Being called to the service of the Lord takes many different forms. Everyone who feels that pull has their own path to follow, an inner spiritual awakening that leads to the fulfillment of God’s plan.
For some individuals, that means a life in the clergy. They’ll attend a seminary and college to explore the deepest parts of Christianity and theology, becoming experts in both Scripture and the ministry. They may spend their lives as pastors or missionaries, dedicating nearly every waking hour to spreading the Gospel and tending to the needs of their flock.
But that’s not the only path, and not everyone who serves is called to the ministry. There are many equally necessary jobs in God's service that focus more on the practical necessities of church and community than on abstract knowledge of biblical hermeneutics.
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Not all servants of God are ordained.
A church or religious institution is no different from any other human organization in that it needs people to help with the nuts and bolts of supporting its mission. That the mission is a holy one in the eyes of the Lord makes no difference—forms need to be filled out, musical instruments purchased, paychecks issued, and plumbing repaired.
At the same time, a sense of mission is important. Not just anyone can fill these positions—you have to be a believer, dedicated to the church and to God's glory. These are the Christian jobs that no one talks about—the faithful who perform the work of the Lord on Earth.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
A Guide to Christian Church Jobs
Church Staffing Has a Wide Variety of Jobs on Tap for the Faithful
Even in the largest churches, there are likely to only be a handful of ordained pastors leading the congregation. But there are many staff who handle everything from maintenance work to organizing liturgical services, toiling quietly in the background to ensure those ministers have everything they need to complete their services.
These are Christian jobs that fall to experts in fields apart from Christianity itself. Like clergy, you may feel a calling to support God's works. But your role in God's plan doesn’t have to involve directly preaching or ministering in order to have an impact. In fact, by handling accounting, or graphic design, or Sunday school teaching, you are still very much a vital part of the team that supports ministers in their work.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Faith itself is a vital qualification in all of these roles, however. While many people can and do work for private sector corporations for which they feel little affinity, service with a religious organization is different. Not only is it expected that employees are drawn from the faithful, but it is also key to your commitment and job satisfaction that your beliefs line up with the denomination you serve.
Although you are joining in a holy service when you take these Christian jobs, it’s important to remember that they are still an entirely human effort. Every kind of task essential to organizing and performing the basic services of any human association still apply.
For most religious organizations, you can break staff jobs down into several broad categories. Depending on the denomination and even on the individual church.
Of course, these are just a small sample of the many varieties of Christian jobs you can find in religious organizations today. There are as many different opportunities as there are churches and charities in operation. Each has their own way of structuring and staffing, guided by their mission and the doctrine of their denomination:
Church Administration Jobs
Administration and administrative support positions cover the basics of getting everyone in the organization and parish on the same page. In some sense, every organization is a kind of business. Churches pay taxes, have income, track expenses, and pay employees. In fact, today's mega-churches have all the same administrative jobs you'd find in any corporation, from accounting to secretarial work to human resources to positions. Titles can include:
Senior/Executive pastor - Responsible for both the spiritual and executive leadership of church staff and congregation. May oversee other pastors as well as unordained staff.
Office manager - Oversees other office staff. Responsible for record keeping, reception, and other administrative services.
Volunteer manager - Maintains lists of organization volunteers, including expertise and availability. Is responsible for maintaining contact and putting together groups for volunteer activities.
Ministry associate - Handles secretarial services and administrative support for church staff, including lay committees and boards. Compiles reports, writes memos, maintains records.
Christian Jobs in Outreach and Missions
Outreach and missions staff handle community relations and direct services—you can think of this as the public relations branch of the organization. They might work in face-to-face evangelical efforts in the community or take a more modern approach by advertising, using press contacts and social media for earned media exposure. Or they may be consultants or professional staff who offer direct assistance to people in need.
Outreach pastor - Develops ministries to reach out to secular communities. Encourages, recruits, and trains both volunteers and staff in missionary development work. Oversees and organizes missions both close to home and overseas.
Missions specialist - Coordinates with various church ministries or missionary organizations being supported. Develops relationships and offers guidance, as well as monitoring requests for financial and other support and assisting in fulfilling them.
