Part-time pastors increasingly juggle jobs, ministry to fill churches' needs
The Associated Press
June 22, 2007

SALEM, West Virginia: For many of the millions of Americans who depend on their pastors, ministers and spiritual leaders, a full-time minister is becoming an out-of-reach luxury. To keep small churches open — and to provide individual care at big churches — religious groups are increasingly relying on part-time, or bivocational pastors.

Worship is just one of the many expectations being placed on these part-timers. There are church council meetings, Bible studies, suppers and other gatherings, and — most important — being there for believers.

"A bivocational minister can be a lot of things, but he can't be lazy," says Ray Gilder, national coordinator of the Southern Baptist Bivocational Ministers Association. the rest