Directors, Religious Activities and Education
Coordinate or design programs and conduct outreach to promote the religious education or activities of a denominational group. May provide counseling, guidance, and leadership relative to marital, health, financial, and religious problems.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
- Instructing
- Service Orientation
Key knowledge
- Philosophy and Theology
- Education and Training
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Psychology
- Therapy and Counseling
- Administration and Management
- Public Safety and Security
What the work involves
- Identify and recruit potential volunteer workers.
- Train and supervise religious education instructional staff.
- Develop or direct study courses or religious education programs within congregations.
- Select appropriate curricula or class structures for educational programs.
- Implement program plans by ordering needed materials, scheduling speakers, reserving space, or handling other administrative details.
- Counsel individuals regarding interpersonal, health, financial, or religious problems.
- Analyze member participation or changes in congregational emphasis to determine needs for religious education.
- Collaborate with other ministry members to establish goals and objectives for religious education programs or to develop ways to encourage program participation.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Enterprising, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (53.6% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (37.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (51.9%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Directors, Religious Activities and Education is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 71% of occupations compared | 78% of surveyed respondents chose “Contact with others most of the time” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 56% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 70% of occupations compared | 83% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 92% of occupations compared | 78% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 98% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 71% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 89% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 99% of occupations compared | 72% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 6.34%
- Contact with others most of the time: 77.96%
- Constant contact with others: 15.7%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2023
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Important: 28.61%
- Very important: 25.79%
- Extremely important: 15.37%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2023
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 7.18%
- Very important: 83.42%
- Extremely important: 9.4%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2023
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 6.34%
- Some freedom: 15.69%
- A lot of freedom: 77.97%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2023
Time pressure
- Never: 6.34%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 36.18%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 47.79%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 9.7%
- Every day: 0%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2023
Conflict situations
- Never: 20.95%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 23.12%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 39.96%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 15.97%
- Every day: 0%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2023
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 20.95%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.38%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0.28%
- Every day: 0%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2023
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 72.3%
- Fairly serious: 19.2%
- Serious: 0.84%
- Very serious: 7.66%
- Extremely serious: 0%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2023
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O*NET-SOC 21-2021.00 · SOC 21-2021 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8