Every person in ministry has a degree of difficulty juggling responsibilities and serving the needs of others. But bivocational pastors, who comprise 50-70% of Baptist church leaders, have a more challenging time balancing the needs of those in their church and family with work obligations.
“Being a bivocational pastor is pretty demanding. Your time is stretched broadly,” Tim Henning, founding pastor of New Beginnings Fellowship (SBC) in Trussville, said. “You’re not only trying to be a pastor, but you have a job outside the church, and you are trying to be a good father and parent.
“We may be bivocational, but the demands of ministry are still full time. This can be very stressful.”
Henning, president of the Alabama Baptist Bivocational Ministers Association, noted other challenges to being bivocational, such as having time to do discipleship, counseling, building friendships with lost people and leading the church in outreach.
However, there also are advantages.
‘In the marketplace’
“Because we’re in the marketplace, we interact with a lot of people we would never meet if we were in a full-time church setting,” he said. “I’ve had opportunities to talk to people, have spiritual conversations, share the gospel and even lead people to the Lord that only happened because my job placed me in their environment.”
Due to the unique needs of bivocational ministers, the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions provides resources to support and encourage them. One is the 2022 Bivocational Minister/Spouse Retreat at Shocco Springs, set this year for Feb. 18–19. It can be difficult for bivocational pastors to regularly attend associational meetings and activities, so the annual retreat — for pastors and their spouses — is an opportunity to connect and have fellowship with others who are bivocational.
The main retreat speaker will be Ken Adams, lead pastor of Crossroads Church in Newnan, Georgia and president of Impact Discipleship Ministries.
Adams will share about reaching and discipling people patterned after the ministry of Jesus, based on discipling a small group that in turn disciples others. Using this approach, Adams’ church has grown from a handful of members to more than 3,000 meeting in three locations.
“Some modern strategies to church growth have resulted in some churches being a mile wide and an inch deep,” Henning noted. “However, the discipleship approach starts very slow, then it snowballs. Spiritual formation becomes a very important component to this process.
“Hopefully, this year’s retreat will plant a seed in all our hearts that will grow and become a movement with a new vision and new direction for reaching people. Hopefully, we will gain a new strategy that I think will be healthier for our ministries and more in line with the way Jesus did it,” he said.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the strategies we’ve done in the past are based on marketing; this strategy is based on biblical principles and the example of Jesus.”
Henning thinks the fellowship will be “refreshing,” but hopes “a vision and strategy will be communicated that could change the whole direction of a ministry, especially for pastors who are discouraged and need something new breathed into their heart and life.”
Facebook fellowship
Another way bivocational pastors can connect no matter where they live or how busy their schedule is the private Facebook group “Bivocational Ministries,” which can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/bivoministries.
Once a pastor has joined the group, he has an automatic network of others who understand his life and struggles. He also can see announcements, events and topics that relate specifically to the bivocational setting and Southern Baptist Convention life. There also are plans to coordinate bivocational small groups that meet virtually.
To register for this year’s conference, click here.
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