Though no one can guarantee a job, the market for trained youth workers is very strong and will be for a long time to come. Churches have realized that the only thing worse than not having a youth pastor is to have one that doesn’t know what he or she is doing. A degree in youth ministry means something!  It also teaches leadership and speaking skills that apply to many other types of work, including pastoral ministry.   Currently there are over 1500 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.  Only a small handful Nyack College youth ministry graduates have not found full time ministry positions after graduation. On the other hand, HUNDREDS have!

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.

Dr. Kageler keeps up on youth ministry salaries.  Nationally, the average salary (2008) for a youth pastor was $42,200 (plus benefits) with an undergrad degree, and $49,300 with a masters degree.  Of course, cost of living expenses vary widely around the country.  In the New York City metro area (CT, NY, NJ) the cost of living is very high, so salaries are higher as well.  He did a survey of Nyack youth min graduates in Fall of 2009.  Of those graduates from May 2008 and 2009 who responded to his survey, the starting salaries were $32,000, $35,000, and $39,000…about the same as for a starting teacher.   (Add about $14,000 each for the value of church-paid health insurance.

In that same survey, graduates in NJ, CT, and NY city metro area from the class of 2007 and earlier reported salaries as follows:  43,000, 45,000, 65,000, 65,000, 65,000, 70,000, and 100,000.   It is obvious that churches are seeing youth ministry as a legitimate, long-term career calling and option.