5 Reasons to Be Covocational

Reason 1: Missiological

Perhaps the most significant reason for planting as a covocational leader is that it gives the church planter greater opportunities to connect relationally with people in the community. Their vocation gives them access to a mission field that is not readily available to a pastor who is employed full-time by a local church. Many traditional pastors find themselves working inside a church bubble, spending most of their time with church people. For a covocational planter, their marketplace job isn’t a hindrance to what God is doing; it’s an advantage to engaging God’s mission.

Reason 2: Credibility

Covocational planting helps to diminish the sacred-secular divide in respect to vocation. The congregation can see the church planter model the fact that all work matters. Regardless of what God has called a person to do, it is a sacred calling. As a result, the benefits of being in the marketplace are multiplied exponentially as every member recognizes how their vocation fits into God’s redemptive mission. Further, when the planter has a vocation in the marketplace the congregation knows that the leader has a better understanding of what others experience during a work week. However, working in the marketplace not only builds credibility with those inside the church, but it provides greater respectability outside the church. In a post-Christian context, where people are skeptical of the church, it is important for non-Christians to see that church leaders have jobs like everyone else. In a time when Christianity doesn’t have the best reputation, it can provide significant “street-cred” with those outside the church.

Reason 3: Financial

Another reason for being covocational relates to the financial stability it provides in three different areas.

The church planter

When the primary financial support comes from a marketplace source rather than the church plant, there is usually less financial strain on a family. This is especially true when the planter is employed full-time in a vocation that provides benefits like insurance, vacation, and retirement.

The new church

A church led by covocational leaders usually finds its financial base is much stronger. Without the need to provide full-time salaries and benefits, the church can direct more of its financial resources toward mission and ministry.

The church-planting entity

Many denominations have made the commitment to plant hundreds, if not thousands of churches over the next several years. However, there simply aren’t enough finances to plant the churches needed with the current funding model. Covocational planting provides the opportunity for funding entities to embrace more sustainable church planting practices. This is especially necessary for planters who are engaging socioeconomic diverse contexts that are made up of the very poor or immigrant populations. Many traditional church plants start with a large annual budget supported by multiple funding streams, including partnering churches and denominational entities. Because most funding models are structured over a three to five-year period, it puts pressure on a church planter to grow the church quickly so it can become self-sustaining before funding runs out. The unfortunate reality is that a planter is often forced to attract financial givers rather than engaging the brokenness in their community. Covocational church planting, on the other hand, provides a more viable, and strategic financial model that allows the planter to focus primarily on mission.

Reason 4: Empowerment

Covocational church planting creates opportunities for leaders in the congregation to use their God-given talents to create a culture of participation rather than one of spectatorship. When the church planter has a full-time vocation, the congregation understands that the planter can’t do it all. Therefore, more church members, out of necessity, become involved in the mission of the church. Covocational leadership helps to diminish the clergy-laity divide and highlight the necessity of empowering all the people of God.

Reason 5: Voice

There are times a church leader needs to speak boldly about difficult issues, both inside and outside the church. However, when there is the possibility of offending those who provide financial support, the voice of the leader can be weakened. But when the primary support for the church planter is comes from the marketplace it often provides freedom for the planter to speak prophetically about the mission and ministry of the church.

Reflection Questions:

• Which of the reasons for being covocational do you identify with most?

• How can you maximize each of these five reasons in your ministry?

• How might you communicate these reasons to other leaders?

Written by Brad Brisco, Director of Bivocational Church Planting for the North American Mission Board. Used with permission.