I am occasionally asked why I post articles on ministry related articles and articles that address small business and entrepreneurialism. Some people think that because I write a blog for bivocational ministers and smaller churches that I would only post ministry related articles on my social media accounts. Actually, there are several reasons why I also post business related articles.
The first reason is because some bivocational ministers are involved in small businesses. Based on a survey I did in 2004 and numerous conversations I've had over the years with bivocational ministers I know that their other careers run the gamut. Certainly, not every bivocational minister owns or works for a small business, but some do. I want to believe the articles I post will help them operate their businesses better.
A second reason is that I am convinced that many leadership principles and activities from the business community are transferrable to ministry. Just as it's important for a small business to properly market itself it is important for a small church (and larger ones) to market themselves if they want their communities to know they exist. A bivocational pastor needs to understand sound marketing techniques. A minster also needs to understand budgeting, how to best develop a team, the importance of vision and how to pursue one, how to effectively communicate to the various groups he or she will come in contact with each day, how to more effectively manage time, how to make the best use of his or her strengths, how to manage conflict, how to introduce and manage change, and numerous other tasks. The business community can tell us much about how leaders should go about these various tasks, and we should take advantage of what they can teach us. I try to pull out some of the best advice from the various sources I read and share that advice with my readers in the hopes that it will benefit them and their ministries.
A third reason I post leadership and entrepreneurial information from the business community is that most bivocational ministers I know have entrepreneurial mindsets. In fact, I would go so far to say that if one is not entrepreneurial he or she will likely not enjoy a very effective ministry. Bivocational ministers take risks every day and face challenges for which there are no easy answers. We often have to do things that had never been done before in our particular ministry setting especially if we are the first bivocational minister our church has had. It's not that we just color outside the lines; sometimes we don't even have any lines and have to insert them as we go. Personally, I enjoy learning from entrepreneurs regardless if they come from a church background or a business background.
Finally, I post the business articles because I believe ministers today, and certainly those in the future, will have to become even more entrepreneurial. Years ago I heard Zig Ziglar speak at a leadership conference. One of the things he said that day was that there was no such thing as job security. He insisted the best anyone could experience was employment security. I agreed with his comments as soon as he said them. I graduated from high school, got a good job with a local factory, and worked there for thirty years until I qualified for their early retirement. Those jobs and opportunities are not going to be there for future generations. Even blue collar workers like me will have to be continually learning new skills in order to qualify for the jobs of the future. Staying with one company until retirement will soon be unheard of.
The same is true for those of us in ministry. In the past a student graduated from college, went to seminary, and after graduation went to his or her first church. It was expected that the seminary trained minister would remain in full-time ministry until he or she retired. That is not a safe assumption to make today. Increasingly, I find myself talking to fully-funded ministers who are convinced that they will soon have to become bivocational if they wish to remain at their current church. They often tell me that they don't mind going bivocational, but their fear is that they are not trained to do anything but ministry. They literally do not know what they could do apart from ministry to provide for their families.
These folks better start exercising their entrepreneurial muscles, and I am hopeful the articles I refer them to will help them do that. I refer my readers to articles that address business start-ups, financing, marketing, how to supervise team members, how to overcome obstacles, how to do strategic planning, and virtually everything that a business leader might need to know. With the many changes occurring today in the business and church world, we need to know how to do all these things if we want to remain employable in the future.
I am convinced we will see the numbers of bivocational ministers continue to climb in the foreseeable future. Some of these will be former fully-funded ministers who will begin to serve as bivocational ministers out of necessity. Now is the time for them to begin learning new ways of thinking and to seek out the skills apart from ministry that God has given them so they can be prepared if they find they need to transition into bivocational ministry. I hope that I can help them do that.
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