ChurchSalary classifies pastors and church staff using eighteen positions. These positions cover the vast majority of common church jobs.

If you are having a hard time matching an employee, consult this list of expanded job descriptions.

If you think we’re missing a crucial position, we want to hear from you! Contact us by clicking the chat button in the bottom right corner of your screen or emailing us at support@churchsalary.com, and tell us more about the role.

Pastors who serve adults are often the hardest employees to classify. However, they generally fit into one (or more) of these three main adult pastor positions:

Because titles and responsibilities for adult pastors vary between churches, the expanded descriptions below may help disambiguate hard-to-classify pastors at your church.

Associate Pastors typically hold a level of churchwide leadership that adult ministry or christian education pastors/directors do not. Associate pastors commonly preach from the pulpit, filling in for the senior pastor, and/or they are responsible for leading multiple ministries and/or committees (sometimes even non-adult ministries at smaller churches). In some churches, an associate pastor functions like an assistant pastor (to the senior pastor) but without all of the administrative, personnel, and financial duties of an executive pastor.

Adult Ministry Pastors/Directors typically focus on either a specific age group or a defined demographic within the church (i.e., senior adults, women, men, young families) or they are responsible for a ministry that serves adults (e.g., hospital visitation or missions/outreach).

Christian Education Pastors/Directors typically hold education or discipleship roles. They are responsible for the adult segments of a church's Sunday school, discipleship groups, cell/home groups, discipleship, and catechism or spiritual formation.