For twenty years I led churches while working a regular job — what’s often called bi-vocational or tentmaker ministry. Most of that time was in Shrewsbury and then Stockholm. I’m no longer bi-vocational, but these posts come from that experience and I hope they’re still useful to those who are.
What bi-vocational leadership actually is
- Church planting essentials: setting your pace
- 3 mistakes to avoid before going full time
- Planting a church is lonely
The theology behind it
Further reading See also the Europe and church planting page for more on planting in post-Christian contexts.
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3 mistakes to avoid before going full-time
You’re a church leader working two jobs, you have a family and your church is growing, there are pastoral challenges and the Sunday sermon is regularly being written late on Saturday night. You’re living with that constant sense of guilt that something important is not getting the best from you – your job, your church…
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Interview on bi-vocational leadership
Recently I was interviewed by Andy Peck for The Leadership File on Premier Radio in the UK. We discuss the pros & cons for both the leader and the church of working bi-vocationally. I ended with the plea that church leaders should not see being paid full-time as a sort of holy grail and for churches…
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A church history of bivocational ministry
A change is happening throughout the Western church in the nature and form of church leadership. There is a significant shift towards what is known as bivocational ministry. David Gustafson (@dgustafs1) associate professor of evangelism and missional ministry at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School has written a helpful introduction to the long history of bivocational leadership. Here’s the…
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The future of church planting: bi-vocational ministry
Christianity Today has posted an article by Daniel Im on trends in church planting and it deals with bi-vocational ministry. He says being bi-vocational ministry is being embraced for three main reasons: As a deliberate strategy: “In the future of church planting we will see church planters embracing bi-vocational ministry as a missiological strategy, rather…
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Lessons in church planting
I’ve been involved in the planting of two churches now and I’ve learnt a few things along the way, but I’m still learning. Here are some lessons from other church planters and then some thoughts on common themes. Tom O’Toole writes on 4 things to cut from your church budget and 3 to include Steve…
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The Coming New Normal
Carl Trueman recently took up the theme of the bi-vocational church leader in a post called The Coming New Normal and as usual makes some excellent points. He believes that, Bi-vocational pastoring will become more common, if not standard, in the next decade Now it’s not the first time that Prof Trueman has jumped (unwittingly) on my…
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Count Zinzendorf & being bi-vocational
Zinzendorf, on missions. “Live humbly among the heathens. Never lord over them. Work diligently with your hands for your own support.” — Jon Tyson (@JonTyson) April 19, 2014 Any other quotes like this that support the idea of the bi-vocational leader? Photo by fhwrdh
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The two ends of the bi-vocational spectrum
Last week I was given a vivid insight into the wide spectrum of possibilities when it comes to being bi-vocational. I was at a pastors conference and happened to be sharing a room with Jonathan LeTocq (the smiling man on the right in the picture). Jonathan is lead pastor of Church on the Rock, Guernsey.…
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5 things to do before you give up being bi-vocational
This is the third post in a mini-series about bi-vocational leaders in churches (The bi-vocational leader & 5 reasons why I’m happy to be bi-vcoational). There are many leaders in many churches who work two jobs and for many there comes a time when they wonder whether life wouldn’t really be better with just one…
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Five reasons why I’m happy to be a bi-vocational leader
On Monday I outlined three different ways a leader could be bi-vocational. Today I want to outline five reasons why I’m positive about this and in no great rush to change. Bi-vocational is the norm for leaders. Note I didn’t say pastors or church staff, but the majority of leaders in the majority of churches…