Turn a passage into a sermon
Read a sacred passage closely, weigh its meaning, and draft a sermon listeners can link to daily life.
Career profile
Clergy Member
Clergy lead worship, explain what their faith teaches, and support people facing spiritual questions.
Could you address an entire congregation and afterward sit in silence beside one person who is searching for direction?
A day in the life
Lead a worship service
Direct the readings and prayers, give the sermon, and perform the rites of your own tradition.
Sit with someone in grief
Hear a grieving person out, then decide from their worries: discuss faith, pray with them, or keep listening.
Talk budget and organize volunteers
Meet with a committee about spending and organize volunteers for an upcoming program to advance the congregation's plans.
Quick facts
Preparation depends on your faith
United States · 2025
$60,810 median yearly
United States · May 2025
2.4% projected growth
United States · 2025–2035
Quick orientation
Preparation, pay & outlook
Preparation
Preparation depends on your faithA bachelor's degree is typical nationally; some routes require graduate religious study, while others combine church approval with ongoing training.
Pay
$60,810 median yearlyNational clergy median for May 2025, across faith traditions and workplaces.
Outlook
2.4% projected growthAbout 19,200 openings a year are projected nationally during 2025–2035.
Fit, tradeoffs & changing tools
You might like this if…
- You enjoy studying religious ideas and explaining them aloud.
- You can listen without rushing to supply an answer.
- You want your working life to include sustained religious commitment.
Things to weigh
- People bring you grief and difficult questions; that emotional weight can follow you home.
- Services and religious holidays can put work on days when friends or family are off.
Where AI may help
Video visits let some chaplains reach people who cannot travel. Department of Veterans Affairs programs already use this approach for spiritual care.
What people still lead
The chaplain still listens and responds to the person's concerns. Some rites may need arrangements with a local place of worship.
What we can’t predict yet
How much care moves onto screens will depend on people's needs and the practices of their faith communities.
Pay in context
Earnings
Use national pay as a comparison point when considering a particular congregation or institution.
The national midpoint
The May 2025 median was $60,810 a year. That equals about $29.24 an hour if divided across 2,080 hours; it is a comparison calculation, not a reported hourly wage or typical clergy schedule.
The national spread
In May 2025, the 10th-percentile annual wage was $37,860 and the 90th-percentile wage was $98,890. These are wage percentiles, not starting and senior salaries.
Workplace comparisons
In May 2023, clergy averaged $65,280 annually in religious organizations and $61,810 in general medical and surgical hospitals. These older averages are not today's offers or medians.
Openings across the occupation
The 2025–2035 projection combines 2.4% employment growth with about 19,200 annual openings. It does not tell you how many positions will open in your faith community or town.
Getting started
Train for United Methodist local ministry
- What the route involves
- With a high school diploma or equivalent, complete church candidacy and licensing studies, including examination and church approval. Candidacy requires at least a year of membership or activity in a United Methodist ministry.
- What it can lead to
- A bishop's appointment and the License for Pastoral Ministry allow you to serve as a local pastor while continuing theological study.
- What to check
- This church license applies only within your appointment, requires annual renewal, and places you under the district superintendent's supervision. It is distinct from ordination.
Study toward Reform rabbinic ordination
The standard residential program spans five years, including an initial year in Israel.
- What the route involves
- At Hebrew Union College, study Hebrew and Jewish texts alongside preaching, pastoral care, and fieldwork. Admission includes a bachelor's degree, a Hebrew assessment, and review of your academic preparation and commitment to Reform Judaism.
- What it can lead to
- Successful completion leads to a master's degree and rabbinic ordination, preparing you to serve as a rabbi.
- What to check
- This is a Reform Jewish training route; other Jewish movements and other faiths set their own requirements.
Start with the faith community you hope to serve. Its requirements shape your education and authority. These two routes show how different the process can be.
After entry
Career paths
This starts where the entry routes leave off: early work, growing capability, and advancement or specialization.
Get established
Review early services and difficult conversations with a mentor. United Methodist local pastors have a formal clergy mentor after appointment.
Deepen your practice
Connect further study with problems you meet in ministry. For United Methodist local pastors, Course of Study develops pastoral care and leadership alongside religious knowledge.
Pursue broader standing
A United Methodist local pastor can pursue Advanced Course of Study toward ordination, alongside additional church requirements. The next step depends on your tradition's structure.
Where you can work
A congregation
Recurring services anchor your week. Committees and volunteers share decisions about programs and the building.
- Indoors
- Office
A veterans' hospital
You join nurses and social workers in patient-care discussions, visit patients, and record spiritual care in medical charts. The patient's concerns shape the visit.
- Indoors
Try it
See whether the job clicks before you commit to the path.
Choose a short religious passage you know and write a two-minute reflection for someone your age. Read it aloud privately. Notice whether you enjoy both interpreting the text and finding words another person can understand.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational projections and worker characteristics. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. May 2023 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates: Clergy. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- O*NET OnLine. 21-2011.00 — Clergy. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. Ministry of Local Pastors. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. Board of Ordained Ministry Handbook. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. Course of Study. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Hebrew Union College. Rabbinical Program. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Hebrew Union College. Rabbinical School Course of Study. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. What Do Chaplains Do?. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Telechaplaincy. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, national estimates. Accessed 2026-09-29.