Parish nurse - Evaluates healthcare needs among the congregation or community and advises or treats conditions within their abilities. Offers referrals for outside services such as hospital care or assisted living where required.
Church Jobs in Christian Education
Spreading the Word is an important part of every religious organization. In some cases, that can be a very formal process, such as in Christian schools or with ministries that operate schools overseas as part of missionary programs. Even within churches, educators often teach Sunday school or Bible study courses.
Director of Spiritual Formation - Plans and develops curriculums for faith education. Recruits, trains, and oversees teachers and ministers. Responsible for budgeting, strategic planning, and leadership of the educational organization.
Teacher/Educator - Offers formal classroom instruction for children, youth, or adults in either biblical or other studies.
Nursery staff coordinator - Operates the church nursery, overseeing staff and providing preschool and kindergarten-level instruction for children during worship services or through after school programs.
Jobs Creating and Directing Christian Music
Not all religious organizations have creative or musical branches, but most churches and many ministries do. Musical worship is an important part of many services and in large churches many congregations expect high production values and professional talent from the band and other performers.
Worship Pastor - Responsible for developing and overseeing worship services, helping to select music, hire musicians, and coordinate with other pastors in conducting church events, concerts, or worship services.
Music Arts Director - Conducts rehearsals, arranges music, and directs performances of church choirs. May be specialized in adult, youth, or children’s choirs.
Music Director - Practices and performs musical accompaniment during worship services, or offers separate concert entertainment at church events.
Tech Director - Plans and coordinates worship services to ensure that music and entertainment align with the pastor’s message and plans for the service.
Church Jobs in Media and Communications
Churches have gone as high-tech as any other modern organization, and that means bringing in information technology experts, communications coordinators, and video and audio specialists to help with both public-facing internet sites and the internal infrastructure of church information systems. Many churches now produce live streams of services and other activities, which takes a high degree of technical expertise to produce something compelling and entertaining.
Video/audio engineer - Design sound and video recording, mixing, and streaming systems to ensure high quality presentations of sermons and worship music.
Executive producer - Leads video and audio production teams and coordinates with pastors, choir, and other tech leads in media, staging, and lighting to create an inspiring and meaningful worship experience.
Graphic designer - Creates web graphics and print materials for publication, publicity, or information distribution.
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Church Jobs in Facilities Maintenance
Peter might have been enough for Jesus to found the Church upon, but the rock that modern church facilities are built on is as likely to be concrete as faith. And buildings and grounds are woven through with the materials of modern strength and comfort from electrical wiring to pipes to cable. Facilities maintenance is a big part of maintaining a safe and accommodating place for worship services, study groups, childcare, and more.
Custodian - Maintains buildings, grounds, and equipment for church facilities. Cleans and sets up and tears down venues for major events.
Church Jobs in Christian Counseling
Ministers and pastors have a traditional role in delivering counseling to their flock. Some organizations also hire specialist counselors, however, licensed professionals with specific training in modern scientific psychotherapeutic techniques. They may focus on couples and family counseling, addiction therapy, or other specific specialty areas that the organization needs extra assistance with.
Counseling minister - Provides faith-based counseling through Christian values and supportive therapy. Assist with both spiritual development and healing through traditional and modern psychological approaches.
Licensed professional counselor - Offers therapy and counseling to individuals and families to promote faith, emotional healing, and conflict resolution. Uses both psychotherapeutic and faith-based techniques to help with mental health and spiritual challenges.
Church Jobs in Retail Merchandising
Finally, some churches and religious organizations have successful retail branches, with operations overseen by well-trained staff. Retail sales and managers make sure that these operations aren’t running at a loss, and that high-quality, suitable products are offered in line with the organization’s mission.
Church Staffing Varies Considerably Based on the Size and Needs of the Organization
The types of positions you will find in religious organizations is going to depend a lot on the size of the organization as well as the day-to-day mission. A big international Christian charity will have considerably different needs from a tiny neighborhood parish. Although your faith and dedication will be a constant, your specific skills and training may be better suited to a particular type of career in Christian organizations.
