Publications
Articles and book chapters produced by the lead researchers of the Canadian Multivocational Ministry Project.
BooK chapter:
Watson, James W. and Narry Santos. “Tentmaking: Creative Mission Opportunities within a Secularizing Canadian Society” in Mission and Evangelism in a Secularizing World, eds. Narry Santos and Mark Naylor (Eugene, OR, USA: Pickwick, 2019).
BOOK:
Tentmakers: Multivocational Ministry in Western Society. edited by James Watson and Narry Santos. (Wipf & Stock, 2022).
Tentmaking is a growing reality in Western society that necessitates more reflection and relevant response from pastoral and mission leaders. The need to consider bivocational or multivocational ministries is catalyzed by established congregations wrestling with decline in attendance, by new immigrant communities looking for sustainable ways to minister, and by misunderstanding or lack of information on the nature of this ministry approach. This need is also triggered by the urgency to address biblical, theological, and pragmatic issues of tentmaking that can forge a way forward for the Canadian church in the midst of an uncertain future.
This volume seeks to forge a way forward as a result of the Canadian Multivocational Ministry Project (CMMP), a qualitative and community-based research project among tentmaking pastoral leaders across Canada. This research partnered with the Wellness Project @ Wycliffe, which uses online questionnaires to assess wellness in congregational ministry. The CMMP research report and the wellness findings form the basis of the multifaceted reflections in the book by Canadian scholars, researchers, and multivocational practitioners. This book offers an accurate pulse of the challenges, opportunities, and future of tentmaking in relation to Christianity and the church in these uncertain times.
Purchase a copy:
Book reviews:
Canadian Small Church Ministry Centre:
https://cscmc.ca/tentmaking-multivocational-ministry-in-western-society/
Salvationist:
https://salvationist.ca/articles/cross-culture-march-2023/
Faith Today
https://digital.faithtoday.ca/faithtoday/library/item/05062023/4095296/
book:
Stephens, Darryl W. Bivocational and Beyond: Educating for Thriving Multivocational Ministry. Atla Open Press, 2022.
CMMP researchers contributed chapter 6, “Calling in Multivocational Ministry,” to Bivocational and Beyond.
One of the issues that surfaced in the multivocational research in multiple places was “calling.” This was raised when commenting on the stresses and complications of multiple employment and also around the rationale, the “why” of intentional engagement in this form of ministry. Researchers Dr. Mark Chapman and Dr. James Watson contributed a chapter to this book on the theological education and training of bivocational leaders.
This volume is an open-access book. Read more about it here: