Hi Everyone,

I was just wondering if there are anyone out there that is combining being a Minister with the homesteading life?

I am currently an Engineer and live in a small town. But I have been preparing for quite sometime to make big changes in my life. I am working on studies to become a full-time minister (part-time youth pastor currently) and want to minister in a Church that would allow me to not live in a parsonage but a place with 5-10 acres on the outskirts of town where my family and I can homestead.

I say all this because I don't even know if the two pursuits are compatibly possible. If your doing both, or you know someone who is, I would really like to hear from you for encouragement on my part.

Thank you and have a great weekend! Todd O <>< IA

-- Todd Osborn (Tosborn@cccglobal.com), August 04, 2000

Answers

Todd, sure sounds like the perfect life to me! You could pastor to at least two flocks then!

I am sure opportunities like this exist. A couple of thoughts come to mind...in small communities (like where you might find this situation) there are often small parishes. Therefore, the pastor ends up doing a lot of administrative work (probably won't have a paid secretary)and diverting time spent from other work/study. Hopefully, your family has, or is developing, homesteading skills so they can run the farm while you are working all the time! Also, you may be your own music director, etc. And of course (and you already know this) smaller communities can be warm and welcoming, or they can be protective and insular. Depends on lots of things. Of course, if you get the call, you get the call!! God will guide you.

Blessings to you and good luck! (p.s. I'm not clergy, but an active lay leader with pastors as friends. I live in a small community.)

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), August 04, 2000.

Many of the smaller Southern Baptist churches in Texas do not have parsonages. They don't pay a lot though. The Southern Baptist churches that do have parsonages do not require you to live in them-- they just rent them out to someone until there is a need for the parsonage again. They rent the houses with a clause in the contract that the rentor has to move on a 30 day notice.

I think one of the visitors to the forum named Vaughn is a preacher and a homesteader.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), August 04, 2000.

I don't see anything wrong with doing both. But if you are going to be a real *pastor* (not just a preacher) you won't have a lot of free time from taking care of your human flock! I can see a couple of advantages. Gardening and livestock husbandry, though they come with their own stresses, can be great stress relievers, quiet times when you can talk to God while you weed or milk or whatever. Also, you can get a better understanding of many scriptures from growing plants and animals, and being more in touch with the world God made. And will probably get a lot of good sermon illustrations. Also, if you have a small-town church, your church will probably not be able to pay you very much, so it will help the family budget to be growing as much of your own food as possible. And if you have children, it is good for them to grow up in the country, helping with farm chores. Also, I think, good for the pastor. Some of them, especially ones who have gone straight from high school, to college, to preacher-boy school, to pastoring (a mistake, in my opinion -- Jesus was thirty before He started His ministry, and I think that's a good example to follow in most cases), have little or no experience of living the way their people do (having to earn a living by the work of their hands) and many seem to be very demanding of their flock. Yes, Christians should serve in their church, and support the work financially, but it needs to be from a willing heart, not because it is demanded by the pastor. I could tell some real horror stories on this topic -- but must add that it hasn't turned me off from church, because by the grace of God I know enough to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus Christ rather than on my fellow men, even if the fellow man is my pastor!

I would add, and this is in the nature of a rebuke, but the Bible says we are to rebuke one another in love to help one another grow, that you need to let God plan where you are going to serve Him. And then be happy with that place, even if it isn't what you would have chosen. If you truly love God, and truly believe in Him, you will want His will for your life and for your ministry, not your own will. I can tell you from 26 years of following the Lord, that His way is best, my way gets me in trouble every time. Sometimes He asks us to do things that are hard, or to stay where we don't want to be, or to go where we don't want to go, but He loves us, and wants what is best for us, and there will be a blessing from obedience. Sometimes it takes a while to see it, but it will come. Hope you will see God's blessings on your own life and ministry. In Christ, Kathleen.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), August 04, 2000.

