Training for bivocational ministers

 About the second or third month of my time as a Regional Minister in our Region our Executive Minister notified me that we had a training program for lay leaders, and it was part of my portfolio responsibilities. He further said, "It's broke, fix it."

I scheduled a meeting with the committee that oversaw that program and soon learned why it was broken. After a couple more meetings we determined it was broken beyond repair and needed to be replaced with something new. Some of the people left the original committee, and I was able to bring new people on board. After several months we developed the Church Leadership Institute, a two-year program of study for anyone in a church leadership position. We set a date for starting the program, and decided if we had 10 people register we would consider it a success. That first class began with 30 people registered!

When the first group neared the end of their two-year program they kept asking, "What's next?" We went back to the drawing board and designed another year of classes making 15 classes total if someone wanted to complete all three years.

Although the program was originally designed for church lay leaders, we found many of our bivocational pastors began taking the classes as well. In fact, for those who completed all three years we awarded them a Diploma in Pastoral Ministries. Many of the bivocational pastors in our region received their training through our CLI program. We even had the occasional bivocational pastor from adjacent states attend our program driving three hours each way to attend classes. By any measure, CLI was a tremendous success for our region. But, it has ended.

Our region has entered into a partnership with Kairos University-Sioux Falls Seminary to provide leadership training for our pastors and lay leaders. A former colleague of mine is the dean of this program so I know it will be highly successful. I don't know why the region made the decision to switch from CLI to this opportunity, but I know it was done for the right reasons.

It's been an interesting few months since learning that CLI, which was such an important part of my ministry when I served as a Resource Minister, was being replaced. While I know all things come to an end and need to be replaced by something better, I also know how it feels when changes are made in a church that makes the current members uncomfortable. I'm currently serving as a Transitional Pastor in a church that needs to make a number of changes. I know exactly how some of that congregation will feel when changes are made because I know what I felt seeing CLI ended.

I want to make something very clear. All things must come to an end. CLI served its purpose for its time, but when something better came along it was right to make the change. For anyone invested in something, that change can be hard. We pastors who want to come in and change things need to understand that. We sometimes complain that people are being difficult when we try to make needed changes; we need to understand they are not being difficult, they are hurting. Something meaningful has been taken from them. While they may understand the need for the change, that doesn't make it any less painful.

The good news is that our region continues to provide training for its bivocational ministers and lay leaders. While I have not talked to anyone from the region, I assume this is open to anyone who wants to enroll in this training. I could encourage you to check out that web page for the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky to learn more about the program. There are also a number of schools such as Campbellsville University that also offers an educational program for bivocational ministers. 

When I began as a bivocational pastor in 1981 these types of training opportunities were very limited. Now that many of these are online, there is no reason that every bivocational pastor doesn't take advantage of the oppotunties.

Growing numbers of seminary students going into bivocational ministry

An article in Christianity Today reports that the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) says that one-third of 2017 seminary graduates plan to enter bivocational ministry. This includes 57% of black/non-Hispanic and 41% of Hispanic/Latino graduates. This is a significant number of people who view bivocational ministry as a viable option for ministry and offers hope to thousands of smaller churches who may struggle to find seminary-trained leadership to serve their churches. In addition to those attending seminary, many planning to enter bivocational ministry are being trained in denominational programs such as the Church Leadership Institute offered by the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky. While never designed to replace seminary this program does provide basic ministerial training for those serving as bivocational ministers or lay leaders in their churches.

Many denominations report that roughly one-third of their churches now have bivocational pastors. Some state conventions report that 50-75 percent of their churches are bivocational. In a sabbatical project I did a few years ago I interviewed a number of denominational leaders from various denominations who all told me they expected the number of bivocational leaders in their denominations to continue to grow. This report from ATS is good news for the churches in these denominations, and it is good news for the future of smaller churches.

For a long time the trend was to build larger and larger churches. Growth was seen as an indication of health. However, recent events have suggested that is not always the case. Well-known megachurch leaders have fallen hard in recent times. Some have been removed for moral reasons while others have burned-out and resigned the ministry. At the same time, other megachurches are serving their communities quite well and continue to grow. It's too early to predict the future of the larger churches, but I can predict the future of smaller churches. They are survivors and will be around until the Lord returns.

Of course, some won't survive. Churches close their doors every week, and many of them are smaller churches. A lack of good leadership, a lack of resources and too few people force some of these churches to close. However, at the same time these churches are closing other churches start. They begin with a fresh vision for ministry and a desire to make a difference in people's lives. They don't bring a lot of baggage from the past into their ministry. Some of these will be home churches. Some will rent space in malls or buy the buildings abandoned by the churches that closed.

All smaller churches, whether new church starts or existing churches, will benefit from this desire of seminary-trained graduates to enter bivocational ministry. As one who has long advocated for bivocational ministry I couldn't be more pleased.

