Bi-vocational ministry – a blessing or a burden?

What if being a pastor didn’t mean being full-time at church? Lee Carmichael's honest reflection explores the surprising blessings of bi-vocational ministry — where calling meets the workplace, and faith finds fresh expression beyond the pulpit.

In 2012 I thought I’d failed at being a pastor. I couldn’t grow my church enough to pay me a full salary and I’d been at it for eight years. What I felt called to since the age of 15 was seemingly slipping away – maybe I didn’t pray enough, have enough faith or love people authentically?

What was certain was that I needed work and found it full-time in a secondary school as a behaviour support worker. I served a one-year contract, then moved with the same role to a local school where I’d previously been on the chaplaincy team.

It was in the workplace that I first realised I was good at what I did. I didn’t need more students to know it... my calling to serve in ministry was reaffirmed in the workplace.

After leaving my first school, I had a call from my former head-teacher; one of the students at the school had died unexpectedly and they asked if I would speak to each year group after the news had been announced to them. My then current head-teacher was happy to let me go on their paid time.

And so it was that in a town where several churches were close to the school, it was my workplace connection that enabled me this privileged moment. I was able to share, within the limits possible in a place of education, a biblical hope and prayer with hundreds of students who would be questioning the nature and meaning of life in view of a peer’s death.

After ten years in my first church, I moved to minister in Ingatestone. I went from full-time in school to one day a week. We had 18 months to make the arrangement work and God has faithfully kept us and the church financially viable since. We came to a place where we could afford a full salary, yet I remain part-time, now two days a week at Christian safeguarding charity Thirtyone:Eight for the past eight years.

Bi-vocational benefits outweigh what I could bring in a full-time role. We’ve been able to afford part-time team members who bring a different life and skill-set; the connection I experience with our adults in the workplace has been enhanced; pastoral care is owned by the body instead of the few; my transferable skills have increased through what I learn at work; and I have friends outside of church. And for two days a week I am someone else’s problem! (Actually I’m not, but it’s nice to be managed and just be a team member without overall responsibility.)

Plus, money is released for other areas of ministry; and the church’s impact/health does not rest solely on my shoulders.

Finances may necessitate working part-time as a pastor, but I truly believe there are many blessings of a bi-vocational life. It can be something we choose – not just be stuck with.

I thank God for when I learned that my identity, worth and health are not wrapped up in my work as a pastor, or whether I am full-time or part-time. Nor is it in the size of my church.

I believe the church needs to intentionally raise bi-vocational leaders and not just because money is tight. Bi-vocational ministry can work in all church settings, especially small, and it widens the front line of our mission to the workplace alongside those we have the privilege of leading spiritually.

What if enlarging your tent didn’t mean building a bigger church building, but going beyond the office of pastor and into the office of people, in whatever workplace that may be?

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.