Bi-vocational church planting in urban Brazil: A study of strategic, financial and temporal factors

This study is concerned with the elements necessary for effective bi-vocational church planting in São Paulo, Brazil. It is hoped that understanding the entire process will enable the bi-vocational church planters' leaders to support them more effectively, producing quality new churches with healthy workers.;Twenty-eight qualitative, semi-structured interviews in Brazilian Portuguese were analyzed: twenty-four bi-vocational urban church planters from four major denominations in the state of São Paulo and their respective district leaders. These leaders selected bi-vocational church planters that they considered to be successful.;There were three surprising, overall conclusions that ran counter to popular U.S. contexts. First, the launch-small approach appears to have worked well with these informants instead of the launch-large approach in the U.S. Second, the connections that the bi-vocational informants enjoyed at work made them highly effective as evangelists. Third, these informants were more content to remain bi-vocational than their U.S. counterparts. Status and economic factors appear to be the reasons that only six of twenty-four informants chose to work full-time in the ministry when their churches were able to support them.;Six strategic factors contributed to the informants' success: the bi-vocational church planting process provided tested and proven candidates, the process provided the informants a list of activities with bi-vocational emphases, the process promoted evangelism through social proximity and increased credibility, the process gave the informants status in their ministries and complementary skills, the process benefited the informants emotionally by promoting personal dignity and bringing them peace of mind and the process equipped and supported the informants by their spiritual authorities.;Three financial factors contributed to the informants' success; the type of occupation, the informants' income levels impacted their family's contentment and stake holder relationships.;Three temporal factors diminished the informants' effectiveness: secular career demands limited time for ministry, frustration about time shortages with family distracted informants and stress hindered their health. Conversely, three temporal factors contributed to their success; the use of simultaneity enabled informants to make the best use of limited time, teamwork and disciple making instilled quality into their church plants and added family time via vacations rejuvenated the informants.