Part-Time is Plenty: Thriving Without Full-Time Clergy
by G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Virtual Book Launch
Hosted by The BTS Center via Zoom
Join author Jeff MacDonald and The BTS Center for a taste of Part-Time is Plenty, as we celebrate its publication.
This event, online via Zoom, included storytelling, music, and virtual mingling. (Please BYO wine or other toasting beverage!) There was an opportunity to purchase the newly released book, and one lucky attendee won an autographed copy.
Book Description
Churches experiencing numerical and financial decline may dread the day when they can no longer afford a full-time pastor. Freeing up funds that would go to a full-time salary sure would help the budget — maybe even enough to turn things around — but is it even possible to run effective ministries with just a half- or quarter-time professional?
Journalist and part-time pastor Jeffrey MacDonald says yes — churches can grow more vibrant than ever, tapping into latent energy and undiscovered gifts, revitalizing worship, and engaging in more effective ministry with the community.
Readers of Part-Time is Plenty get a much-needed playbook for helping congregations thrive with a part-time ministry model. They learn to see the model in a new light: to stop viewing part-time as a problem to be eradicated and to instead embrace it as a divine gift that facilitates a higher level of lay engagement, responsibility, playfulness, and creativity.
You can buy the book Part-Time is Plenty here at 35% off. For those who want to order from an independent bookstore, we are partnering with Jabberwocky Books.
Watch the Virtual Book Launch below, which was recorded on April 29, 2020.
Note: The BTS Center awarded Jeffrey MacDonald an Innovation Incubator grant in 2016-2017 for a project entitled "Discovering the New Ministry: Exploring Shifting Roles in Congregations with Bivocational Pastors," and then invited him to share his learnings as the keynote speaker for our 2018 Convocation, "Growing by Half: Part-Time Pastor, Full-Time Church.” This book represents the culmination of his research, and we are so glad to be able to celebrate this milestone with him!
