Articles for tag: Bivocational Ministry

January 1, 2022

Justin Horey

Where Do Church Planters Come From?

What do a lawyer, a football player, and a youth pastor have in common? It might sound like the setup to a bad joke, but it isn’t. All three are examples of professionals who recently left their jobs to plant independent Christian churches in the United States. Many of today’s church leaders are asking where tomorrow’s church leaders will come from. That’s a critical concern among church planters as well. In fact, Stadia president Greg Nettle says, “The number one challenge we face right now is our leadership pipeline of church planters.” Nettle and other church-planting leaders estimate it will

July 15, 2020

Ken Idleman

7 Practical Guidelines When Hiring a Young Leader

The late Donald McGavran, respected missiologist and founding dean of the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary, identified five kinds of leaders the church must have to thrive locally and have impact globally:  1. Volunteer leaders who focus inward: unpaid leaders who focus their gifts for service on the internal health and growth of the local church body. (Biblical examples: Priscilla and Aquila, Dorcas) 2. Volunteer leaders who focus outward: unpaid leaders who focus their evangelistic passion on the lost and unchurched in the larger unreached community. (Stephen, Philip) 3. Bivocational: leaders who are mostly or entirely self-supporting in order to launch or

August 22, 2019

Michael C. Mack

SPOTLIGHT: Hazelwood Christian Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.

By Michael C. Mack A 212 percent attendance growth rate over one year gets your attention. Hazelwood Christian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, grew from 32 to 100 in 2018, and it turns out technology is a significant reason for that growth. Hazelwood’s building sits in an older, heavily Catholic neighborhood of urban Pittsburgh, an area that is on the rebound in business and population growth. Senior minister Ed Gratton came to the church in 2016 after they had gone through a split that dropped attendance to 15. “On a good Sunday we had 20,” said Gratton with a chuckle. But

July 3, 2019

Christian Standard

Merold Institute Assessing Options for Growth

By Chris Moon Four years into its existence, the Merold Institute is looking toward the future. The ministry of Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles, Mo., began primarily as a place to help mold the church’s key volunteers and existing and incoming staff—to give them the biblical and theological training lacking in many ministry workers who were unable to attend Bible college or seminary. During its short existence, the institute named for Ben Merold, Harvester’s former senior minister (who continues serving as a teaching pastor), has largely accomplished that goal. Many of the church’s staff and volunteers have earned certificates

February 27, 2017

Michael C. Mack

How Ministers Can Respond to Financial Pressures

By Michael C. Mack CT Pastors recently reported, “Today, 90 percent of pastors feel financial stress in their family and church work, 76 percent of pastors know other pastors who left the ministry due to financial pressures, 31 percent of pastors work a second job to help make ends meet, and almost 60 percent of pastors do not receive health insurance or retirement funds from their church.” We asked pastors: What would help, or what would have helped you in responding well to these circumstances? Here are a few of the responses: “Some problems, not all by any means, could

February 6, 2017

Christian Standard

8 Best Practices for Pastoral Financial Health

Take advantage of coaching networks available to pastors (yes, that may mean paying a coaching service for your long-term health in ministry). It”s an investment, not an expense, as seasoned ministers have years of advice for you. “¢ Participate in a financial acumen class (Financial Peace, Money Matters, any Larry Burkett program, and others). “¢ Opt for a non-Bible degree undergrad program. (Business would be a good option for ministers.) “¢ Take advantage of spousal insurance or retirement plans. (If your spouse is a teacher, maximize the benefit of retirement plans and paid health insurance.) “¢ Go bivocational. Many pastors

May 20, 2016

Michael C. Mack

Three Options to Save an Endangered Church from Extinction

By Michael C. Mack A cultural and economic storm threatens many small and midsize churches. “Unless we respond to this coming tsunami,” says Karl Vaters, pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley, California, “churches like mine will soon be as rare as printed newspapers, landline phones, and brick-and-mortar bookstores.” Especially churches in large metropolitan areas with a mortgage and a pastor”™s salary to pay, will start to disappear over the next couple of decades, says Vaters in the fall 2015 issue of Leadership Journal. Cornerstone has experienced a turnaround in attendance, number of volunteers, and ministry over the past

March 13, 2016

Christian Standard

The Peculiar Duty of Pastoring

By Patrick Mitchell When I entered a conversation with a dear friend that morning at Milligan College”s exercise facility, I never would have thought that within a few months I would be pastor of a 125-year-old church in a town that boasts a population of approximately 1,000. While still chugging along on the elliptical machine, Phyllis asked if I would consider helping fill the pulpit of a rural church in our area while it searched for a pastor. You should know that at that point in my life (I was then 30 years old), I was done with church ministry.

July 9, 2015

Christian Standard

Next Question

By Jennifer Johnson This past weekend Matt and I had the rare chance for a Friday night date and somehow, after cheesesteaks and The Imitation Game and overpriced desserts at a French bistro, our conversation turned to the future of the church in America. Yes, we are nerds. Yes, this is what happens when a blogger and a pastor get married. I predicted that many of the churches enjoying success today will no longer be recognizable in a few generations, since most communities go through cycles of growth and decline. I predicted that churches will continue to franchise, with large

November 14, 2014

Christian Standard

Church on Mission: Church at the Mission

By Jennifer Johnson “I”ve done church planting, I”ve done megachurch, and I”ve done microchurch,” says Blake Ryan. “I think this is the only thing God could call me to that would fulfill my heart in ministry.” “This” is Church at the Mission Corona, a new congregation that launched in January at the Corona/Norco (CA) Rescue Mission. Ryan serves as lead pastor of the church and director of the mission as well as managing principal at PlainJoe Studios, a design and media company also based in Corona. “We were part of Church at the Mission”s first location in Tustin, CA, and

June 9, 2013

Christian Standard

Our Missional Experiment

By Greg Hubbard It was shared life with a purpose. We laughed together. We cried together. We prayed together. We ate together. When somebody around us had a need, we spontaneously served them together. Meaningful spiritual conversations were frequent. We caught a glimpse of kingdom life as we had rarely experienced it before. In the early 2000s, a church known as Apex came to experience all of this in Las Vegas, Nevada. Quite a journey had brought us to that place. Apex began as an outreach of Canyon Ridge Christian Church as a means to reach young adults. At first

February 22, 2012

Christian Standard

Sending, Serving, Reaching: TCM International Institute

By Jennifer Taylor TCM International Institute (Founded 1957) P.O. Box 24560, Indianapolis, IN 46224 www.tcmi.org Tony Twist, President It takes a one-time Master of Arts scholarship investment of $16,000 to equip an international leader for a lifetime of service and ministry in his home country. Compare this to the $60,000 or more needed annually to send a U.S. missionary overseas (where service is usually less than four years), and it”s obvious: equipping national leaders to reach their own countries for Christ is both effective and cost-effective. TCM exists to develop bivocational “international disciple makers” throughout Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and

August 16, 2009

Christian Standard

Ideally

  by David Faust Great enterprises are not built on deals; they are built on ideals. And it”s hard to think of more noble ideals than these: “¢ “No book but the Bible, no creed but Christ.” “¢ “In essentials, unity; in opinions, liberty; and in all things, love.” “¢ “Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.” “¢ “We are not the only Christians, but we are Christians only.” I heard these slogans when I was a child. I”ve analyzed and admired their truth as an adult, and I”ve found them useful over

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