Training bivocational ministers

In my last post I wrote about a recent doctoral thesis written on the trend of mid-size churches to seek bivocational staff persons. As part of that post I suggested that we need to find ways to provide these individuals with the training they need to be effective in their calling. Some schools today offer such training.

Campbellsville University offers a Certificate in Christian Ministry through their School of Theology that would provide excellent education for a bivocational minister. This program is offered entirely online making it convenient for the student to work into his or her schedule. When completing this program the credits would be transferable if the student decided to continue his or her education at CU in their undergrad program. You might be thinking to yourself that if you completed that certificate program you would not be interested in continuing your studies. I thought that as a student at Boyce Bible School (now Boyce College), but when I completed that I felt led to continue my studies all the way until I earned my doctorate. You never know what God might lead you to until you begin the journey.

There are other schools offering similar programs, but I am not as familiar with them as I am with CU's program. Some seminaries are now offering dual degree programs for persons intentionally planning on going into bivocational ministry. This might be an option for some who sense a call to this ministry.

The American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky took a program that is being used in another region and used it to develop the Church Leadership Institute (CLI). It was originally designed to train lay leaders in our churches, but in the initial class we had several bivocational ministers who saw it as a way to get some much needed training. As they neared the end of the two-year program they kept asking for more training so we added another five courses for those who wanted to take them. Completing the entire program earned the student a Certificate in Christian Ministry, but more importantly, it gave our bivocational ministers more training than many enjoy.

CLI was never intended to replace a seminary education, but for many of the bivocational ministers in our region it provided an opportunity to receive both theological and practical skills training to help them better serve their churches. We intentionally kept the cost of each class low to make it available to everyone.

One of the things I most appreciated about CLI was it said to our bivocational ministers that they were important to our churches. We did not see them as second-class ministers. We wanted to come alongside them to help equip them for the ministry God had called them to do. I often receive emails from bivocational ministers around the country who tell me they wish their judicatories felt about them the way that our region does.

If you are a bivocational ministers you should check to see if your judicatory offers something similar to CLI. If it does not, ask them to think about developing such a program. I'm sure our region office would send them some materials to show them what we are doing.

Just before I retired we opened CLI up to anyone regardless of denominational affiliation. If you are serving in Indiana, and think this might be a good opportunity to receive some training, contact the Region office at 317-635-3552 for more information.

Bivocational ministry is increasing across denominations and even now appearing in larger churches. Those of us in seminary, denominational and judicatory leadership must find ways to ensure those serving in that role receives the training they need to be effective.

Local church pastors in the UMC

MinistryMatters recently published an article by Ed Trimmer that looked at the growing numbers of local church pastors in the United Methodist Church. You can read the entire article here. In view of this growing trend Trimmer asked several important questions regarding education and inclusion of these pastors on national boards and agencies. These questions are similar to comments I made in this blog a few weeks ago about the need for denominations to look at how they support their bivocational ministers.

Trimmer points out that not all local pastors in the UMC are bivocational, but 60 percent of them are. He believes the number of local pastors will continue to grow which indicates that the number of bivocational pastors in that denomination will probably grow as well.  Leaders of most denominations will say this is true for them as well.

One of the interesting comments in the article for me personally was that one of the conferences that has a large number of local church pastors is East Ohio. A few years ago I led a workshop for UMC small church pastors in eastern Ohio that was very well received. The following year I was invited back to lead another workshop for a group of pastors in that conference who had been asked to serve as coaches for their growing number of bivocational ministers. This seems to me to be one way denominations can stay in touch with these pastors and provide them encouragement and assistance.

Twelve experienced pastors, most of whom were fully-funded, although a few were bivocational, had agreed to serve as coaches to the bivocational pastors in that conference. My responsibility that day was to teach them about bivocational ministry and principles of coaching and how to tie the two together.

This seems like a good example other denominations could copy especially if some form of theological training is also provided. The American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky offers the Church Leadership Institute (CLI) to provide educational opportunities to our lay leaders and bivocational pastors. CLI was originally created to offer training for the lay leaders in our churches, but some of those lay leaders went on to become bivocational pastors upon graduating. Some who were already serving as bivocational pastors began attending CLI to receive basic ministerial training to better serve their churches. CLI has proven to be an asset to our churches and church leaders, not only in our region but in all places where similar training opportunities exist.

Our next term begins tomorrow, and the class I teach is one of those offered this term. I teach "Personal and Family Health" which looks at how people can best manage their time, set realistic goals for their churches, themselves, and their families, and how to live life in according to their core values and priorities rather than letting others determine how they will live. We also look at how to set up a salary and benefit package in a small church. Such practical classes along with biblical and theological classes provide a good base for lay leaders and bivocational ministers.

If a district or region offered some combination of formal training and coaching from experienced pastors it could help resolve some of the educational challenges faced by their bivocational and local church pastors.

Church Leadership Institute

This past Saturday our region's Church Leadership Institute graduated five students. Each of these graduates completed the entire three year program earning both the Certificate in Christian Leadership and the Diploma in Pastoral Ministries.

