The largest church my father ever led in Charlotte, North Carolina, was about 400 people. Certainly, we had larger spikes during revivals or special events, but on average, most of my father’s congregations maxed out between 300–400 people.
And over his entire pastoral career, I can’t recall a time when my dad didn’t have a second job.
During most of my school years, he taught school bus drivers (back then, high school kids drove the school buses). Later, he became the chaplain for the local Sheriff’s Department — all while preaching, leading Bible study on Wednesday nights, visiting people in the hospital, performing weddings and funerals, and doing all the other tasks of leading a church.
And for the record, my mom was a secretary at a used car lot.
Where’s the risk?
But today, with so many networks out there that pay at least a year of salary and set church planters up with insurance, mentoring advice, and building expenses, much of the risk of launching a church has been eliminated.
But I’m wondering if that early risk is exactly what someone needs to be effective in ministry.
I’m thinking about this because we’ve seen so many church planters caught in moral failure, sexual abuse or embezzlement. Most I’ve read about were at some point backed by church planting networks or multi-site churches.
At the same time, I’ve heard numerous older pastors tell me that, looking back, their early years as “tent makers” were among the most memorable of their ministry. One said that back when he juggled a second job, he felt more “in tune” with the congregation than he had since.
Except in rural areas, bi-vocational pastors are less common now, with the success of church planting networks and multi-site churches.
Passion, similar backgrounds
But today, when I see a highly respected, mature pastor who is doing remarkable work, more often than not, they felt such a passionate calling to preach, they came from one of two backgrounds:
1. They started in a tiny church (often with a denomination) but needed a second job to raise a family.
2. They started the church completely on their own (usually in their home) and needed to keep their day job to survive.
Both were risky, but then again, which of the apostles launched their ministries without risk?
I’m not against church-planting networks at all, and I applaud the effort to launch more congregations. Plus, there are personal failures and leadership implosions from all kinds of churches. But I also wonder if those well-intentioned networks are helping so much that they’re not teaching young pastors to be determined, driven and resilient.
In other words, I wonder if taking on more risk at the beginning will help leaders avoid risk later on.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and originally published by philcooke.com.
