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Pastoral assistant skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Jill DeTemple Ph.D.,

Leah Thomas Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical pastoral assistant skills. We ranked the top skills for pastoral assistants based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 21.2% of pastoral assistant resumes contained community outreach as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a pastoral assistant needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 pastoral assistant skills for your resume and career

1. Community Outreach

Here's how pastoral assistants use community outreach:

Supported the pastor and over a 75 volunteers in executing church services, Christian education and community outreach.
Created community outreach plans and events.

2. Pastoral Care

Here's how pastoral assistants use pastoral care:

Manage Pastoral Care Ministry department by overseeing seven committees to include program development, evaluation and adequate volunteer support.
Developed internal programs for large, downtown parish in education, pastoral care, and worship.

3. Scheduling Appointments

Scheduling appointments is the practice of finding a free slot with the person(s) you want to meet. The process of scheduling appointments involves finding mutually free time, negotiating follow-ups, sending reminders, and creating new appointments. Scheduling appointments is important to ensure that the timings of consecutive meetings do not clash with each other.

Here's how pastoral assistants use scheduling appointments:

Performed the tasks of greeting clients and scheduling appointments.
Consulted with psychiatrist and assisted with scheduling appointments, maintained appropriate documentation, and distributed medication under supervision from psychiatrist.

4. Event Planning

Here's how pastoral assistants use event planning:

Provided administrative support through event planning, committee meeting preparation and schedule creation.
Assist the Pastor with phone calls, scheduling, emails, event planning, guests, social media and ordering.

5. Youth Ministry

Here's how pastoral assistants use youth ministry:

Maintained records of all active and inactive participants in the youth ministry program.
Collaborated with volunteers to develop and facilitate Jr. High Youth Ministry programs.

6. Graphic Design

Graphic design is the art of making visual content to communicate messages. Designers apply different page layout methods and visual hierarchy by using letters and pictures to meet the need of end-users. Most companies use graphic design to sell their product or services and to convey complicated information by using infographics.

Here's how pastoral assistants use graphic design:

Used graphic design in numerous outreach projects to include bulletins, newsletters, and other marketing materials.
Overhauled graphic design for the church including new print, web, and digital standards.

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7. Travel Arrangements

Here's how pastoral assistants use travel arrangements:

Managed the administrative office in its daily functions to include travel arrangements and speaking engagements and prepared monthly reports.
Assist Pastor and Ministerial Staff with purchasing, scheduling, travel arrangements, and communications to congregation.

8. Worship Services

Worship is the coming together of Christians; it includes different services provided by church practicing Christians. It involves believers coming together to worship God and learn more from the bible. Contemporary worship services include music services like playing 'holy music' such as Christian rock and hip-hop and prayers to God, led by a pastor. Although worship services are Jewish in origin, Christians practice them more often (usually on Sundays). They acknowledge services in the church as a good practice and believe God has a reward for them in this world and in heaven.

Here's how pastoral assistants use worship services:

Participated in worship services every Sunday.
Assist in the coordination of weekly worship services & lead worship services in prayer and message.

9. Administrative Tasks

Here's how pastoral assistants use administrative tasks:

Coordinated all administrative tasks related to production and maintenance including writing procedures, coordinating vendors and assisting as required.
Assisted owner/operator with general administrative tasks including but not limited to locating, ordering and facilitating delivery of parts.

10. PowerPoint

Here's how pastoral assistants use powerpoint:

Created advertising and marketing materials and PowerPoint presentations.
Use PowerPoint, MS Word, sound system to prepare material for service

11. Public Speaking

Public Speaking or oration, as it is sometimes known, is the act of any one person speaking live in front of an audience. Although in the past the audience was only a physical one, nowadays oration might be done on an online video call, at a digital conference, at an online class, or elsewhere. The art of public speaking is very old, drawing its first established roots from Ancient Greece and likely from before, too. It is an important skill and asset in many industries.

Here's how pastoral assistants use public speaking:

Provided administration; staff development; policy development; public speaking; presentations; curriculum development; congregational care.
Developed leadership and public speaking skills facilitating weekly teachings and activities for teenagers and young adults.

12. Prayer

Here's how pastoral assistants use prayer:

Greeted visitors to church office, assisted with prayer and counseling when appropriate, answered four line phones and relayed messages.
Instituted the use of contemporary worship music in the Wednesday night prayer service.

13. Building Maintenance

Building maintenance means all duties necessary to keep a building livable and functional. It involves removing trash regularly, repairing broken items, and cleaning common areas.

Here's how pastoral assistants use building maintenance:

Assisted Senior Pastor in all ministry areas-building maintenance etc.
Carried out light building maintenance.

14. Meeting Minutes

Here's how pastoral assistants use meeting minutes:

Committed to a one year term in: o Taking Meeting Minutes using Microsoft Word.
Record and type all meeting minutes, organize community events, create flyers and other organization agenda, budget organization finances.

15. Guest Speakers

Here's how pastoral assistants use guest speakers:

Planned and supervised class projects, field trips and visits by guest speakers.

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What skills help Pastoral Assistants find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on pastoral assistant resumes?

Dr. Jill DeTemple Ph.D.

Department Chair, Professor, Southern Methodist University

Our graduates tell us employers often note the rarity of religious studies degrees, and then go on to remark with excitement about things like intercultural competence and communication skills that the degree supports. For more on that see: Smu

What soft skills should all pastoral assistants possess?

Leah Thomas Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Contextual Education, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

In my students, I encourage the development of soft skills such as deep listening, empathy, authenticity, flexibility, integrity, trustworthiness, and a collaborative leadership style. These skills exist alongside commitments to ongoing spiritual formation, self and theological reflection and reflexivity, ongoing education and supervision, and care of the self's physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual parts.

What hard/technical skills are most important for pastoral assistants?

Leah Thomas Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Contextual Education, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

In terms of the hard/technical skills that aid pastors/ministers in carrying out their responsibilities, these would include skills of crisis intervention, conflict resolution & peacebuilding, knowledge and praxis related to racial justice and reconciliation, and knowledge of (and techniques for) addressing some of the following situations: trauma and grief, conflicts in the family (including pre-marital, marital and family interventions), addictions and situations of sexual abuse. In all of this, attention to the intercultural dimension of pastoral caregiving is also extremely important. Clinical Pastoral Education training can also provide some of these "hard" and "soft" skills.

What pastoral assistant skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Rev. Elliott Anderson

Assistant Professor of Psychology, Judson University

The best way to maximize your salary in pastoral ministries is to not focus on it. Find a job in ministry you love and allow the financial returns to follow a strong work ethic, a recognition and acceptance of your current role, and a consideration of further ones that have more earning potential, but only as they fit the man or woman you are and want to be. One of the biggest mistakes in ministry is leaving a job we love and are effective in to simply earn more money in a different role that we don't like, that doesn't fit our spiritual gifts or experience, and where we quickly lose our joy in the faith and our joy in our pastoral roles.

Do you want to know more?

List of pastoral assistant skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a pastoral assistant resume and required skills for a pastoral assistant to have include:

Community Outreach
Pastoral Care
Scheduling Appointments
Event Planning
Youth Ministry
Graphic Design
Travel Arrangements
Worship Services
Administrative Tasks

PowerPoint
Public Speaking
Prayer
Building Maintenance
Meeting Minutes
Guest Speakers
Recreational Programs
Financial Reports
Expense Reports

Bible
Spiritual Guidance
Church Services
GOD
Local Community
Facebook
Social Justice

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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