“And because (Paul) was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tentmakers. And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:3-4).
Paul was a bi-vocational preacher. A self-supporting apostle.
He received occasional help from the churches he had begun, and he taught that the minister of the gospel has a right to be supported by those to whom he is ministering. (Those who insist otherwise would do well to read the Bible before pontificating on it.) But, it would appear that mostly he paid his own way.
A bi-vocational pastor is one who holds down two full-time jobs, the one at church and the other one which pays most of the bills.
Either his church is small and cannot afford to pay him a full salary, or he has started the church himself and it has not grown to the point of self-sufficiency, or he feels called to a bi-vo kind of ministry.
Don’t miss that: “he holds down two full-time jobs.” That’s not a typo. Ask any pastor trying to do this. They know.
For six years after God called me into His service, I expected that mine would be this kind of dual-ministry of teaching history in college, particularly to freshmen, while pastoring small churches on the side. In fact, after graduating from seminary with a masters degree at the age of 27, I had planned to go on to a state university somewhere and get a doctorate in history.
For years I had been burdened about young people going off to college and being thrown into that life with inadequate preparation and few people on campus to catch them. I was determined to be one of the catchers.
After finishing seminary and while pastoring the little Baptist church on Alligator Bayou some 25 miles west of New Orleans, a Mississippi congregation called to see if I would talk to them about becoming their pastor. I stalled for time, telling the chairman of deacons that my wife and I were about to take a week’s vacation to Texas (a reward we were giving ourselves), and “May I call you when we get back?”
We were in a hotel in San Antonio one night. For several days we had been driving and walking and seeing sights and were tired. Margaret was asleep, and I was on my knees talking to the Lord. Suddenly, as clearly as He had extended the original call to the ministry six years earlier, the Lord let me know I was to pastor His churches. History teaching was a thing of the past.
I accepted this and went on to pastor four more churches, and have never doubted that it was of God. Even so, I have always had a place in my heart for pastors who try to ride this “bicycle built for two,” the ministry of bi-vocationalism.
When a friend asked me to write a piece for bi-vo pastors, I begged off, saying that I’m not qualified. When he insisted, I asked him to suggest some topics I should address. What follows is his list and my attempt to respond to them. I am more aware than anyone how feeble some of these answers are, but I send them forth with the prayer that someone may be encouraged. Keep reading
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