Bivocational Ministry and Tentmaking (D.Min.)

Program Overview

The Doctor of Ministry in Bivocational Ministry and Tentmaking is built for pastors who are also electricians, nurses, teachers, engineers, and small-business owners. Bivocational ministry is often described as a compromise forced by budgets. Paul made tents, and the pattern has never left the church; in much of the world it is the normal shape of pastoral leadership. This program treats it as a vocation with its own theology, disciplines, and advantages rather than a stage to be escaped. Students examine the biblical and historical record of self-supported ministry, the economics of the small and mid-size congregation, and the specific pressures bivocational leaders face: time scarcity, divided attention, congregational expectations formed by full-time models, the difficulty of sabbath, and the risk that both callings are performed at seventy percent. The curriculum works on the practical skills that make the pattern sustainable — delegation and lay mobilization, sermon preparation under real time limits, boundaried availability, financial planning for the pastor's household, and governance structures that do not assume a pastor on call. Attention is also paid to what bivocational pastors uniquely have: credibility in the workplace, financial independence from congregational approval, and access to people the church never sees. The applied project addresses the student's own dual-vocation reality or builds capacity for others: a lay leadership pipeline, a redesigned staffing model, a network for bivocational pastors, a revised set of congregational expectations. Graduates pastor sustainably, train others in the pattern, and advise denominations on staffing models that fit their actual finances.

Core Courses

• BIV 801 — Theology of Work and Self-Supported Ministry (6 credits)
• BIV 812 — Congregational Economics and Staffing Models (6 credits)
• BIV 824 — Time, Energy, and the Disciplines of Constraint (6 credits)
• BIV 836 — Mobilizing the Congregation for Ministry (6 credits)
• BIV 848 — Expectations, Governance, and Boundaries (5 credits)
• BIV 860 — Applied Research Design for Bivocational Ministry (4 credits)
• BIV 899 — Doctoral Ministry Project in Bivocational Ministry (24 credits)

Admission Requirements

• Master's degree in divinity, ministry, theology, or a closely related field
• Three or more years of pastoral, chaplaincy, or ministry leadership experience
• Statement of purpose describing the ministry setting and the problem you intend to address
• Endorsement from a church, denomination, or ministry organization
• Current resume or ministry profile
• Official transcripts from prior institutions when available