Christian Charity Careers Take Caring to the Secular World
Christian charity organizations can range from small neighborhood operations that make sure school kids have clean and warm clothing for school to multi-million dollar, globe-spanning non-governmental organizations that take on issues ranging from hunger to water quality.
In both cases, the transformative power of Christ’s love is the driving force that separates them from secular charities. The tasks that staff take on will be similar, but working for a Christian charity means being animated by that love and compassion in all that you do, from packing boxes of aid supplies to maintaining spreadsheets of donations and outlays.
Jobs will revolve around the agency’s mission and location. You could find yourself working in an inner-city church basement to coordinate before-school meals for impoverished children, or in a modern office tower coordinating aid shipments with United Nations assistance programs. A high level of diplomacy and organizational skills are required as well as a passion for helping others.
Christian Missionary Work Takes Grit, Dedication and an Adventurous Spirit
For large missionary organizations, logistics and human resource work is one of the most important considerations of the job. Sending pastors and teams of assistants and technical experts into remote areas for years at a time requires plenty of back-office support as well as rugged, dedicated experts willing to risk malaria or frostbite to do good and spread the Gospel.
Not all missions operate under large organizations, however. There’s a long tradition of independent missionaries, going where they are called and trusting in God's providence for support. Even small churches may send missions out if they are called to do so.
In those cases, remote Christian jobs require a jack-of-all-trades, people who are comfortable putting together a spreadsheet, rebuilding a water pump, and conducting a sermon. Skills in education and health care, together with a strong sense of social justice, are big pluses in Christian missionary work.
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Today’s Large Congregations Up the Ante for Church Staffing
You’ll find Christian churches scattered around the country in cities and villages, and sometimes just at a crossroads out in the countryside, catering to the needs of the devout. All but the smallest of those churches will employ at least a handful of staff, or one dedicated multi-tasker.
The massive size of facilities and congregations at megachurches demands a whole different level of organization than smaller, more traditional churches.
In addition to having multiple ordained pastors on staff, dividing worship and faith group leadership amongst themselves, non-ordained staff will also be hired to handle many of the technical and organizational needs of such a crowd. Sometimes dealing with multiple sermons per day, with thousands of attendees in the building, megachurch jobs may include:
- Business pastors
- Retail shop managers
- Men's/Women's pastors
- Drama director
- Communications coordinator
Although some of those positions will required ordained staff, others simply need devout professionals who are experts in their own fields to help support the parish.
Careers in Christian Schools Bring Education and Faith Together
Christian schools may be one of the biggest sources of Christian jobs in the country. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), as of 2017 nearly 6 million students at primary and secondary levels in the United States attended private school. More than three quarters of those were religious schools.
That means there is a big and ongoing demand for Christian jobs in education. Teaching, administering, and handling all the other routine tasks needed to keep a school up and running keeps more than 23,000 educators employed according to 2020 numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Everything from the clergy who look after student’s faith to the school nurse who deals with tummy aches can offer a well-paying, satisfying Christian career.
Christian Careers in Church Governance
Most denominations have some sort of larger organizational body dividing the country into ecclesiastical districts that are overseen by bishops or similarly elevated elders. While the focus of these units is on spiritual leadership and oversight, they also have plenty of mundane accounting and organizational work to be done. That makes them a place of employment for secretaries, bookkeepers, and program coordinators.
Called “bishoprics” or “sees” in some cases, or an “archdiocese” if overseen by an archbishop, these divisions of the church may also employ both religious and secular specialists when it makes more sense to share them among parishes than for each church to hire their own. That can result in jobs for everything from IT support staff to trauma-specialist counseling pastors at this level.
Some denominations do not formally divide regions into dioceses, but may still have bishops who are responsible for oversight in a certain area. Those bishops still require lay support, however, from Christian workers with a variety of expertise in administration.
Church Leadership Can Be Both Practical and Spiritual
Bishops are ordained ministers who have been further elevated to a position of oversight and authority within the church. Not every denomination appoints bishops, and those that do don’t view the position all in the same way. Some, for example, believe that bishops belong to the apostolic succession, tracing their authority back to the original twelve apostles. Others have elaborate divisions within the ranks of bishops, with archbishops, patriarchs, primates, and other specialized positions.
