Part-Time Is Plenty: Thriving in Bi-Vocational and Part-Time Ministry

Across North America, pastoral ministry increasingly involves serving part-time in a local church. Going part-time doesn’t have to mean settling for less. Extensive survey data show that part-time clergy are happier and healthier than their full-time peers. Dozens of congregations have experienced more vitality—not less—after switching to part-time staff. What’s enabling them to thrive? 

This four-week course will delve into four proven, part-time ministry models that lead to heightened congregational vitality and improved clergy well-being. Participants will: 

• Consider unsung strengths, self-sabotaging biases, and untested assumptions. 
• Learn to leverage a part-time position for the strategic empowerment of laity, neighbors, colleagues, and themselves.

• Analyze case studies to see how mental shifts enabled spiritual fruit to emerge. 

• Discover how a less staff-dependent culture liberates laity and clergy alike. 

• Practice resetting expectations and laying the groundwork for breakthroughs.  

About the instructor:

The Rev’d G. Jeffrey MacDonald is an award-winning religion reporter, bi-vocational UCC pastor and the author of Part-Time is Plenty: Thriving without Full-Time Clergy (Westminster John Knox Press, 2020). He leads workshops and courses for mainline church leaders across the United States and Canada. He holds an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School, a B.A. from Brown University and a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University. Read his free articles and learn more at gjeffreymacdonald.com.