Many of us in the ministry have been, or are currently, “bi-vocational.” Simply put, we have to work another job to properly care for our family and meet our needs.
Our church is not able to financially provide for a full-time pastor, but it is our desire to pastor them as we believe that God has led us to do this work. How do we find the balance to get everything done? Is there a way to take a church that has been struggling financially and see God build it into a strong ministry while we are also working an outside job?
Let me give a little of my background. In December of 1991, my wife and I moved to New Hampshire to start a church. She is a native of Maine, and I grew up in Upper Michigan. We knew the Lord had called us to start a church in New Hampshire “sight unseen.” We had served in a church in Baltimore and had a total of $800 to get started. After getting basic jobs and moving into an apartment, we settled our family. We faithfully attended church in the next town and made lifelong friendships. Now we could begin to start the church.
Gospel Baptist Church began in a rented building in June of 1992 with a handful of people we had met, my wife’s family who travelled to help us, and all the promises of God! Our first baptism was my manager from work who became a faithful usher. In a few weeks, we were down to $29 in the bank, but still had all the promises of God.
We faithfully knocked on doors and won people to the Lord every week. For the next 12 years we journeyed to our next rented space in a basement and then our first building that we owned for 14 years. All the while, I worked full-time in a window factory making windows. It certainly was challenging to work 50 hours a week, pastor our church, go through a building program, and care for my family, but God was faithful. In those 20 long years, there were over 50 people who came to church as a result of working in the factory. Several of them are still faithful members today.
Being a bi-vocational pastor I learned that there are people that I could reach with the Gospel that I would not have been able to reach any other way. I was able to understand, personally, what my people experienced every day in the workplace.
Starting a church or taking a church that requires a pastor to work an outside job does not have to be a liability. It can be an opportunity.
Here are a few things that helped our ministry go from nothing and no one to a strong, soul-winning, missionary-sending, debt-free, vibrant, exciting church.
- Have your financial house in order personally. Have a strict budget and keep it – at home and for the church. We bought a house while I was working at a D’Angelos sandwich shop within our first two years of starting our church. People need to know that you are going to stay. We scrimped and saved and paid off our mortgage in nine years. We saved additional money to buy investment properties.
- Believe that everyone would benefit from you being a full-time pastor. Your family would benefit, your church would benefit, and eternity would benefit.
- Let the church pay you something, then gradually increase the amount as the church grows.
- Have a good accountant who knows about “Parsonage Allowance” whether you rent or own. You will save a lot of money.
- Have an IRA and learn to save money. Teach your people from the Scriptures their responsibilities to God’s man, including financially.
- Don’t forget that God called you. Romans 11:29 states, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” We must have an attitude that we will not quit regardless of how hard our situation.
- Stay focused on winning lost people to salvation in Jesus Christ. We know that the reason Jesus came was to “seek and to save that which was lost.” If we keep that as our “first love,” the Lord will build His church (Matthew 16:18).
- Be a witness at work. You may have a strict policy from the human resources department, but you can find a way to be a testimony to your co-workers and win people to the Lord.
- Lead your church in winning souls. To have a strong ministry, train your people to win others to Christ, see them baptized and then teach their converts to do the same thing.
I’m sure this is not original; but someone said, “If you will get busy telling people about Jesus, He will tell people about your church.” We never focused primarily on inviting people to church, but we do spend most of our time trying to win people to Christ. When we win the lost, baptize them, and teach them, God will bring in the people and God will pay the bills. “ But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And thou shalt be blessed…” (Luke 14:13-14)
Don’t wait for the “perfect” ministry position with a salary and car allowance. Don’t be afraid to take a church where you need a job and build it for God.
Remember, God gives the increase, but we must plant and we must water! Keep winning souls; it gives the Lord a reason to invest in your church! It has been 32 years since our first Sunday, and I am thankful for our wonderful people at Gospel Baptist Church. We have seen the Lord do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us!” I am more excited than ever to serve the Lord!