What is your call?

I am convinced that some people are called into bivocational ministry.  Some will argue that the call to ministry should always be to a fully-funded position and that ministry is too important to spend part of one's time doing other work.  They believe that persons become bivocational only because they cannot find a fully-funded position, and that such a situation will only exist until those people can find a church that can afford to provide a living salary and benefits.  While I have known some ministers who accepted becoming bivocational because of the financial situation in their churches, I remain convinced that many bivocational ministers feel a specific calling to that ministry.

Where do you fit in?  Do you believe you have been called specifically to bivocational ministry, or did you become bivocational out of financial necessity?  Are you waiting until you can find a fully-funded position so you can leave the bivocational life behind?

In my situation, I felt called to the church I served for twenty years.  This was a church that was bivocational because of its finances, but the finances of the church were not a concern for me when the church asked me to become their pastor.  I knew this was the place where God wanted me to serve, and I was able to do so and provide for my family because I had another job that provided for our financial needs.  I never really expected to leave that church until I retired, so I was quite surprised twenty years later when God opened up a door to the ministry in which I currently serve.  He gave me just as clear a call to accept this role as He did when I first felt called to the church.  Interestingly enough, during my tenure as the pastor of that church I was invited by other churches to consider becoming their pastor, and some of these were fully-funded churches.  In every case I asked about the possibility of remaining bivocational.  Most were opposed to me remaining bivocational, and our discussions ended there.  I just felt my call was to serve as a bivocational minister and was not willing to give that up.  My current ministry is considered fully-funded, but I am given enough leeway to write, lead conferences and workshops around the country, and do other things that I still consider myself bivocational.

This is a brief look at my sense of call to bivocational ministry, but I am really interested in hearing yours.  Again, do you feel specifically called to bivocational ministry, or are you doing bivocational ministry until a fully-funded position opens up?