“The OrthoCuban on BiVocational Ministry" by Fr. Anthony Perkins Good Guys Wear Black (AFR Podcast) September 19, 2017 In this episode, Fr. Anthony talks with Fr. Ernesto Obregon (orthocuban.com) about the special challenges that come with bi-vocational ministry and the ways we can help our … [Read more...]
10 Reasons Bivocational Ministry Matters
By Chuck Lawless “I didn’t come to seminary to be a bivocational minister, to have to get another kind of job,” my student told me. I may not have agreed with my student, but I did understand his thinking. Back then (almost 15 years ago), we weren’t talking much about bivocational … [Read more...]
Why Did Paul Make Tents? Part Five
by Ruth Siemens VIII. What Value Has Paul’s Strategy For Us Today? I am convinced that Paul’s strategy for producing missionary lay movements, for exponential growth, holds the solution for world evangelization for the 21st century! I think we cannot fulfill our mandate without Paul. So what can … [Read more...]
Why Did Paul Make Tents? Part Four
by Ruth Siemens How Well Did Paul’s Strategy Work? Many of his lay evangelists were from unsavory, uneducated, pagan backgrounds. Most were slaves. None had anthropological or missiological training. It cost Paul dearly to bring them the gospel, and they risked their lives without pay to take it … [Read more...]
Why Did Paul Make Tents? Part Three
by Ruth Siemens What Was Paul’s Strategy and How Effective Was It? It would take a longer paper to pull all this together, but I will just suggest a few points in Paul’s strategy. This “apostle to the Gentiles” had received a daunting commission from the risen Christ. He set out to evangelize the … [Read more...]
Why Did Paul Make Tents? Part Two
by Ruth Siemens Why Did Paul Work When He Did Not Have To? We will consider only three of the several reasons he gives. The first two are part of his formal defense in 1 Cor. 9 and the third is in 2 Thess. 3. 1. Credibility Paul says twice that he works in order not to put an “obstacle” in the … [Read more...]
Why did Paul Make Tents? Part One
by Ruth Siemens Orthodox Christianity thrives when both laypeople and clergy are intensely committed to evangelism and mission work, and some of the best work is done by 'tentmakers' - clergy and laity who work in the world to support themselves, but whose purpose in life is building up the Body of … [Read more...]