By Troy Neujahr
Is bivocational ministry on your horizon? Does it seem scary? Can it be good?
Imagine a pastor and his church leaders sitting down together to hammer out next year’s budget. As the evening wears on, the income and expense columns show a resolute resistance to meeting one another. The light joking slowly becomes somber; smiling good humor hardens into serious faces. On the one hand, everyone at the table knew this day would come — and had known it for years — but to see the figures laid out plainly is an entirely different matter. There is one thought, shared but as of yet unspoken, in each person’s mind: “We’re not going to make it next year.”
The church leaders, faithful to the Lord and thankful for their pastor, nervously eye the line item for pastor’s salary: It’s easily the largest expense this small church has. The faithful shepherd, ever concerned for the well-being of the flock entrusted to him, lets his eye fall on the same budgetary expense and inwardly acknowledges what he knows the church leaders to be thinking. Eventually, something must be said, and the chairman, hardly daring to raise his eyes to his beloved pastor, says, “Pastor … we don’t want to lower your salary … but what else can we do?” The pastor steels his will and, after the slow beat of an inhaled breath and an exhaled prayer, suggests, “Well … maybe I can find an extra job.”
And with that, the thing is spoken and on the table for consideration. The congregation and pastor have unwittingly stumbled onto a solution that stretches back through the long centuries of the church’s history, a line of tradition that encounters none less than the apostle Paul himself, and that many in the American church today are considering or turning to: bivocational ministry.
There are any number of names for that model. It has been called at times being a “worker-priest.” A more modern label echoes a reality of not just two, but perhaps three or more jobs for the pastor: “covocational ministry.” But no matter the label, it is the same model: a called, credentialed minister simultaneously engaging in both secular and sacred vocations so that he can provide the necessities of life without falling into the church’s financial gap.
But what does bivocational ministry mean for your church? Does it seem scary or troublesome? Hasn’t God commanded that the preacher is worthy of “double honor” (1 Tim. 5:17)? And if we can’t give our pastor the double honor of esteem and earnings, does that mean we’ve failed somehow? Is this the way it’s supposed to be?
Through the apostle Paul’s example, we are able to confess that while bivocational ministry perhaps isn’t God’s ideal, that does not keep Him from placing His stamp of approval on the bivocational model when it is necessary. Neither does it prevent Him from working great wonders through it.
Consider Paul’s example: Coming off a successful first missionary journey, he laid plans for a second one. And all was well until the Lord — as is His wont — chose to take Paul off his carefully planned itinerary and place him on His own. For Paul, unexpected travel changes brought unplanned-for expenses, and after having been off-budget for some time, he came to Thessalonica in need of money. And in that city God did a wonder: The apostle Paul, while he earned his daily bread by sitting at a quiet workbench cutting leather and stitching tents, would also preach. At mealtimes, when the workers would set aside their shared labor and come together to share a meal, Paul would preach. And soon, the workers who shared life and labor were now sharing something greater. They did not cease to be a workshop, but through Paul’s preaching they nevertheless became something new: They had become church. The Lord had used Paul’s secular labor as a means for providence, and He had used Paul’s sacred labors as His means of creating faith. The Thessalonians and Paul shared table, shared workbench, and shared Sacrament.
That is a truly lovely picture. But as with all romantic views, there lies underneath a gritty reality. Tentmaking as a rule was not tremendously prosperous, and making a sustaining wage required Paul to work long, wearying hours. Paul later reminded the Thessalonians of this “labor and toil” — “we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God” (1 Thess. 2:9). No doubt Paul’s exhausted body fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, perhaps even with a half-completed prayer of thanksgiving for and of protection over the little Thessalonian flock on his lips.
The Lord used this less-than-ideal situation to give good gifts and to grant the eternal Gospel. The fledgling congregation, made up of poor craftsmen, had a pastor. They had a pastor who loved them, and because he earned his own money, he could remain with them and teach them to worship, teach them to pray, teach them to give. The Holy Spirit remained active through the concrete Means of Grace. The Lord Jesus Christ proved Himself once again to be the gracious Lord of His church, providing for them in unexpected ways.
Have no fear, little flock. Bivocational ministry is no failure, but a gracious condescension of God, who, as long as He has people willing to hear and men willing to preach, will use this model. Have no fear, pastors. Your spiritual labors have not suddenly diminished to being part-time. You have not suddenly become less spiritual or less successful than your brothers. But what you have done is taken a burden that rightly belongs to the congregation — that of providing for the pastor’s needs — and, taking up your cross, placed their burden upon yourself. The bivocational pastor willingly takes on a burden the congregation cannot bear, and does so for their benefit.
Have no fear, churches. There is no shame in your pastor having an outside job. While it may be true that you cannot provide the level of salary that you would like to give your beloved pastor, you can nevertheless richly support him in numerous other ways and become to him a blessing that sustains his spirit even when his body might become weary.
Is bivocational ministry on your horizon? Then be of good cheer! Bivocational ministry might not look like the ministry paradigm that we’ve become accustomed to; it might not even look like the ministry paradigm we want. But that in no way lessens the genuine good God accomplishes through it, because Christ is yet preached.
When church finances threaten to overwhelm the little ark of the local church, bivocational ministry can be a lifeline that, as it keeps the doors open and the lights on, also keeps the Gospel ringing forth from the pulpit. As Paul discovered in Thessalonica, the Lord uses bivocational ministry not just to sustain a congregation, but to ensure for Himself a church. Through bivocational ministry, the Lord ensures a thriving, life-giving church, because through it, Christ is yet preached.
This article originally appeared in the February 2025 issue of The Lutheran Witness.
Cover image: Getty Images.