Though no one can guarantee a job, the market for trained youth workers is very hot right now and will be for a long time to come. Currently there are over 600 full time youth ministry positions listed on the job site bulletin board of Youthspecialties.com. You can search by job title, by denomination, and by region of the country. All Nyack College youth ministry graduates have multiple job opportunities when they graduate and some have multiple job offers by the middle of their final semester. Parachurch organizations (such as Youth For Christ, Young Life, Touch the World, etc) are also eager to hire NC graduates.

Interested in doing youth ministry internationally? At Nyack you’ll hear about many opportunities around the world, for both short term and long term youth ministry. There has been a tremendous globalization of youth ministry in the last decade and Professor Kageler has made it a point to stay current on what is happening around the world in youth ministry as well as networked to help graduates have international youth ministry opportunities.

Youth Pastors and Salaries

Salaries for full time youth pastors are getting better and better as churches realize the need for trained youth workers who are committed to stay for several years. Salaries vary by region of the country and by size of church, of course. Professor Kageler did a salary survey for youth pastors in the Christian and Missionary Alliance in November of 1999. The mean salary (plus benefits) was $33,500. While some make much less, some make much more. Many salaries were in the 40’s, 50’s or even 60’s. The high was $80,000.

What to Consider in a Christian College

Nyack is swamped with church in the area wanting youth ministry students to volunteer or to work part time (paid) in their churches. There are many more opportunities than we have students. One should consider, in choosing a college for youth ministry, “What are the opportunities while I’m in school.” There are plenty of opportunities here!!!

Another thing to consider…is the professors who teach youth ministry still doing youth ministry? The answer here is YES. They can tell you what happened in their ministries yesterday, not just a decade ago. When shopping for a college for youth ministry…ask if the professors ever were youth pastors and are they still on the front lines doing it now.