Each of our graduates had family, church, and work responsibilities, but they were willing to give up every other Saturday to attend classes and complete their studies in order to learn how to better serve their churches and the Lord. This is an incredible level of commitment.

When we began the Church Leadership Institute (CLI) fourteen years ago we had an idea of what we wanted to accomplish. These five people, and all our graduates, have far exceeded those expectations. Some are now pastoring some of our smaller, bivocational churches. Others serve in staff positions in their churches while many others are filling important lay leadership roles in their churches.

As I've said many times in this blog, everything rises and falls on leadership. As the leadership level in any organization raises, the potential of that organization rises as well. CLI is helping raise the leadership level of the churches in our region, and it has been exciting to watch the impact this has had on those churches.

Due to my retirement at the end of this year, this is the last CLI class I will see graduate as the director of the program. It has been an honor to be involved in something that has had the impact CLI has had. I am very excited about the future of CLI as new leadership brings new ideas that will improve the program. Some changes are already being discussed that I believe will make CLI more accessible and better.

One change that we implemented just a couple of years ago was that we decided to make this training opportunity available to anyone regardless of church affiliation. Prior to that we only offered CLI to persons who attended one of our American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky churches. We have now opened it up to anyone who wants to learn how to provide more effective leadership to their churches regardless of denominational affiliation.

If you are a member of a church in Indiana I encourage you to check out CLI on our region website, www.abc-indiana.org or contact Jennifer Greene at our region office at 317-635-3552 X221 for more information. If you are a pastor who recognizes the need to train your lay leaders, we can help you do that. Encourage them to enroll in CLI. I think you'll find it will make a difference in your church.

Learn how to better manage your life and ministry

One of the great challenges of modern day life is trying to maintain some semblance of balance in our lives. I'm old enough to remember when people were saying that technology would simplify our lives and we would wonder what to do with all the spare time we had. It didn't quite turn out that way!

Instead, we are trying to balance the demands of our jobs and careers, the needs of our families, our spiritual lives, and our personal well-being. If one is a bivocational pastor there are the added demands of that role that must be factored in. We feel the tyranny of the urgent and often find ourselves feeling guilty for neglecting  things that we know are important. Like the proverbial hamster in the wheel, we keep running in circles without really going anywhere and with no idea of how to get off.

For those of you in Indiana we have a class that will be offered as part of our Church Leadership Institute (CLI).  "Personal and Family Care" looks at the various demands on people's lives, how to discern God's vision for your life and ministry, and how to develop goals that will help you achieve that vision. We will also explore how to ensure that you have margin built into your life so you are better prepared for the emergencies that will occur. One section of the class will discuss what a pastor's salary and benefit package should include and a look at how to manage one's finances. The class focuses not only on our individual lives but how the decisions we make impact our families.

This course will benefit both clergy and lay people and is open to anyone interested in enjoying a healthier and more balanced life. The course includes four classes that will held on the campus of Franklin College on July 11, August 1, 15, and 29. I am the instructor of this course. Our CLI courses are not limited to American Baptists, and we invite anyone to enroll and take advantage of this training opportunity.

Registration for this course ends on July 3 so you need to hurry. If you cannot get registered by then, call our office at 317-635-3552 and talk to Jennifer Greene.

For more information on CLI, to view the syllabus, and to register for the course go to www.abc-indiana.org.  Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on CLI-Summer Term 2015 and follow the links. This class is only for those people who want to enjoy a healthier and more balanced life, so if this describes you we encourage you to register today. We would love to have you in class this summer!

Time wasters

Whether one is a bivocational pastor, a fully-funded pastor, or one who works in another profession, we are all faced with time challenges.  There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to do all the things we need to accomplish.  Our to-do list is often longer than the hours available.  We are often forced to make compromises in our use of time, and sometimes those consequences can lead to personal, financial, or relationship issues.

Each year I teach a course in our region's Church Leadership Institute called "Personal and Family Health."  The purpose of the class is to help people better balance the demands between their ministries and their personal lives.  We cover a broad range of topics in the four classes that make up the course, but in the first class we address the time challenges common to everyone.

The student's assignment for the second class is to list on a form I provide everything they do for one week in 15 minute increments.  They are to write a two page report on their findings.  The purpose of the assignment is to help them see that there may be pockets of time that could be used more effectively.  With very few exceptions, students report that they have identified numerous places where they are wasting time that could be better spent somewhere else.

