The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

Tom Ascol on Bi-Vocational Ministry

Tom Ascol, of Founders Ministry, posted a brief blog post on bi-vocational ministers that really struck home for many

Personally, while I would love to be full-time (or the preferred term of "fully funded") and I am a bit curious as to what my full-time brethren do all week since so many of them preach only once on Sunday, I do find being bi-vocational to be somewhat liberating. I feel pretty free to preach the truth, and not have to be as concerned about offending someone. It strikes me, and I have said on more than one occasion, that there seem to be a lot of preachers who get the truth and know what it is, but still flinch when they stand in front of the congregation on Sunday. I imagine that it would be hard in many ways to see someone look disapprovingly from the pews if you depended on feeding your family and paying your mortgage solely from what you made from your ministry.

That doesn't mean I don't want to minister full-time, but I am resigned in some ways to the reality of Northern Michigan means that unless God deigns to do some pretty mighty work around here, I have two options: a) continue to minister bi-vocationally indefinitely or b) relocate my family to minister full-time at a larger church. I guess this is where patience comes in, which has never been my strongest suit.