Lay Ministry

Types of Degrees Lay Ministry Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many lay ministry graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	260
Graduate Certificate	84
Doctor’s Degree	5

What Lay Ministry Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, lay ministry majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Lay Ministry Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills for Lay Ministry Majors

A major in lay ministry prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for Lay Ministry Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a lay ministry student include the following:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Can You Do With a Lay Ministry Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with lay ministry:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Directors, Religious Activities and Education	7.1%	$40,810
Religious Workers	7.7%	$29,820

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Lay Ministry?

Roughly 52% of the graduates are women, and 48% are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of lay ministry majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	31
Black or African American	12
Hispanic or Latino	31
White	141
International Students	7
Other Races/Ethnicities	38

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Lay Ministry, too. About 2.7% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Lay Ministry

Some careers associated with lay ministry require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for lay ministry careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	6.0%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	0.3%
Bachelor’s Degree	82.2%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	0.5%
Master’s Degree	10.3%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.4%
Doctoral Degree	0.3%

Online Lay Ministry Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	5	2
Certificate (2-4 Years)	4	1
Associate’s Degree	12	4
Bachelor’s Degree	11	4
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	29	9
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	1	0

Majors Related to Lay Ministry

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to lay ministry.

Major	Number of Grads
Pastoral Studies/Counseling	1,385
Other Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries	908
Youth Ministry	306
Women’s Ministry	66
Urban Ministry	58
Chaplain/Chaplaincy Studies	29

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.