Time management is really life management, and life management is really priority management.  When we set priorities around the major components of our lives and focus on accomplishing those priorities, it becomes much easier to effectively utilize our time.  The reality is that each of us have been given 24 hours a day, and our challenge is to use those 24 hours to their maximum potential.  In order to do that we need to identify the time-wasters that we allow to creep into our lives.  Some of those time-wasters may be

• Unnecessary meetings that have no agenda and no real purpose.
• Procrastination
• Television
• Cluttered work areas
• Handling paper more than once
• Misuse of social media
• Misuse of cell phones
• Doing things that should be delegated to someone else
• Doing things that are not aligned with your personal or organizational vision
• Allowing other people to set your agenda

There are many more items that could be added to this list.  What would you add?  I invite you to do the assignment my students do and list everything you do for one week in 15 minute increments and see if you learn anything about how you spend your time.  If you do, I would love for you to share with me your findings.

The effective pastor

The number one complaint I've heard from every bivocational minister I've talked to is the lack of time to accomplish all the things that needs to be done.  I often break down the life of a bivocational minister into five areas: God, Family, Church, Work, and Self-Care.  It is a real challenge to keep balance in these five areas of our lives.  I teach a class in our region's Church Leadership Institute that addresses this challenge, but I will be the first to admit that it's often difficult to balance these five areas in our lives.

One of the things I address in the class is the importance of setting priorities for how we manage our time.  If you don't set your priorities someone else will, and they will seldom have the same priorities for your life that you would have.  It is very easy for a bivocational minister to spend large blocks of time dealing with secondary issues and spending little time on the more important areas of our lives.

A book that I've started reading that looks like it will be very helpful is What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman.  In the second chapter he writes

When most people think of productivity, they think of efficiency - getting more things done in less time...While efficiency is important, it works only when we make it secondary, not primary.  It doesn't matter how efficient you are if you are doing the wrong things in the first place.  More important than efficiency is effectiveness - getting the right things done.  In other words, productivity is not first about getting more things done faster.  It's about getting the right things done.

Later in the chapter Perman reminds us of the words of Peter Drucker: "The most unproductive thing of all is to make more efficient what should not be done at all."  How many times have you been encouraged to download an app that someone insisted would save you a lot of time, but when you downloaded it you found that it did something that you really didn't need to be doing anyway?  That recently happened to me.  The app looked promising, but after downloading it I realized that it would take a long time to learn how to use it properly and it didn't do anything I wasn't already doing with another program that I already knew how to use.  I deleted the new app.

Looking back on my pastorate I have realized that many of the things I did really didn't need to be done at all, and if they did need done they should have been done by someone else.  My ministry became much less difficult when I learned to say no to things that I didn't need to do.  That gave me the freedom to do the things that actually needed to be done by the pastor that would help our church achieve the vision we believed God had given us.  I think you'll find the same thing to be true for you.

I can't tell you what things you need to do in order to be your most effective.  That will depend on the vision of your church and many other variables.  But, it is critical that you identify those things and begin to focus the bulk of your attention on them.  Delegate the other activities to other people.  If you say that you have no one you can trust for those other responsibilities then perhaps your first priority is to train people for those tasks.

The Pareto Principle teaches us that 20 percent of what we do gives us 80 percent of our results.  If we can focus more of our attention on that critical 20 percent our ministries will be much more effective, and, as an added bonus, we will feel much less stress in our ministries and lives.  That is a win-win!

For more information on how to better balance your life and ministry be sure to check out my book The Healthy Pastor: Easing the Pressures of Ministry.

Developing leaders for the church

The question is often asked, "Are leaders born or trained?"  The correct answer is "Yes!"  So far, I've not met a leader who had not been born, and most of them had received training of some kind.  No doubt there are some who were born to be leaders.  There's something in their DNA that just enables them to be a leader.  For others, leadership is more difficult, but even these people can often become a better leader with the proper training, and the right training will help the born leader be better as well.  The challenge for the local church is how to provide the training required that will develop the kinds of leaders our churches need.

In the region in which I serve, the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky, we developed the Church Leadership Institute (CLI) several years ago to provide training that would help raise the leadership level in our churches.  CLI consists of two tracks: a two-year program that leads to a Certificate in Church Leadership and a three-year track that earns the graduate a Diploma in Pastoral Ministry.  The two-year track requires that the graduate complete eight courses, and the three-year track requires an additional five courses for graduation.

Our original plan for CLI was to offer the two-year program to help develop the lay leaders who were serving in our churches.  As the first class neared the completion of the program they kept asking for more courses.  We then developed the third year track.  This program has been very successful in developing leaders in our churches, and we recently expanded the program from offering it at only one site to now making it available at three sites in Indiana.  We are currently exploring the possibility of adding two additional sites and looking at how it might grow even more in the future.

CLI has been successful in another way as well.  Some of our graduates are now serving as bivocational pastors in some of our smaller churches.  Many of their churches struggled for years with revolving-door pastorates and had been in decline.  Our CLI graduates have brought stability to these churches, and most of them have seen solid growth under the pastoral leadership of our CLI students.

CLI was never intended to replace a seminary education.  In fact, it was not originally designed to train pastoral leaders at all, but God has used this program to prepare some of those he has called to bivocational ministry in this region.

