Plan, direct, or coordinate programs designed to promote the religious education or activities of a denominational group. May provide counseling and guidance relative to marital, health, financial, and religious problems.
U.S. Workers
21,460
Median Salary
$54,840
10-Year Growth
+2.1%
Annual Openings
13,800
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree
19 of 19 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Publicize programs through sources such as newsletters, bulletins, or mailings.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can create, personalize, format, schedule, and distribute newsletters, bulletins, and mailings end-to-end using existing content-generation and automation tools.
Implement program plans by ordering needed materials, scheduling speakers, reserving space, or handling other administrative details.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can automate ordering materials, schedule speakers, reserve spaces, send confirmations, and handle many administrative details through integrations and workflow automation.
Analyze member participation or changes in congregational emphasis to determine needs for religious education.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can analyze member participation data, detect trends and patterns, and generate evidence-based recommendations to determine educational needs with high reliability when data are available.
Locate and distribute resources, such as periodicals or curricula, to enhance the effectiveness of educational programs.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can efficiently locate, curate, and electronically distribute periodicals, curricula, and other resources across channels, automating most of this task end-to-end.
Analyze revenue and program cost data to determine budget priorities.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can analyze revenue and cost data, run scenario models, and recommend budget priorities based on quantitative criteria and organizational goals.
Identify and recruit potential volunteer workers.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze membership and community data to identify prospects and automate initial outreach and screening but cannot fully carry out the trust-based persuasion and personal follow-up often required to recruit volunteers.
Develop or direct study courses or religious education programs within congregations.
AI: Partial - AI can design curricula and lesson plans informed by theology and pedagogy but cannot fully direct programs that require pastoral judgment, contextual adaptation, and leadership presence.
Train and supervise religious education instructional staff.
AI: Partial - AI can develop training materials, deliver instructional content, and provide assessment and feedback tools but cannot fully perform human supervision, mentorship, and sensitive personnel management.
Select appropriate curricula or class structures for educational programs.
AI: Partial - AI can evaluate curricula and class-structure options against learning objectives and audience data and make recommendations but cannot fully substitute for human theological judgment and local contextual selection.
Collaborate with other ministry members to establish goals and objectives for religious education programs or to develop ways to encourage program participation.
AI: Partial - AI can aggregate input, suggest goals, model engagement strategies, and mediate coordination but cannot fully replace human negotiation, consensus-building, and pastoral relationships in collaborative goal-setting.
Counsel individuals regarding interpersonal, health, financial, or religious problems.
AI: Partial - AI can provide initial counseling, resources, and conversational support but cannot replace licensed pastoral or clinical judgment, embodied empathy, and ethical responsibilities required for personalized in-person counseling.
Confer with clergy members, congregational officials, or congregational organizations to encourage support of or participation in religious education activities.
AI: Partial - AI can draft outreach messages, coordinate schedules, and suggest engagement strategies to encourage participation, but it cannot fully replicate the relationship-building, trust, and persuasive presence of a human conferring with clergy and congregational leaders.
Schedule special events such as camps, conferences, meetings, seminars, or retreats.
AI: Partial - AI tools can automate scheduling, vendor research, invitations, and many logistics for camps or conferences, but complex negotiations, on-site management, and final approvals typically require human oversight.
Attend workshops, seminars, or conferences to obtain program ideas, information, or resources.
AI: Partial - AI can ingest and summarize workshop or conference materials and extract program ideas, but it cannot genuinely attend, network, or participate in real-time in-person learning and relationship-building.
Plan or conduct conferences dealing with the interpretation of religious ideas or convictions.
AI: Partial - AI can plan logistical and programmatic aspects of conferences and draft interpretive content, but the authoritative interpretation and pastoral leadership in religious discourse generally require human clergy involvement.
Plan fundraising activities for the church.
AI: Partial - AI can design fundraising campaigns, segment donors, and automate communications and analytics, but building donor relationships and conducting in-person solicitation are still predominantly human tasks.
Visit congregational members' homes or arrange for pastoral visits to provide information or resources regarding religious education programs.
AI: Partial - AI can arrange and schedule pastoral visits and provide informational materials remotely, yet it cannot perform the in-person home visits or provide the embodied pastoral presence those visits entail.
Interpret religious education activities to the public through speaking, leading discussions, or writing articles for local or national publications.
AI: Partial - AI in 2025 can generate speeches, lead scripted discussions, and write publishable articles but cannot fully replicate the lived religious authority, pastoral presence, and community trust of a human director.
Participate in denominational activities aimed at goals such as promoting interfaith understanding or providing aid to new or small congregations.
AI: Partial - AI can assist with planning, communications, resource creation, and outreach for denominational activities but cannot fully perform in-person relationship-building, leadership, or physically provide congregational aid.