A student friend of mine recently reported that when he graduates from divinity school he intends to go full time with a new company that he helped entrepreneur. This decision, he says, offers his family a stable income while allowing him to pursue volunteer or part-time ministry in churches that may be unable to support full-time ministers.
He knows “church planting” well, having helped found a start-up congregation, recognizing the difficulty of securing sustained funds in those fledgling communities. Certain friends and family believe that he is “leaving the ministry” since he will not pursue a full-time ministerial vocation, but he thinks his decision offers more options for ministry amid the changing realities of American churches — a new ministerial bivocationalism.
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