Whether they are ranked in such a lineage or simply elevated from the ranks of pastors and priests, bishops provide leadership within their diocese or region. They may be elected or elevated by their superiors in the church.
As is often the case, the authority and place of bishops in different denominations rests on different readings of Scripture. Similarly, those differences lead to varied liturgical responsibilities for bishops depending on their denomination. The authority of pastors below them to perform certain ceremonies may rest on their blessing.
In all cases, however, they have some responsibilities in ordaining new ministers, coordinating among parishes, and providing guidance in complicated questions of faith and doctrine that may come up.
Church Staffing Requires Professional Expertise on Top of Faith and Commitment
Faith is no substitute for expertise. Although the church expects commitment and dedication to spiritual beliefs, any religious organization worth its salt recognizes that subject matter expertise is also critical. No church should have to rely on a miracle to get its books to balance; instead, a skilled bookkeeper should use their God-given talents and hard-earned training to make it so.
But there is a reason that Christian jobs aren’t exactly the same as other positions. Church positions may require temporal expertise, but there is a lot more on the line than just your technical skills.
Personal Qualities are as Important as Professional Qualifications for Christian Careers
While your Christian job skills should reflect whatever the standards of your profession are, there are other qualities you will have to bring to the table in a religious organization.
Piety should be at the top of the list. You should have respect for your religion and pastor, with appropriate devotion to the rites and beliefs required of church members.
Modesty is a necessity when working for a church in any role. Christian jobs are first and foremost about service, not personal aggrandizement or even recognition. Team players are required.
Faith is another key quality. You need to believe in the mission, in your church team, and in those who lead the church.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
You don’t train to be a Christian, but you can build your knowledge of Christianity and live a life in line with the Gospels. Your education for church employment will come through your life as a disciple of Christ. Attending church, participating in worship, and paying attention to the leadership of pastors and elders will be your best preparation for church jobs.
Secular Education and Training Make You More Valuable in Service to the Lord
Because there is such a wide variety of ways to serve, there’s no one right formula for getting the training you need. As you might imagine, the career path for someone who plans to specialize in ecclesiastical law is going to be quite a bit different from someone who is aiming to become a choir director.
Positions for pastors, ministers, bishops, or any other Christian leadership role, will usually require ordination.
Ordination is a lengthy process that, for most denominations, will require that you earn a master of divinity degree or similar. You’ll also need to pass tests on your scriptural and doctrinal knowledge, have various attestations from senior church members, and undergo rigorous scrutiny from church elders before coming into these positions of responsibility.
For other Christian jobs, the requirements will often be in line with the standards for the profession. Technology professionals, accountants, and managers will be expected to have the relevant college degree for their profession, and often some experience in the field. Nursing staff or teachers may need professional licenses that apply to the job in their state.
It is worth noting that there are Christian universities that offer every professional and liberal arts degree available under the sun. By choosing to attend a private Christian college, you can get not only an education in the technical skills and knowledge of your profession, but also in the wisdom and philosophy of Christ. Mandatory religious courses are a part of the curriculum together with secular training, offering the best of both worlds and preparing you to compete for Christian jobs in any faith-based organization.
Are There Such Things as Remote Christian Jobs?
There is nothing that says that all Christian jobs have to take place in the church office. In fact, in many smaller churches, plenty of work has been handled remotely for decades, as tiny parish offices haven’t always been able to scale to handle the amount of work required. It’s never been a big deal for part-time or outsource work to happen in home offices or at kitchen tables. And missionary jobs have almost by definition been remote, in some cases very remote, ever since Paul hit the road to go preach in Cyprus.
That said, it’s equally true that church jobs are subject to the same influences from technology and society that other office positions are susceptible to. As Zoom, shared file systems like Microsoft Office 365 and Google Drive, and communications tools like Slack have become popular in secular offices, they’ve also made inroads in Christian organizations.