Across denominations, the numbers of bivocational ministers are growing, and most denominations expect that number to continue to climb.  The challenge facing each of us is how do we train these folks God is calling to this ministry.  Some will find ways to attend seminary, but many will not.  If we want trained bivocational ministers, denominations and judicatories are going to have to provide that training.  Some already offer such training programs, but many do not.  Those that do not need to take a long look at what this is going to cost them long-term if they have increasing numbers of churches being served by untrained pastors.

While we are training bivocational ministers we must not forget the importance of developing our lay leadership as well.  That has been one of the strengths of our program: it offers training for both lay and pastoral leadership.  We believe that if the leadership level is raised in our churches it makes it possible for our churches to enjoy more productive ministries.  I encourage our churches to view CLI as a training partner to help them develop the leadership their churches need.

Has God called you to leadership in a local church?  It doesn't matter if it is a pastoral role or a lay leadership position, that call to serve is also a call to prepare.  If you serve in Indiana or Kentucky you are invited to enroll in our CLI program regardless of your denominational affiliation.  If you serve outside our region, I encourage you to contact your state convention or district office and ask if they offer leadership development programs.  You may be a born leader, but you will become an even more effective one if you are also a trained leader.

Church Leadership Institute

Several years ago the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky began to seek a new way of developing leaders in our churches.  After about a year of studying similar programs we developed a two-year study we called the Church Leadership Institute (CLI) and began the first class.  Our goal was to have ten people in our first class.  Thirty-two enrolled, and we have never looked back.

The primary purpose was to train lay leaders for our churches, but as the first class began to work its way through the program they started asking what was available for them when they finished their studies.  The development team decided to add a second level which would also be for lay leaders but could provide training for persons serving in bivocational churches who may not have a seminary education.  The first level consists of eight courses which can be completed in two years, and the second level is an additional five courses which requires a third year to complete.  Each course consists of four classes held on Saturdays over a two month period.

By any measurement, CLI has been a success for our region.  Dozens of students have completed either the two or three year programs.  Several of them are now serving as bivocational ministers in our region, and the rest are providing exceptional leadership to their churches in various capacities.  These students have received an education that could not be offered in most local churches by qualified instructors who hold advanced degrees in the fields they are teaching and/or have experience in those areas.

Due to the generosity of Franklin College all our classes have been offered on their beautiful campus until last year.  Our primary campus remains at Franklin, but we now have sites in New Albany and Vevay where our classes are also offered.  We hope to soon be able to have a site in northern Indiana to make this program more accessible to churches there.

Another change that occurred last year is that we opened CLI up to anyone regardless of their denominational affiliation or church membership.  Prior to this it was only available to members of our region churches, but we believe that this training can benefit more churches than just those in our particular denomination.  We already have a few individuals from other denominations participating in CLI, and our prayer is that we will see this number grow.

As a pastor for twenty years I know that in nearly every church there are a handful of individuals who want to go deeper in their training and in their walk with God.  I also know that it is very difficult for a pastor to spend the time with these individuals that he or she would like to spend.  There are so many demands on a pastor's time that it is very difficult to invest the amount of time in these folks that would be needed.  I also know that no pastor has the experience and knowledge in each of the subjects we teach to give their people what they need to go deeper. 

We want to help you and your people grow deeper in their walk with God and in their leadership capabilities.  CLI has proven its ability to do that for the past dozen years, and we would like the opportunity to work with you and your church to do that for you. 

For more information about CLI go to our website at www.abc-indiana.org and follow the links to CLI or contact Jennifer Greene at jennifergreene@abc-indiana.org. 

Training men and women for church leadership

Ten years ago the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky launched the Church Leadership Institute (CLI) as a way to train lay leaders in our churches for more effective leadership.  We also wanted to provide a way to help equip persons who felt called to bivocational ministry but lacked formal ministerial and theological training.  A year prior to the launch a team of people looked at programs other denominations were using.  We adapted some elements of their programs and added some we felt were important to our region.  Because Franklin College is rather centrally located in our state we asked to use one of their classrooms for our classes, and they very graciously agreed.  We decided that if ten students signed up for the first class we would consider that a success.  Thirty-two people enrolled in that class, and CLI has never looked back.

This past Saturday a graduation service was held in the Franklin College chapel for six graduates.  One of those graduates completed the two year program which earned him a Certificate in Christian Leadership.  The other five completed the third year of classes for which they received a Diploma in Pastoral Studies.  One of these graduates currently serves as a bivocational pastor in Michigan!  He had about a four hour drive each way to attend our Saturday classes, and said during the graduation service that what he received from this program was far more than what it cost him to travel.

Since its inception 217 students have been enrolled in CLI.  Fifty-four of them have taken one or more courses for their own personal enrichment in the past two years.  They may or may not complete the entire program, but they saw some individual courses they believed would be a benefit to them.  We currently have 35 students enrolled in either the two-year or three-year program.  Fifty-two students have graduated with either the certificate or the diploma.

