Where are the bivocational ministers?

This past week I was talking shop with a judicatory leader. When I asked how things were going he responded they weren't going very well. He had a number of smaller churches needing pastors and had no idea where he was going to find them. It was a serious problem before I retired from that position, and it seems to continue to worsen.

One thing I've always known: this need for bivocational ministers did  not catch God by surprise. I've always been convinced that He has called people to serve in those positions. The real challenges are for church and denominational leaders to identify these people and for the individuals themselves to recognize that call on their lives.

Virtually every minister I've met had someone in his or her life who invited them to consider that God might be calling them into the ministry. I certainly had that person in my life. His talk with me about that possibility confirmed something I had felt for some time. Now, someone else saw in me what I had been feeling. That gave me the confidence to live into that calling.

Back when I began as a bivocational minister it was not looked upon very favorably by a lot of people. I met more than a few pastors in my earlier years who looked down on me serving in a bivocational role. I had to rely very strongly on what I knew to be my calling to continue in that role. I was also fortunate to serve in a Region that had leadership who were more acceptable of bivocational ministry. They supported me throughout my pastoral ministry and eventually invited me to serve with them in a regional role. Today, bivocational ministry is more widely accepted.

Having said that however, we still seem to be unable to know how to identify persons God may have called to such ministry. As one judicatory leader told me several years ago, "They seem to find us before we find them." That means there are probably a lot of people out there who do not receive the encouragement to enter into this ministry God has for them.

Denominations and judicatories must find ways to help people consider that God might be calling them into bivocational ministry. Perhaps district meetings with this as the topic might be one way to invite persons who might be wrestling with this call. Certainly, pastors and other leaders need to talk with persons who seem to have gifts that would be needed in bivocational ministry.

We cannot call anyone into ministry. Only God can do that. But, we do have a responsibility to help people work through a possible call. During my 14 years as a judicatory minister I talked with several persons about the possibility God might be calling them into bivocational ministry, and some of them confirmed they had been considering such a call themselves. Some of them did become bivocational ministers and had very successful ministries.

Pastors, look around your congregation and see if there might be persons who might have such a call on their lives. Talk to them and tell them why you feel God might have something special for them. Denominational leaders, spend some time thinking about how you can present bivocational ministry to people in your churches. Let's stop talking about the difficulty of finding bivocational ministers and begin to do something constructive about identifying them.