Bivocational Pastor Packet

Table of Contents

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For Pastors:

Pros and Cons
Bivocational ministry is not for every pastor. This gathering of positives and negatives from research and Mennonite bivocational pastors may help discern if God is calling you to this unique form of ministry.

Time Management and Boundaries
How to accept being “done” when there is always more that could be done. How to accept that we can’t and won’t attend everything full-time pastors do. Rituals to un-hook and protect the day off.

Empowering Laity and Leading Collaboratively
Guidelines for equipping and empowering congregational members to share leadership so that the pastor doesn’t have to be present at all committee meetings yet is kept informed.

Implications for the family
Advice for family care such as: Never use vacation from secular job to pastor. Take vacations. Plan family nights that neither job can interrupt.

Are Part-time pastors only Partly pastors?
Some part-time or bivocational pastors feel at times like second-class pastors. Our society contributes to this in ways.

For Congregations/Pastors:

Care and feeding of a bivocational pastor
Implications for the congregation to consider when hiring a bivocational pastor.

Negotiation guidelines
A clear agreement between pastor and congregation is always useful, but absolutely essential in a bivocational setting.

Qualities to look for
Research suggests certain kinds of characteristics lend themselves to successful, contented bivocational ministry.

Good jobs to pair with ministry
Certain jobs lend themselves most naturally to working with ministry.

Biblical and theological support for Bivocational Ministry

Resources:

MMA has below-market or near-market loans to start-up businesses that may allow an entrepreneurial pastor to work bivocationally www.mma-online.org.
MEDA offers start-up loans through ACCESS program to make loans to a community association that might include employment for the pastor www.meda.org.

Articles:
“A call for bivocational or part-time pastors” ,The Mennonite, November 16, 2004
“Mennonite Macedonias”, The Mennonite, October 17, 2006

Bibliography

D.Min Dissertation Article

Survey of Mennonite Pastors

All bivocational congregations and pastors should have this quote carved in stone:

“A part-time arrangement between pastor and congregation does not mean that the person is a part-time pastor, nor that the congregation is a part-time church.”

-Stephen Norcross