A number of our graduates are now serving as bivocational pastors in this region.  While CLI was never designed to replace a seminary education, it does provide very practical and theological training for persons who feel called to ministry but will not be able to pursue a formal seminary education.  Each of these individuals are enjoying productive ministries in their churches.  However, the majority of our graduates are serving in their churches as lay leaders.  Through CLI they have been equipped to provide leadership to their churches in a way that they could not before their involvement with CLI.

As exciting as our past ten years have been, we are looking ahead to the future.  Last year we added an additional site to make CLI available to more individuals in our region, and this fall we are adding a third site in another part of our state.  In addition, we have now opened CLI up to church leaders of all denominations.  Previously, we made it available only to persons in the American Baptist churches in our region, but now we are inviting persons from all churches to enroll in CLI.

One of the challenges I continually hear from denominational leaders is how they will train the growing numbers of bivocational ministers in their denomination.  Something like CLI is one possibility.  Develop a quality program, staff it with excellent instructors, and make it available at a reasonable cost, and it will attract persons who want to grow in their leadership skills.  Not only will it attract bivocational ministers, but it will attract lay leaders from your churches who will take back to their churches the things they have learned.  This can have a great impact on your churches.  One of the responsibilities of a leader is to develop other leaders.  I believe we in denominational work need to identify ways to develop leaders for our churches, and CLI is a way that is working for us.

When you manage your life you will manage your time

Several years ago our region created the Church Leadership Institute to help develop lay leaders and bivocational ministers for our churches.  Nearly each year I teach a class on "Personal and Family Health" that addresses the importance of maintaining balance in our lives and ministries.  The first assignment I give the students is to keep a record of everything they do for one week and write a brief report on what they learned from the exercise.  I provide them with a chart to help them track their activities in 15 minute segments.  The students often complain when the assignment is explained that they won't be able to track their time, but in their reports they usually note that they learned a lot from the exercise.  What many of them learn is that there is a lot of time each week that is used in things that really don't matter very much.  They recognize that instead of complaining they don't have time to do all the things that are expected of them, they really have plenty of time if they just use it wisely.

That is true for many people.  There is no question that time management is one of the most critical issues facing most bivocational ministers.  So many things demand our attention.  If we're not careful we can spend so much time dealing with urgent issues that we have no time left for the things that really matter.  More than one pastor's family has been alienated from the church because of the amount of time church work took away from them.  Several years ago I read the comments of a pastor's wife who said if her husband was having an affair she could fight that, but she wondered how she was supposed to fight when her husband's mistress was the church.  She is not the only pastor's spouse that has asked that question, and similar questions often come from the pastor's children as well.

In my class I stress there are five areas that bivocational ministers must keep in balance: our relationship with God, our relationship with our families, our church work, our other jobs, and our own self-care.  Neglecting any of these can lead to bad results, and focusing too much on one area while only giving an occasional glance at the others will lead to an unbalanced and unhealthy life.  What is needed is for us to set goals in each of these areas to ensure that we maintain a healthy balance.

When my students complain about having to track their time for one week I can usually get them to stop complaining when I tell them I tracked my time every day for four years!  It was part of a goal setting program I got from Zig Ziglar's organization.  Not only did I track everything I did for four years, in the book that was part of that program was an area where I had to mark down whether or not I had done something in eight different areas of life.  Those eight included the five I mentioned above.  Nobody would mark down they had done something in each of those eight areas every day, but at the end of the week it was very obvious that something was out of balance if one or two of those areas had no marks for the entire week.  It just provided me with a quick overview of my week and how well I was able to manage my life and my time.  Did I stay focused on the priorities I had set for myself, or did I allow myself to be pulled away from the things that were most important to me?

It is true that time management is really life management.  One can only manage his or her time if that life is lived with purpose.  Setting priorities and goals help prevent the urgent from taking us away from what is really important in life.  Living life in such a way helps one reach the end of the day feeling as if he or she accomplished something important that day.  It ends the frustration one feels when at the end of the day it is felt that nothing worthwhile was done

You can read more about this in my book The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry. One entire chapter is devoted to this topic and it includes some of the information I give my students.  If you're struggling with time issues in your ministry I would certainly recommend you read this book and begin to implement some of the suggestions you'll find there.

Passing the leadership baton

Probably the one thing that brings me the most pleasure these days is training future leaders. This past Saturday I taught the first class of a course I teach in our Church Leadership Institute on "Personal and Family Health." This term we have six students. Some are already serving as bivocational ministers; some are considering such a call while others in the class plan to continue as lay leaders in their churches. The course examines the challenges of ministry and how to maintain balance in the various areas of life that makes for a healthier life and ministry. I look forward to teaching this course each year because it addresses an aspect of leadership that is often overlooked.

