New resources for bivocational ministers

For a long time there were few resources developed especially for bivocational ministers.  I'm glad to report that as the numbers of bivocational ministers are increasing more resources are being developed to help us succeed in our ministries.  Just this week I received information about two new resources.

One is a doctoral dissertation that addresses lay and bivocational strategies for the church in North America.  The doctoral candidate wrote asking for some information he needed before finishing his dissertation.  In the past few months I have discovered several doctoral papers that address different elements of bivocational ministry.  Many of them were written by denominational leaders, and that bodes well for bivocational ministers.  People are recognizing the value we bring to the churches we serve, and they are looking for ways to come alongside and provide the assistance we need to address some of our challenges.

Terry Dorsett sent me a copy of his new book Developing Leadership Teams in the Bivocational Church.  Ministry teams are important in every size church, but they are critical in bivocational churches.  Bivocational ministers simply do not have the time to do all the work that needs to be done in a church, and, besides, that isn't biblical anyway.  The biblical model is the Ephesians 4 model that has the pastor equipping the congregation to do ministry.  Terry offers a great resource to help the bivocational minister equip church members to minister to one another and to their community.  He provides six training sessions that will help church members feel confident in filling the pulpit and in making pastoral visits.  Included in the book are the lessons, exercises, and worksheets a bivocational pastor will need to train lay people.  I've only glanced through the book so far, but it looks like an extremely practical book that every bivocational minister will want.

I've been told another book is being released that also addresses bivocational ministry, but I haven't received a copy of it yet.  As soon as I do I'll let you know.

I hope you feel as excited about this as I do.  Your valuable work is being recognized!  Denominational leaders now see that bivocational ministry isn't second class ministry performed by people who couldn't cut it in real ministry.  Without bivocational ministers many of our churches would have to close their doors, and their ministries would come to a close.  God has been raising up bivocational ministers to serve His churches, and He is now leading people to develop the resources we've needed for a long time.  I truly believe that we will see even more material being developed in the near future, and for that each of us should be thankful.