What does a senior pastor do?
Senior pastors take responsibility in offering pastoral care and spiritual leadership in churches and parishes. They engage in community events, especially those with a religious theme. Their other duties and responsibilities include teaching, management, and preaching. They also oversee the management of the ministry of the congregation. The qualities of senior pastors include being accountable, humble, loyal, and honest. They should also be compassionate and loving to those they serve within the congregation.
Senior pastor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior pastor resumes:
- Manage and provide oversight for the administration of all ministry areas within the organization.
- Emphasize Christ-centered teaching, fervent prayer, multilevel family Christian education programs, evangelism and mission outreaches.
- Encourage servant evangelism and outreach through numerous community service projects i.e.
- Major responsibilities include purchasing or developing curriculum, group leadership, volunteer recruitment and training.
- Major responsibilities include purchasing or developing curriculum, group leadership, volunteer recruitment and training.
Senior pastor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 22% of Senior Pastors are proficient in Community Outreach, Pastoral Care, and Overseer.
We break down the percentage of Senior Pastors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Community Outreach, 22%
Provided pastoral care to congregation and community through counseling, hospital visitation, and community outreach.
- Pastoral Care, 11%
Fulfilled various pastoral care responsibilities involving visiting, counseling, and administrative functions.
- Overseer, 8%
Position held, Senior Pastor, District Overseer West Dayton, Examination Board for Credentialing in Southern Ohio Church Of God.
- Bible Study, 6%
Conduct weekly bible study, provide leadership training in addition to biblical counseling whenever necessary.
- GOD, 5%
Established Military Ministry Team Developing a culture of Discipleship- teaching Experiencing God several times
- Funeral Services, 4%
Facilitate funeral services and provide bereavement and grief counseling for individuals and families.
"community outreach," "pastoral care," and "overseer" are among the most common skills that senior pastors use at work. You can find even more senior pastor responsibilities below, including:
The three companies that hire the most senior pastors are:
- First United Church of Christ
2 senior pastors jobs
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Compare different senior pastors
Senior pastor vs. Hospital chaplain
The word chaplain is originally referred to as representatives of the Christian faith. In tradition, a chaplain is a cleric or formal leader with an established religion or any non-ordained members of religious institutes. Chaplains now are diverse in terms of faith and often serve various constituencies. Chaplains are professionally trained and certified to provide spiritual guidance in a clinical setting to individuals who has issues with meaning, hope, and transcendence or any specific life circumstances it may be. They offer reflective listening and non-judgmental emotional and inner comfort in various settings, including the military, parishes, hospitals, prisons, universities, and schools.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between senior pastors and hospital chaplain. For instance, senior pastor responsibilities require skills such as "community outreach," "overseer," "bible study," and "god." Whereas a hospital chaplain is skilled in "patients," "clinical pastoral," "patient care," and "crisis intervention." This is part of what separates the two careers.
The education levels that hospital chaplains earn slightly differ from senior pastors. In particular, hospital chaplains are 8.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior pastor. Additionally, they're 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior pastor vs. Chaplain
A Hospice Chaplain provides care and comfort to patients nearing the end of life because of terminal illnesses. They collaborate with the community and the care team to ensure that care is in accord with the patient's faith.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real senior pastor resumes. While senior pastor responsibilities can utilize skills like "community outreach," "overseer," "bible study," and "youth ministry," chaplains use skills like "patients," "social work," "clinical pastoral," and "patient care."
Chaplains may earn a higher salary than senior pastors, but chaplains earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $58,864. On the other hand, senior pastors receive higher pay in the education industry, where they earn an average salary of $40,270.In general, chaplains achieve higher levels of education than senior pastors. They're 5.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior pastors in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Christopher Foster
Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Graduate School of Theology and, Oral Roberts University
Despite the technological tools, with all the bells and whistles, technology must remain relational and dialogical.
Senior pastor vs. Rabbi
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, senior pastors are more likely to have skills like "overseer," "bible study," "funeral services," and "youth ministry." But a rabbi is more likely to have skills like "life cycle events," "hillel," "adult education classes," and "spiritual support."
Rabbis make a very good living in the education industry with an average annual salary of $36,824. On the other hand, senior pastors are paid the highest salary in the education industry, with average annual pay of $40,270.rabbis typically earn similar educational levels compared to senior pastors. Specifically, they're 2.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior pastor vs. Hospice chaplain
Even though a few skill sets overlap between senior pastors and hospice chaplains, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a senior pastor might have more use for skills like "overseer," "bible study," "youth ministry," and "public speaking." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of hospice chaplains require skills like "patients," "home health," "clinical pastoral," and "patient care. "
Hospice chaplains reach higher levels of education compared to senior pastors, in general. The difference is that they're 10.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.8% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of senior pastor
Updated January 8, 2025
