Today’s Wyoming is a deeply religious state where Christian values as are expansive as the prairies that mark the landscape.
Though organized religion didn’t make its way to the territory now known as Wyoming until the mid-1800s, it gained a quick foothold once Christian missionaries arrived. baptizing people, building churches, and introducing Christianity to the Native Americans who had made their home here for a couple hundred years.
By 1840, the first Catholic Mass was held, and just a handful of years later, a Protestant service followed. By 1867, the railroad came to Wyoming, the federal government designated Wyoming a state, and the religious population surged, along with growth in the Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, and Congregationalist churches.
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Today, according to the Pew Research Center, the state is predominately Christian, making up about 71% of all adults in Wyoming. Of those, about 43% are Protestant, 14% are Catholic, and 9% are Mormon. There are even small pockets of Orthodox Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses here.
Wyoming is where you’ll find an open-minded view of religion; where Mormons, Protestants, Catholics, and other Christian religions are all at home in the state’s wide, open spaces. Your personal calling to the Lord will fit perfectly in this diverse religious environment and provide you with plenty of inspiration to begin your career serving the people and the Lord.
But before you can begin an exciting and undoubtedly fulfilling career in ministry in Wyoming, you’ll need the education that will serve as a solid foundation and jumping off point.
Here are the steps you’ll want to take to learn how to become a pastor in Wyoming:
Steps to Become a Pastor in Wyoming
Step 1. Earn a Bachelor's Degree in Christian Ministry, Pastoral Studies or Other Similar Major in Wyoming
Christian leadership, Christian studies, pastoral ministries, and religious studies are just some of the names given to Christian bachelor's degrees, which serve as an outstanding foundation off which to build a career in ministry, missionary work, and pastorship. These four-year degrees are designed to provide students with a comprehensive overview of everything from the Old and New Testaments to biblical history to biblical languages while also including courses in the practical aspects of ministry. Liberal arts courses in areas like business, psychology, and communications round out a Christian bachelor's degree.
Whether your interests lie in overseeing outreach programs through a ministry program or church, leading missionary groups around the world, or serving in a pastoral or other church leadership role, a Christian bachelor's degree is what you covet.
Step 2. Look for Ministry Jobs and Gain Experience Serving the People and Churches of Wyoming
With a bachelor's degree in Christian studies, religious studies, or the like, you'll be qualified to assume positions like Bible studies teacher, youth pastor, deacon, missionary, church administrator, and more. And there's no shortage of church jobs and ministry jobs awaiting you in Wyoming once you gain this valuable education.
For example, you may land a job with an organization like Bethel Outreach Ministries in Cheyenne, a social service agency that offers support and assistance to recently discharged inmates. Just some of the resources and services offered through this nonprofit include mentoring, a pen pal ministry, and programs that help the recently incarcerated rebuild and restore their lives.
You may also find groups like the Wyoming Ministry Network in Casper to be a great fit. The Wyoming Ministry Network is a network of churches across Wyoming that is focused on strengthening relationships, improving congregations and the pastors who lead them, expanding mission and church planting, and inspiring the younger generations.
Explore Ministry Jobs with One of Wyoming's Many Churches
Wyoming's churches are some of the best sources of church and ministry jobs in Wyoming. Whether your interests lie in education, outreach, administration, or ministry, you're sure to find exciting opportunities through some of the state's largest churches, such as:
- Beacon Hill Baptist Church, Cheyenne
- Cheyenne Church of Christ
- First United Methodist Church, Cheyenne
- Golden Prairie Church, Burns
- Highland Park Community Church, Casper
- Mountain View Baptist Church, Mills
- New Life Gillette Church, Gillette
- Northern Christian Church, Cheyenne
- Sheridan Wesleyan Church
- Snowy Range Evangelical Free Church, Laramie
- Uinta Bible Baptist Church, Evanston
- Whitewater Christian Church, Laramie
Step 3. Earn a Master of Divinity (MDiv) or Similar Graduate Degree in Wyoming and Establish Your Role in Christian Leadership
If you're ready to take your career in ministry in Wyoming to the next level, you've probably considered earning your graduate degree in an area like ministry or theology. The most common degree program in this field has become the Master of Divinity (MDiv), although you'll also find other programs like the MA in Ministry and the Master of Theology.
The MDiv has become the gold standard for top-level positions in the church and is largely required to become ordained. The MDiv and similar graduate programs offer an education in the classical theological disciplines and the practice of ministry to teach students how to become a pastor and assume a wide range of ministry leadership positions. Through a ministry graduate degree, you'll study and analyze the text of the Old and New Testament, dive deep into Christian historical and theological thought, and gain an understanding of the biblical philosophy of church leadership.
Many ministry graduate degrees offer opportunities to specialize in an area like biblical languages, church planting, youth ministry, or pastoral leadership. And many are also offered in a partially or fully online delivery to accommodate the needs of today's busy, working adults. Through an online ministry degree like the online Master of Divinity, you'll be able to uphold your professional obligations and church commitments while earning your graduate degree.
Salary Expectations for Pastor Jobs in Wyoming
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), clergy in Wyoming earned an average salary of $50,440 as of May 2020, while the top earners in this profession (top 10%) earned about $83,200.
Step 4. Consider Forming a Christian Ministry of Your Own in Wyoming
For many, a career in the church culminates in planting a church of their own. If your calling to the Lord includes spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ through a church of your own, you'll need to be prepared with equal parts passion and preparation.
In Wyoming, establishing your own church requires you to create a nonprofit organization through the Wyoming Secretary of State.
This includes:
- Reserving a name for your church and filing an Application for Reservation of Corporate Name with the Secretary of State
- Choosing a Board of Directors (The Wyoming Nonprofit Corporation Act requires nonprofits to have at least three board members.)
- Choosing a registered agent (person and address where all legal documents regarding the nonprofit will be mailed)
- Appling for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – You’ll use it to open bank accounts and solicit donations.
- Registering your church at the federal level as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the IRS.
- Filing for Wyoming State Sales Tax Exemption once you’ve already been granted federal tax-exempt status by the IRS
2020 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures and job market trends for Religious Workers, Church Directors, and Clergy based on state data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed January 2022.
