What Is Co-Vocational Ministry? Understanding Bi-Vocational and Multi-vocational Ministry

Defining our Terms

Co-vocational ministry is the lived experience of a paid or unpaid church leader who also holds employment outside the church.

The terms bi-vocational, multivocational, and co-vocational ministry are often used interchangeably. Each term can also emphasize something different about the number, nature, or relationship of a leader’s vocational roles.

These distinctions matter because churches, denominations, and theological schools are reconsidering who leads, how leaders are formed, and what sustainable ministry may require. The language used can influence program design, credentialing, compensation, congregational expectations, and the relationship between ministry and work outside the church.

What is Bi-Vocational Ministry?

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.

Darryl Stephens 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)

What is Multi-Vocational Ministry?

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 at 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 addition to their congregational ministry.

What is Co-Vocational Ministry?

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 vocation outside the church 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).

Why These Definitions Matter for Christian Institutions

These models of ministry raise questions that extend beyond terminology.

Theological schools must consider whether their programs are accessible to people who cannot leave employment to study or serve full-time. Denominations must consider how leaders working across several vocational settings are trained, credentialed, supported, and evaluated. Churches must reconsider expectations that place most responsibility and authority in one paid pastoral position.

Important questions include:

• Does our approach to leadership formation assume that graduates will enter full-time paid ministry?
• Can people remain rooted in their communities and workplaces while receiving meaningful theological education?
• How should credentialing pathways account for leaders serving in several vocational settings?
• What support do co-vocational leaders need from their churches and denominations?
• How can congregations share ministry responsibility and authority more broadly?

Co-vocational ministry should not be treated only as a financial response to declining church budgets. It also creates an opportunity to rethink leadership formation, congregational participation, and the relationship between Christian vocation and everyday work.

Co-Vocational Ministry Involves the Whole Church

Co-vocational ministry is larger than the employment arrangement of one pastor. It affects how a congregation understands ministry, distributes leadership, forms people, and shares responsibility.

When ministry is concentrated in a paid professional role, other members of the congregation can struggle to recognize their own pastoral and vocational responsibilities. A healthy co-vocational model asks how the whole church participates in ministry inside and outside congregational life. As Mark Edington says:

“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).

Preparing for a Changing Ministry Landscape

Bi-vocational, multi-vocational, and co-vocational ministry are becoming increasingly important as churches, denominations, and theological schools respond to changing financial realities, new patterns of participation, and broader understandings of Christian vocation.

The terminology will continue to develop. The larger question is how Christian institutions will prepare, credential, support, and collaborate with leaders whose ministry extends across several vocational settings.

I work with Christian universities, theological schools, denominations, and leadership teams examining questions of leadership formation, organizational change, and the future of ministry.

Explore my work with Christian institutions.

View my co-vocational ministry research and resources.

Listen to The Thinking Teams Podcast.