Bivocational Ministry as the Congregation’s Curriculum

Darryl W Stephens

doi:10.3390/rel12010056

Abstract

Ambiguities and uncertainties about defining bivocational ministry are an opportunity for theological reflection and religious education. This article begins by acknowledging a context of anxiety about congregational vitality in North American mainline denominations and utilizes Boyung Lee’s communal approach to religious education to facilitate imagining new ways of being church for white-majority congregations, which seem to have difficulty coming to terms with bivocational ministry. The central sections of this article proceed descriptively, exploring the breadth of definitions of bivocational ministry and related terms, organized around several loci: vocation and ministry; jobs and finances; and commitment. Constructively, this article conceives of intentional bivocational ministry as the congregation’s curriculum, a practice of the entire faith community. This article concludes with a call for religious educators to assist in this endeavor.

Highlights

IntroductionThis article views the ambiguities and uncertainties about defining bivocational ministry as an opportunity for theological reflection and religious education
This article views the ambiguities and uncertainties about defining bivocational ministry as an opportunity for theological reflection and religious education. It begins by acknowledging a context of mainline anxiety about congregational vitality in North America and utilizes Boyung Lee’s communal approach to religious education to facilitate imagining new ways of being church. While it draws on a range of authors and contexts beyond white-majority mainline Protestant denominations in North America, the scope of this article is confined to this demographic, which seems to have difficulty coming to terms with bivocational ministry
One judicatory task force pointed out the connection between finances and accountability: “Bivocationality is the arrangement in which a pastor spends time and energy working for compensation and is accountable to another in addition to the setting in which s/he has been called to minister” (Christian Reformed Church in North America 2020, p. 11)

Summary

Introduction

This article views the ambiguities and uncertainties about defining bivocational ministry as an opportunity for theological reflection and religious education It begins by acknowledging a context of mainline anxiety about congregational vitality in North America and utilizes Boyung Lee’s communal approach to religious education to facilitate imagining new ways of being church. While it draws on a range of authors and contexts beyond white-majority mainline Protestant denominations in North America, the scope of this article is confined to this demographic, which seems to have difficulty coming to terms with bivocational ministry.

Congregational Vitality and Religious Education

Vocation and Ministry

Jobs and Finances

Commitment

Bivocational Ministry as the Congregation’s Curriculum

Findings

Conclusions