Counsel for Bi-Vocational Youth Pastors and Their Churches
"The future of the church in America is bi-vocational ministry." Every couple of weeks an article like this pops up in my Twitter feed or on some webpage and, reader, I have to admit that I inwardly groan. Especially as some of the people writing this way about bi-vocational ministry seem to have the confidence of a very slick salesman, as if hanging this one thing will result in transformative results.
I am writing to you from Europe. Specifically from Austria, in the catholic heartland of the counter-Reformation and secret Protestantism. Bivocational ministry is not our future. It is our present.
I have been in ministry for nearly seven years. In all that time I have been bi-vocational - sometimes working a combination of a secular job and ministry job, sometimes just a secular job and working as a pastor in a voluntary role. Most recently, I pastor a small church in the Austrian Alps whilst also running the national children and youth department for the Austrian Baptist Union. Across Austria, full-time paid pastors are the exception; full-time paid youth pastors are almost non-existent.
This means I think I have a good idea of what it means to be bi-vocational. It is true that there are benefits. The hard limits set by limited employed hours mean more people have to volunteer, leading to whole-body ministry. It can have benefits for the minister too - I enjoy the variety of going from a local bible study or pastoral chat to meeting with colleagues across Austria or connecting with friends in Europe - and that all being part of my calling.
But it can also be brutal. Often I think that having two paid ministry jobs ultimately just means that I am doing both of them poorly. And it can be a system in which burnout is built-in - indeed, I have my own burnout experience behind me.
All of this leads me to offer the following reflections for churches and youth pastors who wonder what bi-vocational ministry looks like.
Churches: Let Generosity Be Your Guide
Let's be honest. Often the move towards bi-vocational ministry is not primarily because of a conviction about missional effectiveness but because money is getting tight and we can't afford any more full-time posts. Let me encourage you: please be as generous as you can with what you have.
Are you paying enough for a person to live reasonably? If they are needing to work a second job to make up a whole 'average' income, are you offering hours where working another job is actually feasible, or are you blocking hours (say demanding they work each afternoon and evening Tuesday - Sunday) so they can't get another 'normal' job?
Consider their hourly pay. A youth pastor often has managerial responsibilities - recruiting and managing teams, budget oversight, rotas, etc - as well as pastoral responsibilities - including sometimes roles involving a certain level of crisis response? Are you paying them accordingly? What do similar secular roles pay?
Coming from a country with universal health care, I can't comment in detail on what generosity looks like for health insurance - but whatever that looks like in your country, do it.
Churches: Clear Management is More Important Than Ever
Are you clear with your expectations about what should be done by someone with a part-time role? Are you clear about what is not included in the role? Is there a good job description? Do you have a clear policy about what happens to accrued overtime? Are you arranging your systems so that part-time ministers can actually be effective with their work time?
Often churches approach bi-vocational ministry as if it is a case of doing more with less. That's wrong. It's about doing less with less - making judgment calls about what is important, what is urgent, and what can and should be stopped. Boundaries are healthy and kind.
Youth Pastors: Lead Yourself With Your Work Time
Work with your supervisor (see above) to define what goals and priorities you have in the time you have available. Work on those priorities during your allotted hours, and then stop. What doesn't get done - doesn't get done.
Overworking is nearly always praised in Christian circles - a socially acceptable sin. It is also wrong. Whether you are raising a family, or single, or have another job - you can't afford to let yourself overwork and be driven by unreasonable expectations. As mentioned above: boundaries are healthy and kind.
A colleague once said that, in ministry, we often rush around creating a draught and then persuade ourselves it is the wind of the Spirit. But that's not the way it should go. Jesus Christ is on the throne, and we can do our day's work and stop. God will continue to build his church.
Oh, and one other thing - if you are expected to be there, it is work time. Sometimes churches decide that your time at Sunday service or youth service is your gift to the church. That's an easy way for boundaries to be blurred - and a boundary overstepped once is a boundary that is easier to overstep a second time and a third.
Youth Pastors: Lead Yourself With Your Non-Work Time
Do the stuff that makes you human. If you are single, spend time with your friends. If you are married, spend time with your spouse. If you have kids, spend time with them. Breathe the fresh air, move your body, eat healthily, and take a little wine for your stomach (if Paul can advise it, so can I...). Dance a little, laugh a lot, rock out to Taylor Swift in the shower. Pray. Laugh. Worship. Read your Bible and drink good coffee.
Ministry can become all-encompassing, the thing we think about from morning until night. Bivocational ministry is no exception - if anything, the danger is more prominent. There is always something else to do and never, ever enough time. Practice radical sabbath.
Youth Pastors and Churches: Learn to Multiply
Limits create opportunities. And so it is with bi-vocational ministry. We have to bring others alongside us, raise up new leaders, and have more volunteer-led roles. This is one of our key tasks - not just doing the ministry, but equipping others. Be gentle and sensitive when doing this. Remember that your volunteers are also working busy jobs and raising families and human beings.
Once again: do less with less, not less with more. Multiply, but do not let teamwork become a way of chewing through volunteers until they burn out. Lead by example and lead from health and rest.
Some of you reading this will be thinking about bi-vocational ministry. Some of you will be in bi-vocational ministry. Some of you will be in churches having to think about how to do ministry going forward. Hopefully this article helps you think about some of the conversations you need to have and some of the ways to practically love your church and your youth minister.