Bivocational Pastoral Ministry: An Emerging Leadership Paradigm for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

21st century American mainline Protestant Christianity is engaged in a struggle to re-discover its identity, mission and purpose. Congregational renewal must begin by returning to mission and leadership models of the 1 st and 2nd century church. One such leadership model is bivocational pastoral ministry. The vocation of church leadership begins in baptism as the first and best ordination of Christ's people. By returning to a baptismal understanding of vocation, this paper explores the leadership paradigm of bivocational ministry as one avenue through which all Christians might rediscover their baptismal identity and mission.