4. Battling Idols
The greatest benefit to bivocationality hit my soul—somewhere I didn’t expect. Most leaders I know are control freaks. I am too! By giving several hours of my week to non-church work, God reminds me daily that it’s his church, not mine; they’re his people, not mine. As I put aside the common idea that every waking hour is given to “my ministry” and that nothing can happen without my involvement, beautiful things have happened. I’ve learned to delegate, to walk away from work at the end of the day, and to actually trust God more.
Control is still an idol: I pray and work against it internally, but it’s helpful to have this buttress against this area of sin, pride, self-sufficiency and other idols. Bivocationality is a practical, humbling, and sanctifying reality!
5. Making Disciples
I’m a pastor. I love the local church. But for six years through my second job, I prayerfully pursued the Great Commission on the campus that Playboy ranked 2012’s No.-9 party school in the nation.
My officemates, the professors in my department and my students were from different backgrounds and beliefs. I once got an email from a former student: “I don’t have anyone to turn to for advice, but I think you told us you were a priest or something?” Now I get to lead by example, as I help other leaders start new churches in places across our nation and beyond—because many of those mission fields necessitate ministry leaders working a second job. By God’s grace, bivocationality opens doors for us to make disciples.
The biggest questions as we consider bivocational ministry are, “Do I trust God’s goodness, provision, character and joy, even in my consideration of a second job?” and “How can I best display the gospel I believe in my life, to my church and in my jobs?” Once we answer those two questions well, we might just be one good step down the path of finding that perfect bivocational job—or at least, we might be one step closer to the one that God has for our unique situation at this unique moment in his story. And in many situations, we’ll find that God lands us in the midst of a mission field in which there are too few laborers. Would you consider laying down your full-time job to seek God’s plentiful harvest there?
Adapted from Ben Connelly’s A Pastor’s Guide to Everyday Mission (GCD Books, 2016).
Ben Connelly is a pastor at The City Church in Fort Worth, Texas, part of the Acts 29 network.This story was originally posted on NewChurches.com, an organization dedicated to helping church plants and multisite ministries thrive.