The best bivocational book you'll read this month

Or maybe even this year!

Mar 15, 2025

I was completely sold on Kristen Plinke Bentley’s book by page four. They write, “Some people admit with embarrassment that they used to think of bivocational ministry as ‘second-class’ ministry. These folks typically had spent most of their lives in large, predominantly white churches and had never been around many bivocational ministers themselves.” So there you have it. Go buy the book now and come back and we’ll talk.

A hand with painted fingernails holds the book Bivocational Ministry: Fields Notes for Congregations and Ministers by Kristen Plinke Bentley

This little book is top of the list for my recommendations for churches and pastors seeking to navigate the work of bivocational ministry. I think it’s because Bentley has done the research to know the context of bivocational ministry and knows how to speak plainly about its currently state. Full disclosure, I was able to talk to the author ahead of the publication of this work and my Substack is also cited in the book. But my recommendation stands as I think this is the candid, accessible take on bivocational ministry many churches need. Case in point, this book is full of helpful charts and appendices. For example, check out Appendix B for a checklist of compensation options for ministers. Or look at the diagram on page eight for a breakdown of who bivocational pastors are anyway (part-time? with other unpaid work?).

These tools are essential for the practical configurations of work so many churches are grappling with currently. Often a church switches from a full-time clergyperson to part-time without much of a plan other than a vague sense that they will be doing less work.1 This is a guidebook for navigating some of those choices. If I were a judicatory leader, I’d keep a stack of these books handy.

But what I love best about this book isn’t its practicality. My own journey in writing this Substack has reflected a shift from thinking about ministry hacks to wondering about what multivocational work teaches us about identity and meaningful living. I don’t think we can talk about bivocational clergy only in terms of what is the output of productive work. I genuinely believe we’re talking theology.

You’re in trusted hands with Bentley as she writes, “The lives of all ministers, like those of all people, belong to God; ministers are not ‘owned’ by the church, even if paid a hefty salary.”2 This insight opens up the possibility for bivocational clergy to understand themselves not as second class, but actually the examples of what it means to live a God-directed life, not one dictated by a congregation. This rootedness saves this book from merely becoming an instructional guide that congregations use to save money on staffing.

Be clear, Bentley will also navigate the possibility for exploitation in multivocational configurations. The introduction begins by telling the story of a tired pastor who is juggling funeral preparations, a business trip, and family care. Take heart, Bentley knows the reality of this work. It can be difficult.

Yet there is hope. As Bentley writes, “When bivocational ministers are supported and encouraged, they can enrich the church and the world.”3 This I can get behind.

Buy Bivocational Ministry Here

What (else) I’m reading

As someone who reads plenty of romance novels, occasionally I’ll end up reading several books in a row where the protagonist is in their early twenties. I don’t have anything against that, but occasionally it gets to be a bit much—people of all ages have complex lives and interesting stories. I was skeptical then heading into The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight as it’s the story of Pen, a young woman arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term. Maybe because this is more literary fiction than romance, but I was pleasantly surprised by how thoughtful I found this book in depicting the excitement and power of early adulthood.