For the past several years I've had the opportunity to lead a number of workshops for various denominations. Most of these workshops have focused on bivocational ministry, small church health, and transforming the small church. Some are scheduled for one-day events. Others are scheduled for multi-site, multi-day events. More than once I've done the same workshop in four different cities in four days in order to reach the greatest number of participants. I usually sleep well on the way home when these are over, but I am always energized by the opportunity to help equip current and future leaders.

A couple of years ago I was asked by a university to teach an on-line course on "The Healthy Church." I had taken on-line courses, but I had never taught one. I was impressed with the amount of work that went into the preparation of the course material and how it would be presented on-line. I think we had sixteen students enroll in the course. It was an intense time, but I loved every minute of it. Again, it was the excitement of training future leaders for our churches, being able to interact with them, respond to their questions, and listen to their concerns. Unfortunately, with a DMin and not a PhD not many of these opportunities are available to me due to the accrediting agencies preferring the PhD for instructors. Still, I would not have traded teaching that course for anything, and my prayer is that I helped at least one student as he or she moves forward in ministry.

As a denominational leader I sit in many meetings where the topic is the lack of great leaders for our churches. One of the aspects of our region's vision is to grow healthy leaders. Unfortunately, for many of us in these positions this has been talked about more often than it's been done. About 10-11 years ago we developed our Church Leadership Institute (CLI) in an effort to do that in our region, and since then we've had over 230 students taking classes with many of them completing a two or three year program of study. But, with over 300 churches in our region we need many more involved in such training. I often think if only ten people from each church in our region completed our CLI program it would have a tremendous impact on our churches and on our region. We now have a team looking at how we can do more to intentionally develop leaders in our region,and I think by the first of next year we will have implemented some new ways to do that.

What is your church doing to develop leaders in your congregation? Most churches are doing nothing intentional about leadership develop and wonder why they struggle to find excellent leaders. As the authors of The Leadership Baton: An Intentional Strategy for Developing Leaders in Your Church write, "The answer to the shortage of church leaders is...restoring the church to the center of leadership training....When the church is actively fulfilling its mission of raising up leaders for the harvest, nothing can stop it. The answer is church-based leadership development."  I would challenge you to become intentional about developing the leaders you need in your congregation.  Bivocational churches in the future are going to find it much easier to raise up men and women to serve as pastors from within their congregations than it will be to find some person from the outside to serve in that capacity, but the time to start developing these leaders is now.  Our churches also need to focus on developing their lay leadership if they are serious about becoming more effective in their various ministries.  The key word here is intentional and the time to begin is now.

Leadership development

Today is a special day in our region.  Our Church Leadership Institute (CLI) will be graduating six new students from our program.  Some of these are already serving as bivocational pastors in some of our churches while others are lay leaders in their respective churches.  Each of them have earned either the Certificate in Church Leadership or the Diploma in Pastoral Ministries depending on whether they have completed the two year or three year program.  These individuals have worked hard giving up four Saturdays for each course they completed.  For most, this has been a three or four year process.  Some had well over an hour's drive each way to the classes that are taught on the campus of Franklin College here in Indiana.  They were challenged by instructors who have the education and experience to teach the courses they led.  Each of these individuals have the right to feel good about their accomplishment.

At every CLI graduation I am amazed at the students who are graduating and their stories.  Some have driven three hours each way to attend classes.  Some needed financial assistance to complete their studies and found sources of funds that enabled them to do that.  Many of them speak of the sacrifices of their family members who allowed them to give up their Saturdays to attend classes.  A few began their studies desiring to learn more about the Bible and church leadership so they could return to their churches and be more effective leaders only to feel a call of God on their lives to pastoral ministry. Every graduate has a story to tell.

Why do these individuals enroll in CLI?  Each of them take seriously the call upon every Christian's life to be a disciple.  These are individuals who want to go deeper with God than many of our church members.  They sense a call of God on their lives to serve as leaders, either pastoral or lay, in their churches, and they want to be as prepared as possible.  We offer a depth of instruction that is deeper than most churches can provide, and this is what they want.  They want to be stretched in their faith, and I believe every class does that.

In my opinion, our Church Leadership Institute is one of the best ministries our region has offered our churches in some time.  It is a way for our region to partner with our churches in the area of discipleship and growing healthy leaders.  If I was pastoring a church again I would want every leader and potential leader in my church to be enrolled in CLI.  I would challenge my church to pay at least part of their tuition as an investment in the future of our church.

We are about to make some significant changes in our Church Leadership Institute.  Up until now we have only made it available to our American Baptist churches here in Indiana, but we are now opening it up to anyone regardless of denomination.  Currently, we still only offer it through a classroom setting at Franklin College, but we are exploring some other options.  If you are within driving distance of Franklin College (and we currently have a student driving down from Michigan!) and would like to know more about how the Church Leadership Institute can help you grow as a disciple and a leader in your church, please contact me or check our website at www.abc-indiana.org and look up the Church Leadership Institute.