Just like conventional offices, there are some jobs that are easy to handle remotely and others where it just won’t fly. But jobs like bookkeeping, legal advising, and even counseling or volunteer management can easily be done remotely, and often are.
Church Positions Sometimes Pay More Than You Would Imagine
Pay scales in church staffing can be a contentious issue within the ranks of religious organizations. Although in theory the call to service should be the overriding factor in your decision to take a church job, in practice everyone has many demands on their existence in the temporal world. Getting the kind of advanced education you need to become an expert in computers, or nursing, or accounting costs a lot of time and money. And the qualifications you earn along the way can be extremely valuable in the private sector.
So even non-profit religious organizations can offer competitive salaries in careers that are in high demand.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks salary data for a wide variety of jobs, and also breaks it out according to the industry of employment. That allows you to pin down some of the numbers behind salaries for many of the Christian jobs mentioned above. Just a few examples include:
- Parish nurse - $73,900
- Elementary and Middle School Teacher - $52,930
- Secondary School Teacher - $70,570
- Music Directors - $60,860
- Audio and Video Technicians - $47,000
- Producers - $65,980
- Graphic Designer - $50,540
- Counselor - $51,200
For some of these, that average comes in above the overall average salary for those roles when you include employment in the secular world. Secondary school teachers as a whole make only $62,870 per year, for instance. So, taking a Christian job doesn’t necessarily mean taking a pay cut.
There’s also a category for general religious workers who do not fall into any other BLS niche. For those jobs, the median salary in 2020 came out to $33,530.
Ordained ministers and other church managers and members of clergy have their own distinct BLS categories. For 2020, their average annual pay was:
- Directors of Religious Activities and Education - $52,660
- Clergy - $56,560
But, like other positions, these roles will pay differently based on factors like location, level of responsibility within the organization, and the industry of employment.
Church Jobs in Different Locations Deal With Different Costs of Living
While salaries for Christian jobs can vary from job to job, they may also swing quite a lot based on where the church is located. Once again, it’s a basic reality of secular life that some parts of the country just have a higher cost of living than others. A salary that is generous in a rural part of the Midwest, for example, may be well below the poverty level in expensive coastal urban areas.
So as you look into church jobs around the country, you can’t really compare them based on salary alone—you need to consider what your expenses will take out of that check in different areas. On the other hand, if you see a high cost-of-living area with exceptionally low compensation, you may be in for extra challenges in a church position in that region.
Comparing the religious workers job category in a few representative states around the country may give you some idea what the differences will look like:
- New York: $38,210
- California: $47,310
- Illinois: $34,390
- Texas: $38,600
- Florida: $43,500
- Missouri: $39,580
- Georgia: $33,930
- Washington: $41,630
As you can see, Missouri actually outpaces New York, despite New York having the fifth highest cost-of-living in the country and Missouri having the fifth lowest. Although God’s work has to be done in every part of the world, the earthly sacrifices associated with it may be much lower in some places than others.
Not All Christian Careers Are Found in the Church, So Salary Levels are Aligned with the Secular World
The vast majority of Christian jobs are with churches and religious organizations. But there are other industries or entities outside of those areas where you will also find work available. These organizations may not be faith-based, but they may have departments or specific roles that do require individuals of faith. For example, secular hospitals typically still have chapels, and hire chaplains and potentially other religious workers to staff them.
Each of these kinds of employer has the potential for slightly different salary averages, based on the demands of those jobs and the prevailing compensation in the industry. This is true for every category of worker across different industries.
Clergy | Religious Directors | All Other Workers | |
Social advocacy organizations | $74,430 | $70,100 | $53,930 |
Colleges, universities, and professional schools | $58,740 | $63,390 | $51,910 |
Hospitals | $57,580 | $83,870 | $53,660 |
In the end, where you end up working is less important than doing your work to spread God's glory and to serve your calling. You may be surprised where God's plan takes you, but you can always be assured that it’s where you are meant to be.
2020 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures and job growth projections for Clergy, Religious Organizations, Religious Workers, All Other and Directors, Religious Activities and Education reflect national data not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed January 2022.
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