Todd, It may be difficult to do both at times. It is in fact difficult to be a husband and a father when you pastor a church. My husband is not a pastor yet, but he has surrendered to preach. What little time he does have at the end of the day he has to spend studying.And from what I can see it is definately a lifes calling. Meaning it pretty much takes up all your time.It is what you are suppose to do in life. It is not the kind of job you can leave at the office. It is full time all the time. Meaning folks will call on you all hours of the day and night. And probably your wife too. Now I don't mean to say this to scare you off on anything.Just enjoy the homestead for what it is and don't get your roots too deep.I have had trouble in the past with wanting to invest anything into a place because we never know how long we will be living there. But I realize now that all we have is a gift from God, and in order to be good stewards of what we have, we have to do the best we can while we have it. The same goes for our children. They are only on loan and we have to do our best to raise them in Him.And you probably already know this, but I have learned that what ever God has called you to do; You have to do weather that is pastor a church or be a pastors wife. Just know that it can be difficult and seem impossible at times to do anything else. I try to run our homestead and I love it.I am homeschooling our two children now also. It is very hard to do by myself. And I might add I am none too happy with it at times. My husband has little or no time to help. I realize and I try always to remember the greater calling we both have.All that I say to you I am saying in christian love. Pray with your family about it, and what ever you decide to do pray over it daily. Put it all into His keeping and let Him guide you.. These verses in Hebrews always help me to put things in perspective. Hebrews 12:1-4

-- Bonnie (josabo1@juno.com), August 04, 2000.

Hi Todd, My Preacher is a homesteader. He also works at diferent "pick-up" jobs. He is trusting in God and God is faithful. I will ask him if he can come in to give you his views.

I suppose it depends on your flock sizes as to how much is humanly possible. But if He is calling you to do it, you have no choice but to let Him put you where He needs you. God Bless.

-- Doreen (livinginskin@yahoo.com), August 04, 2000.

May the Lord cause his face to shine upon you, and grant you peace ! If you need someone to grant that peace too, I 'm always in need of God's word !

-- Joel Rosen (Joel681@webtv.net), August 04, 2000.

Todd, Wow! All the advice I COULD give but I will try to stay on topic. Yes, you can combine the two with sensibility. My family lives in a parsonage in a very small town. We have a large garden and generous members who share eggs, venison, and fruit with us. We don't have to live in the parsonage but right now we can't afford not to. But we are saving towards our own land in the near future. Hope to have chickens, a pig, and beef cow, maybe a goat. Now-a-days many churches do not have parsonages.

Of course, alot will depend on the church/town where you will be. How do they feel about you not living in the parsonage? Do they mind if you work extra jobs (if neccessary)? Do they think you need to spend all your daytime in the office and do your calling in the evening? In other words - what is their expectations and are they realistic? I was at a church that thought I should be in the office all day and call in the evening when I wasn't attending school functions (football, basketball, softball, etc.) I had little time for my family, not to mention my 1 acre yard and large garden. Needless to say I burned out. Now I am at a church that has realistic expectations of how a minister does his job. I am still very busy (but without the stress) and that will probably be your biggest problem. Finding time to get the garden weeded, animals cared for, etc. If you have a willing wife and children it will help.

One draw-back is that you are never sure that the place where you are is where you will stay for the rest of your ministry. I always go to a ministry expecting to stay there for the duration. It hasn't always worked out that way. We don't start looking for our "own place" till we have been in a church for 2-3 years. By then you have a feel for the place and know if you will be staying longer. It is a temporary existence. My advice is don't buy a farm/land unless you are sure you are comimg back and retire there (and can afford to pay for it in the mean-time) because it is so difficult, emotionally and financially, to sell a place long distance after you have moved somewhere else. (Been there, done that, don't recomend it!)

Now some encouragement: It is my belief that if you have a nagging persistent desire on your heart, whether it is for ministry or something else like homesteading, then it is something put there by God. You may have to wait on His timing but it will be worth it. I love what I do and wouldn't want to do anything else. It is great for the family too. Dad can be there whenever the family needs him -not just after 5 p.m.(though it never seems to fail that something comes up when company comes LOL).

God bless your ministry and meet you in heaven brother!

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), August 04, 2000.

I'll give you two examples.

Closest to me is my younger brother. Ross is a farmer. He also has a qualification in theology, obtained by correspondence. No degree mills in Australia: this is an associate diploma from the theological college associated with the University of Sydney, which trains many protestant ministers - complete in itself, but worth two years of credit towards a three-year bachelor's degree. He could walk into many protestant churches as a minister on the basis of that and a profession of faith, although our own church (Presbyterian - of which he has been an elder for well over twenty years) would require another six months of their own special study and assessment. He feels that a large part of his ministry is in his own community, and that he wanted to do the best job he could in that - hence the study. He also takes part in a ministry to the wider world, most notably to India (although he has been on missions to other nations, such as Bangla Desh, Nepal and (very unofficially) China). He actually runs a home business selling bible covers produced by a church group in India. He was starting this as a means of getting them export income to finance their training (currently well over one thousand village evangelists), and I convinced him that if he didn't put it on a business footing it would eventually be wiped out by some misfortune, to everyone's loss. He has expanded on that as a means of producing off-farm income - something that is nearly essential to any farm here that isn't an enormous agri-business.