Sharing pastors

This past weekend I spoke with a lay leader in a church who wanted to know how many of the churches in my judicatory share the same pastor.  While that is common in some denominations, especialy the United Methodists, we do not currently have any of our Baptist churches in our region sharing pastors.  He was surprised as he feels that is the next thing that is coming for our smaller churches struggling to find pastoral leadership.  I agree, but it won't be easy.

As a Baptist for over 50 years I can tell you we are a stubborn people.  Several years ago when I was still a bivocational pastor my Area Minister asked if I would consider serving a second church.  I was agreeable, and the leadership in the church I was serving agreed to share me with the other church.  However, when he approached that church of less than a dozen people they declined.  They insisted they wanted their "own" pastor.  For the next several years they cycled through a new pastor about every 12 months.  They were able to have their own pastor, but they never experienced any kind of continuity in ministry making it impossible for them to enjoy any type of positive ministry in their community.  Unfortunately, that mindset can be found in many, if not most, of our smaller Baptist churches.

Max DePree tells us the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.  Sometimes that reality is painful and hard to hear, but it needs to be heard.  Studies consistently find that a growing number of pastors are unwilling to serve in smaller churches.  (You'll have to define what a smaller church is for your denomination because it does vary.)  There is not a clergy shortage as far as raw numbers of clergy persons vs the number of churches, but there is a severe clergy shortage for smaller churches.  You can criticize this all you want and question their faithfulness to God's call on their lives, but that doesn't change the reality of our situation.  Many pastors are not going to serve smaller churches.

This is becoming painfully obvious for the growing numbers of churches that have been served by fully-funded pastors in the past but find they cannot find one willing to serve their church now.  In the past five years I have helped a number of these churches make the shift from fully-funded leadership to bivocational leadership.  In most cases it has worked well once we got past some self-esteem issues in the church.  The second reality is that more of our churches are going to be making this same shift in the near future as their current pastoral leadership retire or accept other places to serve.

The problem here is that there is not an unlimited number of bivocational ministers either.  I do not talk with leaders of any denomination who tell me they have an abundance of good bivocational ministers.  Often, bivocational ministers will serve in churches that are geographically feasible which reduces the number of available bivocational people even further.  I may have one or two bivocational ministers seeking a church to serve in southern Indiana, but that doesn't help the church in northern Indiana because these folks can't move that far from their other employment.

In my mind there are two things that must take place.  One, churches and denominational leaders must become more intentional about identifying and training bivocational ministers.  The identification will come primarily through the local churches while the training will often need to be provided by denominationa and judicatories.  In our case we developed what we call the Church Leadership Institute to help develop our lay leaders and bivocational ministers.

The second thing that needs to happen is that more of our smaller churches must accept the idea of sharing pastors with another church.  There is not time in this post to address all the excuses I hear from churches that do not want to do that, but I will say that every concern can be overcome.   Having a trained, dedicated bivocational pastor that you share with another church will serve your church much better than if you hire someone who is related to a church member's uncle's step-sister on her father's side just so you can have your "own" pastor.

For years many fully-funded churches believed they would be going backwards if they called a bivocational church.  Many of these churches who have now called a bivocational minister tell me they wish they had done so much earlier.  I believe the same thing will happen as churches begin to share pastors.  Once they get the details worked out many of these churches will enjoy the quality of ministry they receive from their pastors, and they too will wish they had done so much sooner.

Church Leadership Institute

About ten years ago our region, the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky created the Church Leadership Institute (CLI) to help train lay leaders and bivocational pastors in our churches.  It has been exciting to see the people go through this program and the growth they have experienced as a result.  Each class is currently taught at Franklin College and consists of four Saturday sessions over a two month period.  Students can take up to four classes a year.  You can get more information about the program and register at http://abc-indiana.org/region-ministries/cli/.

This past Saturday I taught my class on "Personal and Family Health."  This class examines the challenges of ministry and the importance of maintaining balance in one's life.  Time management is always a challenge for bivocational ministers, and we looked at how time management is really life management.  The class also learned about some of the effects a lack of balance in one's life can have on one's ministry, family, and personal life.  It was a very good session with great discussion.  Much of the discussion in this session came out of The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry.  I'm really looking forward to our next session.

The Church Leadership Institute can be an excellent tool for churches to use in training their lay leaders.  On the web page mentioned above you can see the various courses that make up the program, and I can assure you that the instructors for these courses are well qualified.  Most of them have earned doctorates and great experience in the particular course they are teaching.  Some of our students are not American Baptists and we are certainly open to having persons from other denominational groups enroll in our program.

One change that was made in the program a couple of years ago is that it is not necessary to enroll in the entire program.  Students may take just one or two courses if they choose for personal enrichment.  The cost for each course is quite reasonable, the courses are very practical for both lay and pastoral leaders, and our students are able to take what they learn in CLI to make a difference in their churches and in their own personal spiritual development.

If you think you might be interested in learning more about CLI or to register for an upcoming class, please contact me or the persons listed on the web page.  We are now accepting applications for the fall term.