Life on the edge: a small church redefines its mission

If North America is now a mission field, this fact has tremendous implications for small congregations. Being on the margins can provide fresh opportunities for offering bold witness. It is often a better position for discovering mission than is the center. In scripture, faithfulness seldom comes from, or results in, large numbers or success. God often elects the small for extraordinary missionary service.

To become a church in mission St. Andrew had to let go of clericalism and convert the members into ministers; let go of the myth of size and develop a vision of what a small church can do; move beyond "coffee fellowship" in its conception of worship and food; and leave behind traditional notions of church in order to focus on the congregation's mission on the margins.

St. Andrew had a bad case of clericalism. It placed its hope for renewal on the pastor. "We need a charismatic leader to turn this thing around" was the rallying cry. But it discovered that small churches can turn things around only if the people take complete ownership of the church's administration and ministry.

"Since we can no longer afford a pastor, are we willing to do the ministry ourselves?" the congregational president asked. St. Andrew answered yes, and decided on a bivocational pastoral model for leadership. I took a part-time call to be the pastor (working between 15 and 20 hours a week). The people would do most of the work and ministry themselves.

I later discovered that a growing number of congregations have been using this model of the worker-priest--not only those that have only 35 to 60 at worship, but even those averaging an attendance of 75 to 125. Some churches have even abandoned the idea of having a full-time resident pastor in favor of having specialized leadership teams. These congregations are served by teams of three to five bi-vocational ministers. One carries the responsibility for preaching, another for the teaching ministry, a third for pastoral care and a fourth for administration, with perhaps a fifth responsible for evangelism and missions. The combined compensation for the team, including reimbursement for expenses, is usually less than the amount required to pay a full-time resident pastor.

This worker-priest or bi-vocational model soon became accepted at St. Andrew. No staff person works more than 15 to 20 hours per week. The question now is: How far is it possible to grow a church without full-time clergy? A second question follows: Will the congregation ever want to be "normal" again, with a full-time professional pastor, like the bigger congregations next door?

Since a shortage of pastors hovers over the future of many churches, small congregations will have to wait in line for full-time pastors, even if they possess the resources to support them. The bi-vocational pastorate may serve as a better model for congregational mission than the "two-point parish model" by which one pastor serves two congregations.