I’ve had the privilege of working with hundreds of pastors in planning for their retirement. As you can imagine, the stories I’ve heard of God’s blessings and faithfulness are really encouraging. I can’t tell you how many missionaries I’ve worked with who are ready for retirement because they consistently saved 10% of their income, even when it didn’t amount to much.
While many pastors and missionaries are quick to share about God’s provision, a lot of them still have very modest incomes. Now there are some churches that can support their pastoral staff with very healthy salaries, but that represents a very low percentage of the pastors I’ve met with.
One of the most common scenarios is to meet with a pastor who is bi-vocational, meaning they serve the church and also hold a job outside of ministry. This is especially true for smaller churches that don’t have the resources to support a pastor full time. It’s always fascinating to hear the line of work a bi-vocational pastor does to support their family while in the ministry. In order to make ends meet, I’ve seen pastors with jobs as web developers, photographers, teachers, school bus drivers, factory workers, accountants, and small business owners.
Does a Second Job Negatively Affect Ministry?
When I first started working with ministers and noticed how many of them had job outside of their pastoral role, I couldn’t help but wonder if they felt limited in ministry because of it. For many, working a second job was a necessity, so the choice was clear – work a second job or go hungry. But working a second job didn’t mean that their ministry was less effective than full time pastors.
I remember asking one pastor if he ever wished that he could quit his secular job in order to do ministry full time. Very quickly he said that he considers himself blessed to minister to so many people from the pulpit as well as on the jobsite. Responses like that challenge me to consider my job as an opportunity to minister to those around me.
The most influential missionary had a second job.
One of the most famous bi-vocational missionaries was the apostle Paul. In order to support his missionary trips, we read that Paul found employment as a tentmaker as he traveled. You can learn about Paul’s work in Acts 18:1-3. For Paul, his goal was to reach as many people as possible, and he didn’t want money to keep him from doing that. Paul made it clear that he’d rather work for a living instead of accepting financial support from ministry so that it wouldn’t hinder his message from reaching nonbelievers.1 Corinthians 9:12 (NLT)
If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ. - 1 Corinthians 9:12 (NLT)
The Bible is full of examples of ‘tentmakers’ who worked another job while ministering to others. Abraham raised livestock, Luke was a physician, and Jesus was a carpenter. To discount the effectiveness of their ministry is ridiculous to even consider.
Whether you’re a pastor working a second job to support a small church or if you’re a missionary trying to make money blogging in order to make ends meet, be encouraged to know that other tentmakers have been successful in winning people to Christ. As Paul said to Timothy in his final days of ministry, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Don’t be discouraged by your day job. Use it as an opportunity to reach even more people for Christ. Paul embraced his talent as a tentmaker, will you?
Are you a tentmaker who is working a second job to support your family? We’d love to hear what you do! Meet us in the comments!
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
This is such a great article! It’s an encouragement for those of us who do not work in the ministry that we can still have an impact by ministering to those we work with.
Good article. I’m in the ministry, but my wife and I are also Health Coaches. It’s really a great combination. I’ve found that assisting people who are unhappy and trapped in their body because of excess weight, etc. is really a ministry in and of itself. We are always looking for compassionate, health driven people to help us pay it forward. We get paid well for doing good. If anyone would like information concerning such, I’d be glad to speak with them or email them.
Keep up the good work.
Tim, great article! I serve full-time with DELTA Ministries International and also serve as a Major in the Air Force Reserves. It is both a privilege and a necessity. Over the last 10 years I’m always encouraged to step outside of vocational ministry and enter a different world. I am reminded of why I work in missions but also have great opportunity to share my vocation and the Lord with others. If we are missional, the opportunities are everywhere, wherever we are at, to represent Him.
Sometimes I think that having a second job can be a good way to keep in touch with your congregation. Sometimes I have wondered if certain Pastor’s/ ministry workers are aware of what it’s like to have a full-time job and then try to be involved in your church activities as well. I’ve seen some leaders complain about people not attending enough or being involved enough and make statements like, ‘If I can be here 5 nights a week, you can too!’ They seem to forget that some people are working from 8am to 5pm grabbing dinner and heading out to church for 7pm which leaves them no time for any kind of home or family life. I certainly don’t mean to say that I think Pastor’s/ Church Leaders necessarily have an easy gig or anything like that but church is their job and they don’t have to worry about scheduling shifts around Wednesday night prayer meetings and Saturday Men’s Bible Study breakfast etc. All that to say that I think in certain ways, a non-church gig can really help to keep church leaders in tune with the struggles etc. of their congregations.
Having a second job should not hinder your ministry. If anything it should help teach time management and introduce you to a new crowd. I hope the hard working ministers out there will find a balance between the dual jobs
I’m about to be a seminary student with a second job that might continue into my ministry (wherever that might be) so I found these thoughts incredibly encouraging. The ability that a second job could give to share the gospel should never be forgotten, whether in another country that doesn’t accept “missionaries” or to coworkers at a local job. I had never thought of the apostle Paul’s simultaneous precedent as a missionary example and his part-time vocation together. What an example that having another job does not make you less qualified of a preacher or teacher of the God’s Word. In fact like Marianne said and you used 1 Corinthians 9:12 to support, another job may decrease the burden a minister is on his sheep and allow his opportunities for ministry to them to increase.
our pastor (of a small 50 or so person church plant) has a job on the side. while i would love for him to be able to be a pastor full time (and i think he would prefer that as well), he gets tons of ministry opportunities with his clients.
i love hearing his stories of conversations he has had with clients. i am encouraged and spurred on by his desire to share the gospel in our city.
I would like contact with Les Bonnett about being a health coach. I am also interested in becoming a Life Coach. I seem to be a Health Coach and a Life Coach anyway, but I just do it intermittently. I haven’t really pushed the idea forward to do it for extra money. And I don’t really need the extra money, but unfortunately, people don’t take the advice seriously if it is free.
This is a very real reality. I go to a “superchurch” whose pastors are paid well. I am going to seminary so my view of church is probably flawed. But, I’ll keep the faith, be willing to be a present day “tentmaker” and see where God takes me.
I for one am very thankful to a Pastor in Atlanta, Georgia named Roger Boston. He was a Preacher who worked worked a full time and still had his ministry where he preached on Sundays, bible studies on Wednesdays, and an open 1 hour prayer-line everyday of the week. It was through the time that I spent with him on the job that he taught me many things about the word of God. It was through him and our conversations that caused me to put God back in my life develop a website that now helps all of God’s children who believe in the power of our prayers. I really have to thank him, for had he not had a second job, I would not have found my place in this world.
Tim, great article! I personally am a bi-vocational missionary working in the corporate banking world. However, my real passion is college ministry! I’ve had a full time job since graduating from college in 2004, but have been pastoring full time as well. In 2009 my wife and I started a campus ministry to our local university. While I would love to be in full time ministry, I enjoy being able to relate to students who are ready to graduate and find themselves making career decisions. I find it’s a little easier to offer advice and they seem to respond to my offering of “real life” experiences. My dad ,who is a bi-vocational minister himself, always told me “Ministry is where you find it!” So true. Thanks again for sharing.
It is definitely rough in ministry, especially when you are not one of the few that are able to make a good salary. These are definitely some of the problems I hope to remedy with local pastors as we start our counseling ministry.