Associate Pastor Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Associate Pastor resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
As an associate pastor, you’ll work alongside a senior pastor to support the spiritual needs of a congregation. You might preach sermons on Sunday mornings or teach classes on Wednesday nights. You might oversee church operations like the music program or the youth ministry. Or you might help coordinate special events like weddings and funerals.
Because associate pastors are often in training for bigger roles elsewhere, you’ll need a resume that showcases your talent and experience without being too “junior” in appearance. Follow these tips and resume example to write a fantastic associate pastor resume that hiring managers will love.
How to Write an Associate Pastor Resume
Here’s how to write an associate pastor resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
The best way to make your resume stand out is to use strong, specific language. Rather than saying you “led worship services,” you could say you “led worship services for 150+ attendees on Sundays and Wednesdays, including children’s ministry and adult choir.”
The second bullet point is much more specific and provides more detail about what exactly you did and the results of your work.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you submit your resume for an associate pastor role, it’s likely that it will be scanned by an applicant tracking system (ATS) for certain keywords. This system looks for certain terms related to the job like “spiritual growth” or “community outreach” in order to determine whether your skills and experience are a match for the position. If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right terms, the ATS might automatically reject your application.
One way to make sure your resume makes it past the ATS is to include relevant keywords throughout all sections of your document. Here are a few common associate pastor keywords to get you started:
- Church Leadership
- Pastoral Care
- Nonprofit Organizations
- Event Planning
- Public Speaking
- Youth Ministry
- Community Outreach
- Fundraising
- Leadership Development
- Event Management
- Volunteer Management
- Community Development
- Teamwork
- Biblical Studies
- Program Development
- Interpersonal Skills
- Youth Development
- Team Building
- Social Media
- Marketing
- Communication
- Church Administration
- Administration
- Higher Education
- Teacher Training
- Curriculum Development
- Staff Development
- Public Relations
- Educational Leadership
- Adult Education
Showcase Your Technical Skills
When writing your associate pastor resume, it is important to list your relevant technical skills. This section will showcase your proficiency with specific programs and systems that are essential to the job. Programs like Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Google Suite (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar), and social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter are all commonly used by office managers. Additionally, office managers may be called on to use specific software programs relevant to their industry, so it’s important to be familiar with as many programs as possible.