How to Become a Faith Community Nurse

Faith community nurses work within religious organizations and provide a bridge between medicine and spirituality. Therefore, nurses who have a strong connection to their spirituality often find satisfaction using their faith as a tool in healthcare.

Find out throughout this guide the educational requirements, licensure prerequisites, and career outlook for faith community nurses.

Also known as parish nursing, faith community nursing is a specialty recognized by the American Nurses Association and open to registered nurses (RNs). Their role is to monitor how religious beliefs impact physical and mental healthcare. The position combines traditional nursing practice with the care of the spirit. In doing so, they assist members of religious communities in maintaining a healthy body, mind, and spirit.

Faith community nurses are responsible for providing education, organizing support groups, helping parishioners navigate the healthcare system, and assisting in integrating spiritual care into the promotion of health within religious congregations.

Becoming a faith community nurse requires nurses to have earned at least an ADN; however, most employers prefer to hire RNs with a BSN from accredited nursing programs. Therefore, the most direct academic path is earning a BSN and becoming a licensed RN.

Options also exist for those with an ADN or a non-nursing bachelor’s degree, including nursing bridge and accelerated programs.

To work in faith community nursing, nurses are required to be a licensed RN. While specific licensing requirements may differ state to state, the majority require nurses to hold either an ADN or a BSN from an accredited program and pass the NCLEX exam.

Faith community nurses must also follow their state’s guidelines on license renewal. RN license renewal processes do vary by state; however, most require between 24-30 direct contact hours. Certain states also require a portion of those hours to be spent focusing on specific areas of study. Most states require license renewal every two years, but the time can range from every year to every four years.

Although the American Nurses Credentialing Center previously offered a certification in faith community nursing, initial credentialing is no longer available. However, RNs who already hold the certification can continue to renew it.

Faith community nurses typically find work in settings such as parishes, hospitals, and community service centers. Those who work in religious settings, like within a congregation, might emphasize the spiritual aspect of their job. Those working in hospitals supplement a patient’s healthcare needs with their religious ones.

They often collaborate with healthcare professionals and ministry teams, serve as liaisons between the medical staff and parish communities, and promote not just physical health but mental and spiritual well-being (e.g., through prayer or meditation).

Payscale reports that the average annual salary for a faith community nurse is $68,590 as of July 2022. Faith community nurses’ salaries are slightly less than the average pay for all RNs, which is $77,600 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS).

While the BLS does not track demand for faith community nurses specifically, they project that all RN positions will see a 9% increase in employment, similar to the national average for all other occupations.

Since the minimum degree needed is an ADN, it can take as little as 2-3 years to become a faith community nurse. However, with most employers preferring RNs with a BSN, spending the extra two years to earn a bachelor’s degree could be worth it.

Much like most other nursing specialties, there is a demand for faith community nurses. The BLS projects a 9% employment growth for all RNs. Parish nurses specifically may see an increase in demand due to the religious beliefs of an aging population and the decrease in nurses due to burnout caused by Covid-19.

Since faith community nurses need either an ADN or a BSN, earning the appropriate education is similar to most other RN programs. However, since the work itself heavily emphasizes spirituality, those who are less religious might avoid the speciality.

According to Payscale as of July 2022, faith community nurses earn $68,590, which is slightly less than the average pay for all RNs. Compared to other nursing specialties, compensation for faith community nurses ranks higher than pediatric nurses ($60,820) and public health nurses ($63,840), yet they make less than geriatric nurses ($70,290) and oncology nurses ($76,630).

Page last reviewed July 18, 2022