COVO Congregations 1:
What is a COVO Congregation?
What is a COVO congregation? A COVO congregation is one where there is no one who is paid full-time to lead the church. In recent memory, this is the type of congregation that is thought of as small and struggling, declining to the place where they are unable to afford the salary of a full-time minister. This may still often be the case, but increasingly, congregations and ministers are choosing to build their leadership structure and strategy around the benefits of this innovative, yet ancient structure.
The roots of covocational ministry go back to the earliest practices of the Christian church, with the Apostle Paul being the most obvious and most successful example of this. Paul funded his own itinerant church startup ministry through his trade of making tents. Thus an often used name for this type of pastoral leadership has been “tentmaking."
While most of the study and resource creation in this area is devoted to supporting the leaders themselves, the COVO Project at Briercrest is also paying attention to the postures and strategies needed by the leaders and parishioners of the congregation. In this four-art series, we will be taking a quick look at what it means to be a covocational congregation. We will uncover a few of the reasons why, instead of calling this project, bi-vocational, or even multi-vocational ministry, we are calling it CO-vocational. It’s because we believe that this practice of ministry is shared. What exactly, is shared in a covocational congregation?
First of all, a covocational ministry shares ownership . Sometimes there can be a perception in a church that employs full-time ministers that it is the ministers that are responsible for the life, health and growth of the church. Because the ministers are paid full-time, it can be easy to think that they are also responsible to do all the work. A covocational church leans heavily into the principle of the priesthood of all believers described in 1 Peter 2:5 & 9. Each member of the church sees themselves as a priest, one who is responsible for the work of the church. Ownership for accomplishing the mission and vision of the congregation is shared broadly across the entire church family.
Secondly, a covocational ministry shares gifts . Each person in the church, as a royal priest, acknowledges that 1 Cor 12 tells us that each follower of Christ has been given a gift from the Holy Spirit that is to be offered and used for the benefit of all. Some have more time to give, some peoples’ gifts are better suited for leadership and coordination, but all gifts have equal value in God’s ministry economy.
Third, a covocational ministry shares the fruit . 1 Cor 12 goes on to say in vs 26 that,
“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” Instead of placing the weight of responsibility, ministry, and also the emotional weight of the rise and fall of the congregation on one person, a covocational ministry shares all of these things together. In our next article , stay tuned for the benefits of this approach to congregational life and ministry!
If you want more information about the COVO Project at Briercrest, check out our website!