There are 1,000 ways to skin a cat. There 5 ways to cook a turkey. There are at least 9 ways to be bivocational. Every year more church leaders need to find income from non-traditional sources, and this is a crucial conversation to both personal sustainability and the mission of the church at large.
There is an ugly undercurrent of finger pointing and pride among church planters about the dos and don’ts of biovocationalism. I heard a leaders say all kinds of hurtful things on this topic, “He’s probably one of those bivocational guys who is struggling to make it”, “If he was smart he would start with a job” or my favorite, “He isn’t really a church planter, he’s getting a salary from the church.”
The truth is there are a whole lot of different ways to go bivo and reasons to go bivo, but behind all of them in church planting the purpose is to push the gospel forth into communities and cities. If we can start the conversation realizing there are different flavors of bivocationalism we can better understand where other planters might be coming from.
Intentionally bivo. From the start this planter feels a conviction to be bivocational. They are planning everything about the launch of their church around their bivocationalism, and it is a huge part of their strategy to plant, or at least support their family while they plant. They might love the interaction to the lost they can find in the marketplace. Many times planters take a job at a community hub like a coffee shop to become grounded in the community even if they don’t need to money. This is a great strategy for parachute planters entering a new area without many relationships.
Slightly bivo. These planters are trying to make just enough on the side to pay the bills. I have lived out this flavor a lot of my years as a pastor. I have always had to find creative ways to support my ministry habit. These folks need just a little bit in addition to what a church can pay them to survive. They might continue pastoring full-time, but they find ways to nurse a few small business opportunities or side projects that can bring in just enough. If you had a skill before entering church ministry plan on that skill coming in handy at some point.
Oh crap! bivo. There is a moment, usually a very exact moment, when a planter realizes their current funding model just ins’t enough, and they have to rush off and get a solid job. While this isn’t the plan they started with I have seen God use leaders in huge ways after “their moment”. A friend of mine have found more gospel impact among ex-felons in his job than he was in the church plant, but he still wants to continue doing both. God will use whatever he needs, including a diminishing paycheck, to push us into new spheres to reach more people.
“I’m allergic to fundraising” bivo. Many planters make a simple decision to work a job and have a predictable income because they hate raising support for their salary. There is more predictability to a paycheck from a large employer than there is in fundraising. Fundraising is hard, and I have felt the strain of it many times. Sometimes the weight of fundraising for a salary is simply too great of a distraction, and it makes better sense to go get a “normal” job.
Realistically bivo. This planter is seeding a church in a way that simply won’t pay their family enough to be their pastor. Perhaps they are amongst a demographic that simply won’t be able to support their family or they desire to start the church very slowly. Especially if you have a large family you must realize how much it would take to support a family. This might not be a deeply spiritual decision, just a practical one. I challenge you to remember that funding in church planting is a spiritual exercise in knee-bruising faith, but it’s also something to think through rationally and realistically.
Transition to bivo. These planters started the church with support but for some reason transition over to bivocationalism. Often a sending church or network front-loads support and allows them to work full-time on the church for a season. If funds don’t come from another source they realize that eventually they must transition into another job that can bring them monthly income. Some planters I’ve worked with came from the marketplace, and after a season they miss it and want to go back. In some cases the first 6-12 months can take the most steam to get a team trained and transition away from the control of the lead planter so bivocationalism makes great sense in that case.
Cash cow bivo. There are some planters who have made or are making a lot of money in business, and God calls them to plant a church. They might continue their job or continue to do a few investments on the side. Often these folks don’t need to take a paycheck from the church at all. Many times these leaders have great maturity and are in their third quarter of life feeling deeply called to start a church. These leaders have a unique kind of freedom, because they aren’t living under the weekly pressure to produce tithing dollars for their salary.
pastoring + more ministry bivo. These planters are supporting their ministry habit through other ministry endeavors on the side such as speaking, writing, leading worship or consulting. They are still able to do full-time church ministry, but they balance the local congregation with equipping others outside their church and city. This might involve travel for speaking or dedicating large chunks of their week to writing, but can often be a great way to support the family while still doing trans-local ministry. This is the camp I fall in during this season, and there are some great advantages to experiencing churches of all shapes and sizes.
Raising support, but actually bivo. Many planters are working so hard on raising support they have to consider it their second job. They take it really seriously. They are hopping on planes and taking intentional trips to meet with as many folks as they can to try to garner financial support. In many cases the church can only pay a portion of their salary, and they have to rely on outside partners to support the rest. To make this work planters need a lot of discipline, connections with wealthy patrons or a unique gift in this area.
While we must seek to understand others stories, we must also seek to continue to bivocational conversation in healthy ways. Here are a few ways to do this.
- Avoid the temptation to throw rocks. If you have different convictions about supporting your family in church planting try to understand where others are coming from. Remember that in the end gospel proclamation and embodiment is the end goal. Money just buys us time and energy to focus on what God has called us to do. We should both hold back from sharing our biases in this area and seek to understand others.
- Honor all sides of the spectrum. I know planters living out all nine of these bivo flavors that are making a big impact. I don’t know their financial realities, but I trust they are doing what they need to do to be faithful to God and to provide for their family. That’s a hard balance to strike. Money is often the source of a great deal of pain for church planters, and we don’t know their full story. Seek to honor the risks each person has taken even when you don’t fully understand how where their salary comes from.
- Don’t let jealousy eat you alive. Whatever you do don’t be jealous of someone else’s funding model. I’ve watched leaders come to town who are fully funded with a salary to plant a church facing opposition, because other planters are jealous. They are tired from working their butts off to provide for their families for years, and it looks so easy for this new guy. Please don’t go there; there’s no gospel in that.
Church planters are my heroes. They are some of the most fiath-full people I know. Every day they wake up and jump off a cliff while being misunderstood by others, sometimes even their families. We need to do whatever we can to both welcome planters into our cities and support whatever flavor of funding they choose. This bivocational conversation is incredibly valuable to the church. Let’s keep having it with grace and dignity.