( Click here for more info from Facts & Trends.)ģ. Even in the United States, their number is increasing at a rapid rate as the size of existing churches continues to decline and new church plants pop up.īivocational ministry is how a large and growing number of the world’s churches are pastored.Īccording to the 2015 Faith Communities Today survey, fewer than two-thirds (62.2 percent) of U.S. Bivocational Ministry Is Becoming More Commonīivocational ministry is how a large and growing number of the world’s churches are pastored. If you’ve spent your ministry as a staff pastor, or if you live and minister where there are plenty of large churches around, it’s easy to think that full-time, multi-staff churches are normal, even typical.Įven in places where large, full-time, multi-staff churches are normal now, their numbers will be decreasing in the coming years. Bivocational Ministry Is Not RareĪ large percentage of pastors are bivocational. Here are 9 realities and trends I have picked up from my research, observations, and conversations with dozens of bivocational pastors.

Whether you want to be a church planter or pastor an existing church, it’s likely you’ll spend at least some of your pastoral ministry being bivocational.īivocational ministers (pastors who work outside the church to provide most or all of their household income) may be the most under-appreciated and overlooked leaders in the church. Learn how to pay the bills outside of your pastoral salary.

If I could only teach one vocational principle to young pastors-to-be, it would probably be this.

Bi vocational pastor jobs