SBC names a Bivocational and Small Church Advisory Council

The Southern Baptist Convention recently named a Bivocational and Small Church Advisory Council to provide insight and counsel to the SBC Executive Committee and to serve as a bridge back to the pastors. You can read the Baptist Press news release here. This action is one that other denominations would be wise to copy.

It is no secret that the numbers of bivocational ministers are growing in nearly every denomination today, and those numbers are likely to continue to increase.  Despite this, many denominations do very little to connect with their bivocational leaders. Their focus remains on the larger churches, and the voices of their bivocational ministers are often not heard. It should come as no surprise that many bivocational ministers feel little or no connection to their denomination and its programs, and if the pastor is not connected it is likely that the churches served by these pastors will have little connection as well.

Exact numbers of bivocational ministers are impossible to determine. The annual reports of some denominations are not designed to capture that information very well, and in many denominations a significant number of smaller churches do not bother to fill out the annual report anyway. (Another sign of being disconnected!) Many leaders of various denominations with whom I speak estimate the numbers range from one-third to one-half of their churches are being served by bivocational ministers. That is a large percentage of churches to ignore and may be one reason so many denominations are struggling.

An advisory council seems like such a simple step to take to help avoid neglecting the needs of so many churches. However, it will only work if this council truly has the ear of denominational leadership. Sometimes, councils and boards are created to merely rubber-stamp the plans of the leadership. They are created for the appearance purposes only and have no significant role to actually play in the life of the organization. If this happens, bivocational ministers will catch on pretty quickly and become even more disenchanted with their leadership.