Bivocational ministers redeem the time

I recently had a regular reader of this blog send me an e-mail which he has allowed me to share with you.

"I just had lunch with a fellow bivocational pastor and independently we both came to the conclusion that we waste far less time than our friends who are fully funded pastors.  We spend less time interacting on FB about the latest Christian controversies and far less time schmoozing in coffee shops with other pastors for hours on end talking about nothing in particular.  I know this isn't a universal truth and that many fully funded pastors use their time wisely, but having 2 jobs and a family of eight really forces me to redeem the time and shut out the noise.  Do you find this to be the norm?"

Yes, I do.  Most bivocational ministers struggle to find the time necessary to meet all the demands on their time, and we tend to be pretty careful about what we give time to.  This sometimes leads to criticism from fully funded colleagues and denominational leaders who wonder why we are not more involved in associational and denominational activities.  Even members of our congregations may get upset because we do not give much time to such things as associational men's or women's meetings.  People who have not been bivocational often do not understand how difficult it can be to keep our lives and ministries in balance and how adding an activity that might not be essential can disrupt that balance.

I know one bivocational minister who often receives criticism from other pastors in his association for his lack of involvement in associational activities.  One pastor who sometimes voiced that criticism to me recognized that this bivocational minister's church was one of the few in their association that had experienced significant growth during the past few years.  He recently told me that while the rest of the pastors had spent endless times in meetings, this bivocational pastor spent his available time reaching out into the community and growing the church.  The former critic confessed to me that he wished he had followed the example of the bivocational minister.

I was glad my friend acknowledged that many fully funded pastors also use their time wisely.  I know many fully funded ministers who also struggle to maintain balance in their lives and have to make difficult decisions about how to invest their time and energy.  They often find they are also criticized for not being involved in activities that others deem important.  More than once I've heard someone criticize a fully funded pastor for not supporting some associational activity.  The critics usually have no idea of the demands this minister already has on his or her time.

The ones who do struggle to redeem their time wisely are those serving in what I refer to as "marginally fully-funded" churches.  Over 30 years ago I was asked by a church member of one such church if I would be interested in serving as their pastor.  This church had been served for many years by student pastors and averaged around 90 people in attendance.  They wanted to transition to a fully funded pastor. 

Quite honestly, at that time I had not even heard of bivocational ministry and had never served as a pastor.  For those reasons it probably sounded a little arrogant to the other person when I responded that I did not believe they needed a fully funded pastor.  Their salary package would have been marginal at best, and their work load was not enough to keep a pastor busy.  I told the person, whom I had known for a long time, that if they called a fully funded pastor they would probably find that within a few years he would become more involved in denominational work and his garden would keep getting bigger each year.  Parkinson's Law would go into effect:  Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.  Their pastor would have to find things to do to fill his workday, and in that small community in a church that size they would probably find their pastor doing a lot of things that would add little value to their church.

This church called a fully funded pastor. and within a few years I heard that his garden was one of the largest in the congregation.  Over the years the church had a number of fully funded pastors and yet never grew.  A few years ago they allowed their pastor to become bivocational.  The church continues to be about the same size it was 30 years ago, but the church seems to have less stress.  Although their pastor now has to balance a second job with his church responsibilities, it seems that he is more focused and less stressed today than when he was fully funded.

Many of us in church leadership, including myself, continues to believe that more of these size churches will be transitioning to bivocational ministers in the near future.  Finances are often the reason given, and for some churches it will be a financial decision.  But, many of these churches will also realize that they can enjoy a more productive ministry from a bivocational minister who is able to focus on the truly important things and wisely redeem the time given to ministry.

I should close by adding that some bivocational ministers do not invest their time well.  Perhaps they've not learned how to manage their lives and their time.  They may struggle with effective delegation.  Their priorities may be wrong.  If this is a problem area for you I would recommend my book The Healthy Pastor: Easing the Pressures of Ministry.