Has God called you to be a pastor but you’re not sure what type of pastor role would best fit you? Your work as a pastor will be more effective and enjoyable if it fits your God given interests and personality. Your job satisfaction will also increase as you serve people out of your strengths.
John Holland created a theory that can help pastors to have more job and ministry success and satisfaction. Holland identified six personality themes: Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Artistic (A), Social (S), Enterprising (E), and Conventional (C). He observed that any given person has two or three of these themes that are of much higher interest. He also observed that any given job or ministry opportunity fits two or three of these personality themes. For example, a senior pastor job or associate pastor could be coded as SEA, while a Children’s Pastor would be ESC and a Worship Pastor AES. Coding pastor jobs with the Holland themes is not a perfect science but this widely researched and used theory of vocational fit can help you to consider what pastor openings would best use your God-given design.
Understanding the Holland theory and using an accurate Holland assessment like the CareerFitTest.com, will help you identify the pastor jobs that are satisfying and put you on track for being a wise steward of your personality, skills and interests.
Here are descriptions of the six personality and interest themes. Try to identify your primary theme as well as your secondary and third theme. Please note that you will see a few pastor roles in more that one category.
Realistic
Realistic personalities like to work with their hands. They can enjoy working with plants or animals; activities involving the precise, ordered use of objects, tools and machines; and/or activities involving some element of physical risk. Outdoor work is often desirable.
Problem Solving: They like to solve problems that have practical solutions, are concrete and not abstract.
Typically, pastors will not have Realistic as their primary Holland theme. However, there are pastors who have Realistic as a secondary or third theme. Those that do may enjoy preaching to skiers on a Sunday morning ski slope or teaching life lessons on a ropes course at a Christian camp or overseeing a car repair ministry.
Sample Pastor Jobs: Facilities Pastor, Operations Pastor, Multi-Media Pastor, Sports Pastor
Keyword: Doer
Find Realistic jobs and set up job alerts at ChristianCareerCenter.com, ChurchJobsOnline.com and PastorJobs.Net.
Investigative
Investigative personalities like to analyze, discover and understand information and the world around them. They like activities that involve the exploration and examination of physical, biological and cultural things to understand and control them; this often includes scientific and mathematical activities
Problem Solving: They like to solve problems by analyzing, inquiring and researching.
Most pastors will not have the Investigative theme as their first or second theme. However, pastors who have the Investigative theme as one of their top three theme groups may enjoy reaching out to scientists in their congregation who need scientific reasons to believe in the Christian faith. Or, using technology to better minister to those in the church or community. They also may like to analyze the finances of a church to determine how to better steward the monetary gifts from the congregation.
Sample Pastor Jobs: Pastor of Technology, Executive Pastor
Keyword: Thinker
Find Investigative jobs and set up job alerts at and set up job alerts at ChristianCareerCenter.com, ChurchJobsOnline.com and PastorJobs.Net.
Artistic
Artistic occupational personality types are the most creative of all the types and tend to focus on self-expression through various forms/mediums: images, materials, music, words, movement, as well as systems and programs. They can see possibilities in various settings and are not afraid to experiment with their ideas. They like variety and tend to feel cramped in structured situations.
Problem Solving: They like to solve problems independently using their intuition and creativity.
Sample Pastor Jobs: Worship Pastor, Pastor of Instrumental Worship, Communication Pastor
Keyword: Creative
Find Artistic jobs and set up job alerts at ChristianCareerCenter.com, ChurchJobsOnline.com and PastorJobs.Net.
Social
The Social occupational personality type is concerned with people and their welfare. Social types make friends easily and tend to have well-developed communications skills. They enjoy working with groups or individuals, using empathy and an ability to identify and solve problems, and tend to be high achievers and good leaders.
Problem Solving: They like to approach and deal with problems through understanding feelings and the use of empathy. They also tend to like a flexible approach to solving problems.
Many senior pastors, associate pastors and others listed below, have the Social group as their first or second theme group.
Sample Pastor Jobs: Senior Pastor, Associate Pastor, Campus Pastor Pastor of Congregational Care/Senior Adults, Pastor of Students, Pastor to Single Adults, Youth Pastor
Keyword: Helper
Find Social jobs and set up job alerts at and set up job alerts at ChristianCareerCenter.com, ChurchJobsOnline.com and PastorJobs.Net.
Enterprising
Enterprising personalities enjoy persuading or influencing others usually in a business context. They may also have entrepreneurial and political interest. They enjoy working directly with people one-on-one or in groups. Their emphasis in working with people is to persuade them on ideas, products or services and/or leading or managing people. They are goal-oriented in producing results. They tend to have a high level of energy, are goal-oriented and focus on producing results.
Problem Solving: They like to solve problems with leadership, delegation and decision-making skills.
Many pastors have the Enterprising theme as their first or second theme group. As they teach or preach, they enjoy influencing and persuading others. They may also like to lead others in the vision they have for the church
Sample Pastor Jobs: Senior Pastor, Associate Pastor, Youth Pastor, Children’s Ministry Pastor, Women’s Ministry Pastor, Outreach Pastor, Guest Relations Pastor, Executive Pastor
Keyword: Persuader
Find Enterprising jobs and set up job alerts at and set up job alerts at ChristianCareerCenter.com, ChurchJobsOnline.com and PastorJobs.Net.
Conventional
Conventional personalities enjoy activities that involve precise, ordered use of data: keeping records, calculating, managing an office, organizing numerical and written data, and working with finances. They often are focused on completing tasks that have been initiated by others. They are responsible, dependable, follow the rules and function best when they know what is expected of them.
Problem Solving: They prefer to solve problems that are of a practical nature and are resolved by using a prescribed set of rules and procedures.
Most pastors do not have the Conventional theme as their first or second theme group. Those that do have the Conventional theme in their theme code, will enjoy pastor jobs where there is more time spent working with data and things as opposed to working directly with people.
Sample Pastor Jobs: Executive Pastor, Facilities Pastor, Operations Pastor
Keyword: Organizer
Find Conventional jobs and set up job alerts at and set up job alerts at ChristianCareerCenter.com, ChurchJobsOnline.com and PastorJobs.Net.
Summary
Obtaining a job as a pastor that uses your personality and interests will results in greater satisfaction and joy as you help build up the church and bring God glory.
If you would like to take an accurate Holland assessment that is based on your top transferable, personal and content skills we encourage you to complete the CareerFitTest.com. This assessment will also help you to explore the right pastor and ministry options, make better decisions, conduct a successful job search and more.
If you are interested in career counseling and professional career testing to help you discover the work God has called you to do, you are invited to explore our career counseling services and schedule a career services consultation.
© Article copyright by Kevin and Kay Marie Brennfleck, PastorJobs.Net, www.ChurchJobsOnline.com and https://www.ChristianCareerCenter.com/. All rights reserved. The above information is intended for personal use only. No commercial use of this information is authorized without written permission.
