Tentmaking 3 (Jeff Cook)

Rhythms : Tentmaking 3

I have a wife and 2 small boys, I helped found and lead a local church, and I work around 20-30 hours a week either teaching at a local university or writing to help supplement my ministry-addiction. My wife who is just as much of tentmaker as I am, likewise works fulltime. In my own life, I find the difficulty of tent-making is thrust not as much on my family or on my work, but on myself. I find it massively difficult to create space for spiritual disciplines, Sabbath, prayer, and rest. Of course, tent-makers are not the only ones who come to a place where they are choosing between work, family, and soul-health—but prior to being bivocational this had never been a problem for me.

What are the rhythms of successful bivocational pastors that are good and praiseworthy? How do tentmaker wisely choose their sacrifices? For the tent-maker: when do you make time to do spiritual disciplines? How do you rest?

Most important to me: What do you cut first—paid work, ministry, family time, or alone time? Can we mark one of these as least important, or are they all necessary to the tentmaker’s lifestyle?