5 Rewarding Careers for Women of Faith

 

One of the most difficult decisions today’s young women of faith are faced with is when they are contemplating what they would like to do with their lives. What careers would be best suited for them and of those, which would be best suited for women of faith? If you are wondering what career options are open to you as a Bible-believing Christian, it depends on several factors among which are your personal aptitudes. Not only do you need a profession that will allow you to hold true to your Christian tenets of faith, but you want to know that in whatever you do, you are where the Lord wants you to be. Why not start by looking at these five rewarding careers for women of faith and see where your personal journey leads you?

Beginning Your Search

Perhaps the first thing you should do is to start a journal that you will use specifically for the purpose of planning your life’s career. Altogether too many people begin studying for a career they will never use because it just wasn’t as rewarding as they had imagined. Bear in mind that as a Christian, salary can’t be your number one motivating factor. Yes, making a good wage is important, but is it important enough to keep you going in day after day to a job that you literally hate? Take the time to journal what kinds of things are important to you and what makes you happy.

Look at where you see yourself down the road at various intervals of your life. Do you want to raise a family? Are you seeking to bring God’s word to a world in crisis? This is ultimately the deciding factor when choosing a career. Jot down activities that make you happy - do those present any possibilities for using as the foundation of a career? The first step in beginning your search is to get a realistic look at who you are and what you believe is your calling in life.

1. Nursing

Not only is this one of the better paying careers a woman of faith can pursue, but it can also be one of the most personally rewarding. Much of the New Testament makes reference to caring for and healing the sick. Nursing is a career that lends itself well to living a Christian lifestyle because it gives you a sense of caring for God’s people, whether they share your faith or not.

Nursing also opens doors for you to advance in your career. For example, once you have that Bachelor of Science in Nursing, you can take graduate courses to become a nurse practitioner, NP. You will be doing many, if not most, of the very same things doctors do and in more than half the states you can have autonomy. In other words, you don’t need to work under a doctor in those states. As an NP, you can even study Nurse practitioner specialties so that you can specialize in a field that most appeals to you, such as geriatrics or oncology.

2. Social or Community Service

Here is another career well-suited for Christian women. There are various levels in which you can work, from becoming a social worker who deals with working with people to get their most basic needs met. You can work in a government position to help families, seniors, and the disabled certify for Food Stamps or government subsidies. At some point, you might want to work toward a position as a Social Service Manager.

Not only would this career put you in a position of management within an organization, but it would often require you to seek services not provided within a community. If there is one thing a woman of faith needs in her life it would be knowing that she is following the principles set forth in Matthew 25:35-45 in feeding the hungry or clothing the naked. A bachelor’s degree may be required for an entry-level position as a Social Worker, but to become a Social Services Manager you would probably also need a master’s degree.

3. Family Counselors

There is no doubt that we live in troubled times. It only takes a brief moment to glance at the news from around the globe to see that life seems to be spinning out of control. As a Christian working as a family counselor, you will be able to help people put their lives back in perspective. This isn’t always going to be an easy task because quite often the issues they face were long in the making on several levels.

You may also be working for an organization that doesn’t allow for faith to be mentioned except under very specific circumstances. If a client brings up faith, then you ‘may’ be free to address what they are feeling. However, unless you are a family counselor working for a religious organization, inserting your faith may be frowned upon up to and including grounds for termination. However, don’t let that stop you! Our actions speak louder than words, so let that lead you on in this type of job placement.

As an added note here, there will be times when you encounter serious levels of depression when working with clients because of world events that are spiraling out of control. The recent pandemic has created a huge amount of panic in some people and the recent disaster in Afghanistan has caused major stress among families of the military stationed there or civilians on the ground. From drugs among our youth to global tensions, there is much you will be asked to offer support, and as a Christian, this is what you are meant to do.

4. Teaching

Being a teacher for any level of student from preschool to high school, you will be able to model kindness, compassion, and acceptable behavior. This is also a career in which you can almost always choose what type of setting you’d like to be in. You can choose between parochial and the public school system, and you can choose the grade level/s you’d like to work with.

For this career, you’d need a bachelor’s degree to be certified in most states, but some private or parochial schools don’t have that requirement based on education and experience. While it almost always pays to have that degree and a strong foundation in education coursework, you may be able to get a tentative job while working toward that degree.

You obviously will not be able to share your faith in a public school setting, but you can exemplify Christian behavior in the classroom. If you want a teaching career in which you can share your faith and offer bible study in the classroom, you will need a position in a private or parochial school.

5. Postsecondary Professor of Biblical Studies or Philosophy

Many Christian educators find that getting a graduate degree in biblical studies or philosophy suits their way of life as well as their career ambitions. Here again, this is a job that requires a minimum of a master’s degree if you are teaching in community (junior) two-year colleges, and a doctorate if teaching in graduate school. As a rule of thumb, you would almost always need a degree a minimum of one level above the grades you will be teaching.

Another aspect of working as a professor in a university is that at some point you can hope for tenure. This takes your career to a more solid foundation where you have greater job security for your future. Every college or university sets its own policy on obtaining tenure and what that carries with it, but there are few institutions that don’t work on a tenure basis. Tenured teachers and/or professors get more perks and have first grab at positions/classes as they open up.

A Few Closing Thoughts on Choosing Wisely

As mentioned above, don’t let salary be the basis for your decision. What good is a great paying career if it’s something you won’t be sticking with? Many people begin by looking at the BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, to compare salaries between professions. Just because a job pays well doesn’t mean it will be something you can do for a lengthy period of time.

A career is something you study and prepare for with the hopes of making it a lifelong journey. Bear in mind that some people are content to choose a position they can keep for their entire career and others want positions with upward mobility. Remember that journal mentioned in the very beginning? Here is where you need to be honest with yourself on your aspirations for the future.

If nothing less than a job leading to administration will satisfy you, then find a career in which you can grow. Choosing teaching as a profession doesn’t mean you will always be in a classroom. You may have ambitions to become a principal in an elementary school or you may want to reach a level of program administrator at a university. The most important step in finding a rewarding career is to take enough time to discover what you really want out of life. You’ll find that in your journal!