Book Review

Preaching, Planning, and Plumbing: The Implications of Bivocational Ministry, by Steve Clapp, Ron Finney, and Angela Zimmerman, LifeQuest Publishing Group, Issaquah, Washington, 1999; pp. 138, paperback

“John hung up his phone with a sense of satisfaction. He worked as an English teacher in a local high school and was also the pastor of a small congregation. The chairperson of the church’s financial campaign had called to tell John that the results of the campaign had been calculated and that the members had made financial commitments which exceeded the initial budget that the board had prepared. The morale of the congregation was good, and it would be possible for them to do the renovation work that was needed in the Sunday school classrooms.

Juggling the secular position and the church position at times left John feeling drained and wondering if he was giving his best performance either place. Yet both attendance and giving had gradually improved over the past year in the church. The week had also been a good one at school, with two difficult students responding well to John’s leadership. John felt today that his life was richly blessed.”

With a mixture of personal anecdotes, survey results, and advice, the authors of this highly practical book address the issue of bivocational ministry. They define bivocational ministry as any situation in which a pastor (or person in active ministry) has an additional occupation, usually drawing financial support from both positions, though sometimes only from the nonministry position.

The authors begin with an affirmation of the "priesthood of all believers": All people are called to ministry and all people have received gifts from God for use in ministry. Indeed, "all of us who call ourselves Christian have an obligation to live out our faith in the secular world as well as in the life of the church. Bivocational ministers … have much to teach the rest of us about discipleship in all settings." Thus, bivocational ministry, though different, is on the same level of "call" as full-time "set apart" ministry.

Interestingly, the book is grounded in the results of a survey of 250 bivocational ministers. Eighty-one percent of survey respondents were in favor of encouraging bivocational ministry, though overwhelmingly they also noted the challenge of balancing secular work and ministry. "Lack of time" was reported as the most stressful aspect of bivocational ministry. But on the bright side, many respondents said that they enjoyed the diversity of their roles, and that people in the ministry settings took on more responsibility, understanding that the bivocational leader could not do it all. The greatest reward reported by bivocational ministers, though, was that they had more in common with the people in their ministry settings, which they felt enhanced their ministry effectiveness. One suggestion that came out of the survey was for more support for bivocational ministers. This could take the form of on-line chat rooms, Web pages, a newsletter, a focus session at conferences, etc.

This book offers wonderful practical guidance and encouragement to the bivocational minister. In bridging the gap between the sacred and the secular, such a minister models a healthy integration. In fact, the authors assert, maybe it is the bivocational minister from whom we should all be learning; maybe "we are all called to bivocational ministry, in that we are to use our spiritual gifts not only in the life of the church but in the world in which we live."