Supporting Ministry: Getting A Bivo Job To Support Your Ministry
Why Bivocational Ministry?
Lifeway Research indicates that 26% of SBC pastors are bivocational. I don’t know how many Advent Christian pastors maintain a marketplace job in addition to their role in the church. However, with the steady decline of Advent Christian church attendance, we must expect the number of bivocational pastors will only increase. For some, this could bring about a missiological revival and spur church revitalization. For others, it will be like palliative care.
There is one overarching reason why someone should pursue a job or career outside of their Gospel Ministry–to support their Gospel Ministry. Paul might’ve enjoyed making tents, but there’s no question that he made tents to sell so that he could continue his ministry as an Apostle who evangelized, trained elders, planted churches, and oversaw churches. There could have been times when he stopped making tents because the work of an Apostle was so much that he could no longer divide his time, and the churches were able to support him financially. We undoubtedly benefit from the transition to full-time ministry, but those Paul who received a tent from Paul benefited through receiving a quality tent and the everlasting gift of hearing the Gospel.
We are going to look at a few important principles when one is considering bivocational ministry and some job ideas that could work for pastors. Remember, this marketplace job serves your ministry and not the other way around.
Principles of a Marketplace Job
1. Does the job align with your Christian ethic?
There are a lot of jobs that give me pause because of my Christian ethic. As an example, I’m not going to sell someone a product I don’t believe is quality or good for them. In other words, I’m not selling ice to an Eskimo, but I’d sell it to someone living in a desert.
2. Does the job get in the way of serving your church or mission?
If you’re pastoring a church that gathers on Sunday morning, then taking a job that would require you to work on Sunday would be improper. As we were putting together our farm business plan we wanted to be a vendor at our town farmer’s market. Unfortunately, it’s on Sunday. Instead, we will go to a farmer’s market 18 minutes away that might fit us better anyway. Your job is meant to support your Gospel ministry, not get in the way.
3. Flexibility is critical
Let’s say you have a pastoral emergency–someone is in critical condition after a horrific accident. Will your job afford you the opportunity to go and ministry to the family?
4. Can it support your family?
The purpose of getting this marketplace job is to support your Gospel Ministry, which requires you to support your family. If you are drawing a paycheck from your church, then your marketplace job needs to pay you at least enough so that between the two sources of income, you can live comfortably
Marketplace Job Ideas
1. Project Management:
Who knows how to juggle priorities and solve problems better than pastors? As a pastor, you need to be able to navigate different personalities, motivate people, follow up on projects, and uphold standards. Guess what project managers need to do?
2. Sales:
You’re great at public speaking and providing evidence for why someone should believe or do something. If you could find a company that sells a product you believe in, then you’d probably make a good salesman.
3. Education:
If you’re a Youth Pastor, substitute teaching is an excellent outreach opportunity. As a pastor, you can gain a lot of credibility by serving in this high-demand area. In some states, full-time teachers only need a bachelor’s degree and not even in a field they’d be teaching. This could be an option for you.
4. Technology:
I know of one guy who has a seemingly basic knowledge of how to use a soundboard. He runs all the town’s media and makes about $60k annually. Every pastor I know under 45 knows more than this guy. Every town in my area has a staff of people that run the media for town meetings, edit them, and put them on the town website. One person I know gets paid to do this for 10-15 hours per week at $30 an hour even if meetings are cancelled. Most often they get paid 5 hours for their time even if the meeting was only 30 minutes. They do it after their day job to supplement their income. That’s an extra $23,400 a year.
5. Firefighter/EMT
A friend of mine through the American Legion is a Boston Firefighter who lives over an hour from his station. He works one day on, three off, one day on, four off. Imagine as a pastor working 1-2 days a week for $60k+ per year. The rest of your time you can serve your church.
Common Pitfalls
Peyton Jones in Church Plantology shares that in a ministry where he and a partner train pastors in another vocation, he found many to leave ministry altogether because they loved the money. Let’s be clear, the love of money is evil. Money is not evil. God will provide for you and your family, and that provision most often comes from work. If your marketplace job becomes too much to handle, then you need to discuss alternatives with your church, but don’t leave them unless God calls you elsewhere.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a marketplace job, you’ve got to find work with a balance of flexibility and income. Each person will need to decide on their own what that balance is. Additionally, consider a marketplace job that will put you in touch with your community. Although I work for MTI, which does not put me in my community, I also own a farm. This has given me ample opportunities to network and build relationships.
