How to become an outreach pastor: Jacob's story

Meet Jacob. He's 20 and lives in Buckingham. He works as an outreach pastor. Part of our Bitesize world of work series.

It is OK to have doubts or to struggle – it’s normal.

What does your job involve?

My job is all about getting our church better connected with the local community. Our church runs a lot of different events and community work. My job primarily revolves around creating graphics, advertising, making posters and flyers, and doing all the social media management for these events. For example, we host a community lunch each week to feed the elderly, lonely and homeless. We also have an 'SOS room' where we can temporarily house homeless people and help them get rehabilitated. I also regularly preach sermons at the front of church.

Is this what you always wanted to do?

I used to want to be an author. I think there was also a stage where I wanted to be an astronaut! I never expected to work for the church. I found my faith when I was 18 and it changed my life.

I was working in marketing in Thailand when I was invited along to church for the first time. When I got there, I fell in love with the community – that's when I decided to work for the church.

When I got back to the UK, I asked for a job at my local church and they gave me work doing social media management, digital marketing, graphic and web design. This slowly moved on to me doing more spiritual jobs.

Jacob reading the bible. — Image caption,
I found my faith when I was 18 and it changed my life.

What was your educational pathway?

I took the compulsory subjects at GCSE and chose IT and Art as my options. I had some ups and downs at school, and some issues with my behaviour, so I ended up not doing as many of my GCSEs as I would have liked. I regret it now, but I got back on top of things.

I did three A-levels but, again, I had some issues and I didn’t get the grades I was hoping for. From there I went to university. I did a one year course in Marketing but ended up switching and working in the church. Now I’m going back to study at university in Oxford, while I continue to work for the church.

What skills do you use in your job?

I use skills like communication, public speaking and teamwork. I also use time management skills as making sure that I finish my talks on time, and turning up to meetings promptly is important too.

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Top tips

Facing lots of ups and downs can be a positive thing. I've learnt from those experiences, learnt how to take responsibility and I’m a richer person now for it
It is OK to have doubts or to struggle – it’s normal
Persevere. Stay true to what you enjoy doing and, if you want to make changes, keep an open mind and think really carefully. Make sure you dedicate yourself to whatever it is that you want to do.

A similar role to Jacob's is community development worker. Community development workers help people to improve the quality of life in their local area. Whilst Jacob's work focuses around his church's relationship with their local area, community development workers can work on across a wide variety of projects.