lawns on the side.
For bivocational ministry to go well, it requires remembering God’s call on your life. Wayne Eve of Plummer, Idaho, has served in both pastoral and non-profit leadership while holding outside work and noted the danger of looking “at both as ‘jobs’ and [losing] track of your calling.”
4. God has a purpose.
One of the biggest misnomers about bivocational ministry is that it’s second-rate ministry. But, as noted earlier, nearly half of all evangelical pastors are bivocational.
The math on this is pretty straightforward, when you consider that the median church in America has 70 worshipers on a Sunday. Churches of this size simply have a hard time paying a full-time salary, especially at a level which would support a family.
Pastors shouldn’t think of these churches as second-rate, nor should the church. Ryan McGhee, a pastor in Park Falls, Wisconsin, put it well: “I wish [our church] realized the economics of pastoring have changed from even 20 years ago, and bivocational pastors are not pastoring failed churches in small areas…I continue to try to help them understand the goal is a healthy church, [not simply one with a full-time pastor].”
While many bivocational pastors desire to leave outside employment (understandably so), others see enough value in their bivocational role that they would choose to continue, even if the church could pay them a living wage.
Matthew Majewski, a pastor in Lansing, Iowa, noted, though currently bivocational ministry is a necessity, “my church leaders and I have agreed that if it becomes optional, I will still continue some form of work as a means of outreach.”
This points to a reality I’ve witnessed in my own ministry many times over. Work outside of a church context opens doors of conversation and investment in the community a pastor may not otherwise have.
Bivocational ministry may not be the ideal for many of us, but God uses such ministry in a multitude of ways.
5. This is a labor of love.
Bivocational ministry is a labor of love for Christ and His church. The one investing this way in the advancement of the kingdom for Christ does so out of a deep sense of calling and often at great personal cost.
This is nothing new in Christianity. Speaking of the apostle Paul, C.R. Wiley, a pastor in Battle Ground, Washington, points out, “He often self-funded his ministry. If he could do it, so can we.”
Like Paul, the bivocational pastor of today pours himself out for the Lord Jesus and his people, “because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings” (1 Cor. 9:23, CSB).
─Will Dole pastors Remsen (Iowa) Bible Fellowship. He and his wife also operate Fat Annie’s Coffee Stop in their town of 1,663.
Reprinted by permission from Lifeway Research