At Church of the Cross in Whitefish, Montana, two pastors work together to manage church ministry while also working other jobs. Their bi-vocational bent allows them to sustain a “team approach” in their ministry, insulating them from loneliness and burnout in Big Sky Country. 

Aaron Scott has been bi-vocational since he planted the church 10 years ago after gathering a core group that met as a house church. In addition to several side projects, Scott manages vacation properties and owns a T-shirt business in his native Texas. Currently, he serves as the worship pastor at Church of the Cross.

Scott works alongside lead pastor Jake Neufeld who joined the pastoral staff in January 2018. Initially, Neufeld split his time between the church and a lumber company, but now he works part-time maintaining Scott’s vacation properties and works about three-quarters time for Church of the Cross. The church had a third bi-vocational pastor for several years, though the current team is two pastors.

Reflecting on the history of Church of the Cross, Scott shared that the bi-vocational bent of the church “gave us a team. When different things have happened in each of our lives, two guys or one of the other guys would take on more of the work.” 

For instance, Church of the Cross’s model allowed Neufeld to take a sabbatical over the summer 2024. But even in the ordinary operation of the church, multiple bi-vocational pastors allow for a smooth allocation of time, talents, and resources. Paying two part-time pastors instead of one or multiple full-time pastors has allowed Church of the Cross to direct more of its budget towards facilities and more of its time to particular ministries. 

“One guy with his talents can address one part of the ministry, while another guy can focus on something else,” Scott said. Neufeld added that “doing it together is super helpful.” 

Burnout is a real risk for solo church planters, as Scott has learned. He planted another church before Church of the Cross and “got fairly burned out because I was just solo.” He requested that the session allow him to become part-time and bi-vocational so that the church could hire an additional, bi-vocational pastor. Scott’s request went unheeded, so he eventually resigned.

“I was told that in the PCA we want to pay full-time pastors… the PCA doesn’t really train guys to be bi-vocational guys, and there’s not a lot of talk about that in seminaries,” Scott explained. 

In his 20 years of church planting, Scott has seen many other pastors experience burnout similar to his own. But he believes a bi-vocational model saved Scott from such burnout since it alleviated some of the loneliness and stress of ministry. 

“Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs,” he said. “I’ve always wondered, when it comes to church planting, why we sent out so many guys by themselves.”

A bi-vocational model also allows Church of the Cross to reach a rural community like Whitefish, which is both a blue collar community and a ski resort town. The community sits on the banks of Whitefish Lake and less than an hour from Glacier National Park. In 2024, Whitefish’s population was under 10,000, but it was also ranked as the tenth-largest city in Montana. 

Bi-vocational pastoring helps Scott and Neufeld relate with their congregation and make inroads with their broader community. It also allows their church to survive in a small town. According to Scott and Neufeld, churches in communities like Whitefish struggle without the teamwork and longevity allowed by having two bi-vocational pastors. 

“There’s a lot of people in the West or Northwest that would love a PCA church,” Neufeld said, and not just in the region’s large cities. A church with two bi-vocational, part-time pastors represents one solution to this problem. 

Chris Vogel, church planting and vitality coordinator at Mission to North America, sees bi-vocational ministry as a creative way for pastors to keep building relationships with nonbelievers while ministering to their fledgling congregations. 

“As the North American landscape changes, the forms of pastoral ministry must likewise change. Pastoral ministry in general and church planting in particular necessitates not only congregational engagement, but community involvement,” he said. “Bi-vocational ministry creates an intentional avenue to be with and among people who need the gospel.”

Despite its benefits, bi-vocational pastoring is difficult; Scott expressed a sense of never-ending work. He has found that prioritizing the Sabbath helps in combating this sense.

Finding the right work to pair with pastoring can be difficult, too. During one season Neufeld worked 10-hour shifts on Monday through Wednesday, then shifted to church work for the second half of the week. 

“I was totally focused on my job those first three days of the week, and then I would fill the second half of the week with church stuff,” he said. But such a schedule was not sustainable for Neufeld and his family.

Neufeld’s current schedule is more flexible, allowing him to shift his duties as needed.“Most of the time there’s three buckets: work, family, and church,” he said. “Each week I sit down and think, ‘Okay, what’s my primary thing this week?’” 

Scott likewise sits down each week and plans out his time depending on his particular obligations that week. Scott often alternates between phone calls for different jobs. 

“Different days might be split up in different ways,” Scott said, adding that the flexibility of their model means he and Neufeld occasionally conduct church staff meetings at the local ski slopes.  

Due to increasing church attendance, Neufeld will likely move towards a full-time pastoral role in the future while Scott will likely remain bi-vocational. 

“As the needs change, I think the model needs to change. But it could be sustained for quite some time,” Scott said. 

Sarah Reardon is a contributing writer for byFaith.