Over the past few months I've talked with some churches that have been served by fully-funded pastors and now find that they need to look for a bivocational minister. Many of these churches struggle with this transition. One of their struggles has to do with their self-image. They wonder why they can no longer attract a fully-funded pastor or why their finances are such that they could not offer a suitable salary even if a fully-funded pastor was willing to come to their church. Others struggle with issues of expectations. Too often, they may pay a bivocational salary, but they still have the same expectations of the pastor they've always had. Just this week I talked with an individual who is considering a call to a bivocational church. Prior to him, this church has been served by a fully-funded pastor. I encouraged him to help the church identify their expectations of his responsibilities before accepting the call. Unless this church recognizes the limitations he will bring to his pastorate, and they are willing to step in and assume some of the ministry responsibilities, it may find itself in some real conflict within a very short period of time.
The denomination in which I serve has a model we use to assist our churches when they are searching for a new pastor, but the model we have is often not helpful for bivocational churches. I've been able to modify it a little to provide some assistance, but we need to develop a new model to assist bivocational churches that are seeking pastoral leadership. We especially need a model for those churches that are making the transition from fully-funded to bivocational leadership. One of my goals for 2011 is to develop such a model, and I can use your help.
I would be very interested in hearing your stories if you have been involved in helping a church transition from a fully-funded pastorate to a bivocational one. I want to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly that occurred in that transition. It would be helpful to hear from both bivocational ministers and from lay leaders who have been involved in the transition so we can hear from both sides. If you are a pastor who has been through this transition with your church, please send me your story and ask one of your lay leaders to share his or her perspective on how that transtion went and the obstacles that had to be overcome for it to be successful.
Many of us in judicatory leadership have churches that will be making this transition in the next few years, and I think developing this model could be a great help to all of us. Your stories can help create that model. Please send them to dbickers@roadrunner.com. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
2 comments:
Ok, I wonder, who does consultations with churches in this position? When do you usually recognize the need for this to happen?
Do you do consultations with churches to determine whether they should be bivocational or fully funded positions?
Denominational and judicatory leaders can often do such consultations. I recently met with one of the churches in my area to discuss this very issue, and when I left there the leadership was convinced that their best option was to become bivocational. I may have to return and try to convince the whole church of that, but I don't anticipate that happening until after the holidays if the congregation resists calling a bivocational minister.
I would suggest contacting the denominational leader for your church if you are part of a denomination. If not, then I can perhaps do such a consultation.
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