Co-Vocational ministry, Multi-Vocational ministry, and Bi-Vocational ministry: why defining these 3 concepts brings clarity

Co-Vocational, Multi-Vocational, and Bi-Vocational ministry

What’s the difference between bi-vocational and co-vocational ministry? It’s a frequently asked question and in some ways the answer is simple. In other ways, it’s more nuanced.

The simple answer: The terms all point to the same reality. I see them all defining the work of a paid or unpaid church leader who also holds outside employment. Darryl Stephens sees to agree when he describes bivocational ministry saying, “Also called multivocational, covocational, dual career, partially funded, or tentmaking … [it] is generally defined as a combination of employment (paid or unpaid) within and beyond the local congregation by someone called to pastoral ministry.” (Stephens, Bivocational and Beyond, 1) (Read an interview with Dr. Stephens about bivocational ministry here)

While the simple answer works for most people, there is also a more nuanced take on each term:

Bi-Vocational, Bivocational, or BiVo

Literally, bi-vocational means two vocations. In the context of pastoral ministry it means one vocation is outside the church and one is within. Practically speaking, a BiVo ordained pastor will also hold one secular job. Of course, it does not necessarily mean that a person has to be paid for one of the vocations. For example, someone might be called to serve in pastoral ministry and as a homemaker. Some might consider this a form of bi-vocational ministry.

Multi-Vocational or Multivocational

James W. Watson suggests the terms “bivocational” and “multivocational” infer employment outside the church. Generally bivocational refers to one job while multivocational is more than one job. (Watson and Santos, Tentmaking, xx) In other words, the term bi-vocational no longer applies when a pastor has more than one job outside the church. That is when the term multivocational becomes relevant.

My friends as the Canadian Multivocational Ministry Project have chosen to use the term multivocational, acknowledging that, in a gig economy, many pastors work multiple part-time jobs in additional to their congregational ministry.

Co-Vocational, Covocational, or CoVo

As I noted in the introduction, I tend to use this term interchangeably with those already mentioned. For example, at Co-Vocational Canada we use Co-vocational (CoVo) as an umbrella term to reflect the lived experience of a pastor who is appointed to serve in a local church while also working in outside employment. You can read more about our work here. However, we are starting to have conversations about broadening the definition to move beyond pastors. Here’s an emerging definition: Co-vocational ministry (CoVo) is the lived experience of a (paid or unpaid) church leader who also holds outside employment.

As for those with a more nuanced understanding of the term, James Watson defines covocational ministry as not just having any secular vocational but one that cooperates and creates synergy with vocational ministry. He writes, “Covocational” or “tentmaking,” on the other hand, suggest the pastor’s secular employment chosen specifically to be missiologically aligned or to facilitate business as mission with their ministry calling in mind. (Watson and Santos, Tentmaking, xx)

Other Terms for Self-Supporting Ministry

There are many other terms for pastors who work for pay outside the church. In an excellent edited volume called Tentmaking: Perspectives on Self-Supporting Ministry, editor James M. M. Francis lists eight additional terms for this form of ministry including self-supporting, non-stipendiary, voluntary, honourary, supplementary, auxiliary, worker-priest, and minister in secular employment.

Francis categorizes these self-supporting ministers two ways: “first, those selected and trained as non-stipendiary ministry, who are in secular employment and who remain in that employment after ordination, and second, those who after ordination enter secular employment in the exercise of a skill other than that acquired in ministerial training.” (Francis and Francis, Tentmaking, xv).

Remember, it’s not just about the pastor

While I’ve been writing about clergy who hold down secular jobs it is important to note that pastors are only one part of this kind of ministry. It is the work of the whole church. I’ll conclude with Mark Edington words about bivocational congregations:

“A bivocational ministry is a work of the entire congregation … It’s a ministry in which an ordained minister (1) lives out the life of ministry with jobs both in the church and in the secular world, (2) models a way of living into the ministry of the baptized both inside and outside the church in a way that helps all members of the community do the same, in ways appropriate to their circumstances, and (3) shares both the responsibility and the authority of aspects of the shared ministry of the community with lay members of the community.” (Edington, Bivocational: Returning to the Roots of Ministry, 51).