Forming churches and bivocationality

Facilitating Paradox and Watch and Pray make almost perfectly matched blog entries. This is made all the more fun with the tincture of Christianity between the two, and the fact the former is in Ohio and the latter is in Indiana.

But what isn’t charming is the fact that each and anyone considering (seriously or hypothetically) a bivocational church start within the fellowship of the UUA is going to have to stand against established canons of ministerial expectation, even if bivocational ministers are a (quiet) reality in the UUA.

I can’t blame the UUA for not having every resource at all time, but I can blame “the UUA” for not being supportive to entrepreneurs who primarily use the resources they muster. By “the UUA” I mean not the secretariat of the association, or even the participants of the General Assembly, but the lay and ordained opinion-makers who steer the ethos and culture of the wider fellowship.

Since I have an opinion, and share it, I suppose I’m as much “the UUA” as anyone else, and to David (should he take the challenge) and Derek (who has committed to it) — gentlemen, you have my spiritual support, my encouragement, and what resources (admittedly, these will be largely informative) that I can find.

1 comment

  1. Thank you, Scott. My anticipated graduation has been pushed back to 2006 due to scheduling restrictions, so I’ve got plenty of time to explore my options. And since I’m working part time in a secular job as I attend seminary full-time, in one sense I’m already bi-vocational.

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