What It Takes to Do Bi-Vocational Ministry Well

In my opinion, a lot. A whole lot.

I’m not going to pretend it’s easy. It’s been bumpy for me at times. But I remain committed to planting a church that has highly decentralized ministries while staying officer-led. It’s a learning experience. And I believe figuring this out could pave the way for a reproducible model that holds up in locations — and times — marked by economic distress.

I don’t think this is the model for church planting. But given where we are culturally and economically, it’s a model worth attempting.

The Demands of Bi-Vocational Ministry

Bi-vocationalism isn’t for everyone. In fact, it may only be for exceptional cases — especially if your church is around 150 people or larger. Here's what it takes:

1. You need a good clutch.

The bi-vocational life requires the ability to shift gears and intensity fast.
You have to move from work to ministry to family and back again at the drop of a dime — without burning out your “clutch.” If you can't throttle your mental and emotional energy up and down quickly, you’re going to grind yourself (and everyone around you) into dust.

2. You need a solid employer relationship.

You have to work for an employer who at least tolerates — and ideally supports — your ministerial commitments.
This is rare. So you need to bring enough value to your employer that they’re happy to have you aboard even if you can only give them part-time attention sometimes. If you can’t add value, you’re replaceable. And if you’re replaceable, you're in trouble.

3. You need a good ecclesiastical relationship.

Your church and your elders need to understand that you have real commitments outside of the church.
This is trickier than it sounds. Pastors get criticized for two opposite things: either not being busy enough with “real work” or not being available 24/7. It's a catch-22. The only way to navigate it is clear role definitions and constant communication. And most importantly: you must have a functioning plurality of elders to share the load.

4. You need ironclad routines.

You cannot "wing it" in bi-vocational ministry. You need morning and evening routines.
You need scheduled uptime and downtime. You need set reading, writing, meeting, counseling, and phone call blocks. If you don’t force structure into your life, your life will chew you up and spit you out — and everything (family, work, ministry) will eventually suffer.

Why Bi-Vocational Ministry Matters Right Now

When I put together a strategy for planting East River Church, I asked,
"What sort of church could survive an aggressive anti-Christian culture and periods of severe economic instability?"

That’s when I started working on an "anti-fragile model" of church planting. Here’s what it involves:

• All pastors are bi-vocational

• Leadership is decentralized

• Programs are fewer

• Budgets, especially staff budgets, stay modest

The goal isn’t just survival. It’s durability.

Bi-vocationalism helps by giving pastors multiple streams of income. The church usually pays something, but the pastor also has a “day job.” This reduces financial vulnerability. It limits his flexibility, yes. He can’t meet whenever someone demands. But he’s much harder to cancel or manipulate financially.

Is it complex? Absolutely.

But the benefits far outweigh the downsides — if you decentralize your leadership properly.

The reality is that bi-vocationalism places real limits on a pastor’s time, energy, and focus.
Most churches solve this by making the pastor full-time. Thom Rainer points out that the average pastor-to-attendance ratio is 1:76, and the median size of churches in America is 75. This means the "full-time solo pastor" is a single point of failure in most churches.

If he dies, goes to jail, or disqualifies himself, the church is paralyzed.

Larger churches solve this with full-time pastoral staffs. That works — but it requires a big budget, and that budget is fragile in times of economic downturn.

I prefer a different way:

Spread the responsibilities over multiple part-time pastors, deacons, empowered lay leaders, and committees.

• Instead of one man wearing twenty hats, you spread the work across several part-timers focused on their strengths.

• Instead of overworking a solo-pastor, you let men labor where they are most gifted and efficient.

• Instead of adding permanent staff for temporary needs, you use temporary committees or contractors, always under elder oversight.

We’ve now reached a point at East River where we’re beginning to hire staff.
But our priority is clear: hire administrative and logistical support, not more officers.
Officers should be doing officer work — the stuff that only they can do — not secretarial work that many others could do.

Final Thoughts

Bi-vocational ministry is hard.
It demands discipline, strong relationships, and clear structures.
It will expose your weaknesses fast.

But if you can build it — if you can bear the load without blowing up — it will produce churches that are durable, reproducible, and harder to destroy in chaotic times.

That’s a price worth paying.