Second example is closer to what you asked. Family friends - she is the daughter of a former minister here, her husband is a minister. Gillian (Pron.Jillian) was raised here from a baby, and this has always been home to her. She inherited some money from a grandmother, and has recently used it to purchase a small farm (about 127 acres, from memory) in the district. Vic is a country minister, had one (I think) country parish, then they and infant son did mission work in New Guinea, then another country parish north-west of here (hotter, dryer), now another parish further north (more sun, but a little less arid). They are working to make the farm the place they want, but it isn't a commercial operation in their hands - more a lifestyle thing. I expect that in ten or fifteen years Vic will begin to make it known that he would be amenable to a call the next time this parish becomes vacant, with the aim of establishing themselves for ultimate retirement here. If not, then they'll retire here anyway.

As many others have said, you don't need to commit to any place, or even any lifestyle yet. The Lord may not yet have shown you what service he needs of you, or where, and when; and when that will change - again, and again. It is entirely possible that you haven't even been to the place that will become "home" to you; or even that your calling may not allow you a permanent home. It is certain that you don't and won't know a lot of what is possible until you've been working in the ministering trade for quite a while; so why not use the time and the places as opportunities to learn and experience? For instance, try gardening. It's certain that most minister's or pastor's income could use the supplement that a home vegetable garden, and if possible an orchard or berry patch, would provide. If possible, poultry or ducks would be another step that would supplement your life and experience. That could all be a recreation, an income supplement, and a chance to learn about whether more in a self-reliant lifestyle would be suitable for you and your family and your vocation; and while you wait and work for the time and place to become known to you.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), August 06, 2000.

On re-reading, perhaps I didn't quite make clear that my brother Ross is NOT a preacher or pastor or minister or whatever - his ministry is fulfilled as I said, without ordination, as a lay-preacher and what all, in a church which happens to be blessed with some VERY good lay- preachers, plus a good keen young (just turned 30) pastor in his first parish.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.aud), August 06, 2000.

Todd, My grandfather first stood behind the pulpit of a small country church in the hills of northeast Missouri almost fifty years ago. As a small boy I grew up watching him, and will gladly admit he was the biggest hero of my life. He was a simple country preacher. I loved the farm, and would spend summers in the garden with him and at the country churches he pastored. In September of 1968 my father opened the doors of another country church and also enjoyed the small farm life. Today the third generation of ministry is being brought forth through my life. And yes, my family also is a simple country family. In answer to your question, can it be done? Absolutely. Is it easy? No. Is it rewarding? Oh how we could sit for hours!! I only have one suggestion. Commit your life to Christ in a three fold manner. #1. God I will go where-ever you lead. #2. God I will do what-ever you ask #3. God I will go when-ever you call.

You see there is nothing more beautiful than a sunset over the roof of an old barn. There is nothing more fun than watching your boys as they chase a bullfrog around an old farm pond. There is nothing more exciting than firing up that old tractor and working the ground,...but there is also nothing more misrable than being out of God's will. My point here is this~ I love the country. It is deep within me. But even greater than the country is my love for my Heavenly Father, and I will leave the country at any point He says GO. If you are truly called to be His minister, remember the passage from Matthew 6:33, seek first HIS kingdom,...and your dreams of the country,....well,....my friend they have a way of coming true also.

Don M. Miller

-- Don M. Miller (1wrangler1@excite.com), August 08, 2000.

Thank you everyone that has written in reply to the homesteading pastor subject! There were many good points and I appretiate you very much!

I would love to hear what a homesteading pastors typical week looks like, how you divide your time between both. And I would like to hear what denominations you belong to where the denomination supports the way you live. I am in a pentecostal denomination (AOG) and I don't know of any AOG pastors that have the homesteading mentality so you just kind of feel like your on your on your own in this pursuit.

Thanks again & may Jesus be more increadiably real to each of us who call upon His name, especially as times grow shorter & shorter and the world get's darker.

Todd O. <>< IA

-- Todd Osborn (tosborn@cccglobal.com), August 11, 2000.