Today we continue our mini-series on complaints I often hear from smaller churches. This series came out of a post I did last week which you can find here if you want to read the original post. This complaint is one I frequently hear when I travel to various denominational gatherings to lead my workshops. The fact that I've been invited to lead one of my workshops on bivocational or small church ministry should be a clue that this complaint may no longer be valid, but it is one that lingers on in the minds of many small church leaders.
Perhaps this continues to be believed because at one time it may have been somewhat true. Many denominations, like most organizations in the US, did seem to be caught up in the idea that bigger was better. The push was on to build bigger and bigger churches to reach the masses. Most events were focused on how to build bigger churches and were almost always led by persons who had built such churches. Few of these events were scheduled at a time that bivocational pastors could attend them. Successful pastors were determined by the size of their churches, and these were the persons who were paraded across the platforms at the annual meetings of most denominations. These were also the ones who were selected to serve in denominational positions when those positions opened up.
Until the 1950s many churches were served by bivocational pastors. This was especially true in Baptist and Methodist churches. In the 1950s a number of denominations began to push for fully-funded (full time) pastors, and churches that could not provide for a fully-funded pastor was given second class citizenship by the denomination. Of course, that was seldom acknowledged, but those churches found themselves receiving very little support from the denomination. Those denominations also began to push their pastors to complete a seminary degree, preferably the Master of Divinity, and some made that degree a requirement for full ordination recognition and placement. Although that tended to be the case throughout the last half of the 20th century, things began to change as we approached the 21st century.
Denominations began to notice that a large percentage of their churches were smaller in size. I believe the average size church in the US continues to be around 75 people. These churches were finding it more difficult to provide a living salary and benefit package for their fully-funded pastors. Even in denominations that did not approve of bivocational ministers, some of their pastors were working other jobs to provide for their families. Some churches were pretending to be fully-funded by having a pastor who did not have another job, but the spouses of many of these pastors were working outside the home and providing insurance and other benefits the churches were no longer providing through that employment. These denominations also noticed something else. Their smaller churches were no longer as concerned about educational degrees as they were in finding someone who could provide the ministry they were seeking, and they didn't care if their pastor worked another job or not. These churches were growing less and less dependent upon the denomination. A third thing many of these denominations began to notice was that many of these smaller churches were doing quite well with bivocational leadership, and in some cases were doing much better than some of their fully-funded churches.
The attitudes of many in denominational leadership began to change towards their smaller churches in the 1990s and especially as we began the 21st century. These leaders recognized that many of their churches had become bivocational. While few denominations can provide any more than estimates, those estimates are that perhaps one-third of their churches are now bivocational with some regional bodies reporting upwards of 75 percent of their churches are bivocational. Most denominational leaders with whom I have spoken expect those numbers to increase.
Believe me when I say that these leaders care greatly about their smaller churches. It may or may not be that the shear numbers of smaller churches within those denominations may have forced them to pay more attention on those churches, but the good news is that they are very interested in the well-being of their smaller churches and those who lead them. In recent years I have led workshops for a number of denominations including American Baptists, Southern Baptists, General Baptists, the Salvation Army, the Wesleyan church, the Church of the Nazarene, Atlantic Baptist Mission in Canada, and the United Methodist Church. These have occurred throughout the United States and in two provinces in Canada. I will be leading two workshops for the Southern Baptists in Michigan next week and already have workshops scheduled for next March for a judicatory in Vermont. I can tell you the leaders who invited me to lead these conferences are very committed to their smaller churches and those who lead them.
There was a time when it was very difficult to find books and other resources that specifically addressed the needs of smaller churches, but that is changing as well. Since 2000 I have published eight such books through various publishers (number 8 comes out October 1), and an number of other writers have also published some great resources for bivocational and small church leaders. Many of these books are being published by the publishing arms of denominations again showing their commitment to their smaller churches.
The bottom line in all this is that it is a great time to be part of a smaller church and to lead such churches. Your value to the Kingdom of God is well recognized throughout most denominational bodies in North American as well it should be.
I encourage you to take advantage of any workshops and other resources your denomination may offer. These events are often not well attended. When that happens small church leaders not only miss out on an opportunity to get better connected with their denomination, but they also miss out on some great learning opportunities. What happened in the past is in the past. It is now time for small church leaders and denominations to begin to move forward to take Christ to the unreached in our communities.
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