Where Do the Simeons & Annas Go to Pray?

Bi-Vocational Pastors, Divided Leadership & a Church That Needs More Than Sunday

Recently, I’ve been sitting with a question:

If Simeon and Anna walked into our churches today on a Tuesday afternoon, would there be somewhere for them to pray? Or would they be greeted by a locked door?

Simeon and Anna weren't coming to the temple because they needed another program. Their spiritual lives required a place where they could consistently encounter God. Their devotion existed beyond a weekly gathering.

So, what would it take to ensure the modern-day Simeons and Annas among us have more than a locked door waiting for them? That doesn't mean we need more full-time pastors. Perhaps we need to consider full-time shepherding.

Exploring the Possibilities of Full-Time Shepherding

I hear the conversations happening in the backrooms of churches. We spend a lot of time asking whether churches can afford a full-time pastor. Perhaps we also need to ask whether our communities can afford part-time shepherding. Those aren’t the same question.

Every church may not have the financial capacity for a full-time senior pastor.

But I assert that every church needs full-time shepherding.

That doesn’t mean the senior pastor must personally be available seven days a week. It does mean someone has to be tending the house.

Prayer. Pastoral care. Discipleship. Leadership. Accountability. Community. Relationship.

These cannot disappear simply because the senior pastor isn’t in the building.

So the question becomes:

Have we built churches with enough skilled leadership capacity to be the Church beyond Sunday?

Maybe we haven’t, but perhaps God has already placed some of the capacity among us.

There are seasoned leaders entering retirement with decades of leadership and life experience. Business owners whose changing models have created greater flexibility. Mature believers with wisdom, capacity, and a desire to serve who may be sitting in our pews waiting for an opportunity to help tend the house.

But before we consider how they might be integrated into the vision, we have to understand the capacity gap they may be called to help fill.

Calling Doesn’t Create Capacity

Consider the reality of a bi- or tri-vocational pastor. A pastor may have a secular career, lead a local congregation, and maintain a separate preaching or speaking ministry.

None of those responsibilities is inherently problematic. But each requires time, preparation, attention, emotional energy, presence, and recovery.

So which one receives the leader’s best capacity?

Calling doesn’t create capacity. And opportunity doesn’t automatically mean capacity exists to carry it. Consider how we would view the same issue in the marketplace.

A CEO can speak at conferences, sit on panels, write books, and build an external profile. But if the company entrusted to that leader is deteriorating, teams lack leadership, systems aren’t functioning, and the vision isn’t being executed because the CEO’s attention is elsewhere, the board will ask questions.

Should we expect less accountability when stewarding God’s house?

The issue isn’t whether a senior pastor or senior leaders should ever preach or serve elsewhere. The stewardship question is:

Has the primary house been established enough to support the leader’s expansion beyond it?

Because your platform should not be expanding faster than your stewardship of the vision entrusted to you.

If people inside the church are saying:

• “I don't know who to call when I need pastoral care.”

• “Nobody noticed when I disappeared.”

• “There’s nowhere to go when I need prayer.”

• “We don’t have leaders who can shepherd us.”

• “Everything stops when the pastor isn’t here.”

…while the pastor’s external preaching calendar is flourishing, that isn’t simply a scheduling problem. That’s a stewardship question.

And if the senior pastor is bi- or tri-vocational, we have to ask:

Who has been appointed and prioritized as the full-time shepherd of the house to tend to the sheep?

Not simply someone with a title. Someone with the time, training, authority, accountability, and capacity to shepherd.

Full-Time Shepherding Is an Infrastructure Commitment

Full-time shepherding doesn’t necessarily require a job title. It requires intentional infrastructure.

• Who is accessible when the senior pastor isn’t?

• Who owns pastoral follow-up, prayer, visitation, and crisis response?

• Who has been trained and authorized to shepherd?

• What continues functioning when the senior pastor is working, traveling, preaching, resting, or unavailable?

Because if everything stops when the senior pastor stops, we may not have built leadership capacity.

We may have built dependency.

And ultimately, the impact of that infrastructure or the absence of it, is felt by people. Now imagine Simeon and Anna today.

They may simply be looking for somewhere to pray on Tuesday morning.

Someone who knows their name.

Someone who notices when they’re missing.

Someone who can visit the hospital.

Someone who sees the struggling marriage.

Someone who is developing the emerging leader.

Someone who is tending the community.

A place to sit when life falls apart on Wednesday; not simply somewhere to worship or volunteer their gift on Sunday.

Real relationship requires time.

Being seen beyond your gift requires proximity.

Leadership and accountability require relationship.

Knowing the shepherd’s voice requires presence.

And Who Shepherds the Shepherd?

There is another side of this conversation.

The answer cannot be asking already-stretched pastors to simply give more of themselves. A healthy church infrastructure must protect the health and capacity of the senior leader while ensuring the congregation receives the care it needs.

The sheep need shepherding. And the shepherd needs shepherding too.

That’s why this isn’t simply a conversation about employment status. It’s about stewardship, capacity, infrastructure, and care.

The pastor carries the vision.

The house requires shepherding.

The sheep require tending.

And the shepherd requires care.

So perhaps these are the questions worth sitting with:

• What kind of infrastructure must surround a bi- or tri-vocational pastor so the people don’t receive bi- or tri-vocational care?

• Who has been appointed and prioritized to provide full-time shepherding of the house?

• Has the primary house been established enough to support the senior leader’s expansion beyond it?

What does the vision require us to strengthen around the pastor so that both the shepherd and the sheep are cared for?

Perhaps the question is no longer whether a church can afford a full-time pastor.

Can our churches afford not to build full-time shepherding?

Scriptural Reflection: Luke 2:25–38

If this resonated with you, let's talk. Sometimes the first step isn't having the answer. It's creating space to honestly examine what the vision requires now.