Performs spiritual functions associated with beliefs and practices of religious faiths and provides motivation, guidance and training in religious life for the people of a congregation, parish or community.
Occupation description
Performs spiritual functions associated with beliefs and practices of religious faiths and provides motivation, guidance and training in religious life for the people of a congregation, parish or community.
Occupations considered suitable under this ANZSCO code:
- Aboriginal Ceremonial Celebrant
- Chaplain
- Imam
- Monk
- Priest
- Rabbi
- Salvation Army Officer
Minister of Religion is a VETASSESS Group B occupation
This occupation requires a qualification assessed as comparable to the educational level of an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Bachelor degree or higher.
Applicants can fulfil the assessment criteria for this occupation in four different ways.
*Additional qualifications in a highly relevant field of study include those comparable to the following levels:
- AQF Diploma
- AQF Advanced Diploma
- AQF Associate Degree or
- AWF Graduate Diploma
***Bachelor degree or higher degree includes:
- AQF Master Degree or
- AQF Doctoral Degree
*8Highly relevant paid employment duration (20 hours or more per week)
1-3
minimum years of employment highly relevant to the nominated occupation, completed at an appropriate skill level in the five years before the date of application for a Skills Assessment.
4
minimum 6 years of relevant employment required - five years of relevant employment (can be outside the last five-year period) in addition to at least one year of highly relevant employment within the last five years before applying.
Qualification and Employment Criteria
Qualification
Religious Studies or Theology is the study of a set of beliefs and practices, usually involving acknowledgement of a divine or higher being or power, by which people order the conduct of their lives both practically and in a moral sense. It also focuses on the responsibilities and practices associated with ministering from within a church or other place of worship.
Divinity/Ministry:
A program that prepares individuals for ordination as ministers or priests in any of the Christian religious traditions. Includes instruction in the theology and polity of a particular church, church law, liturgy and ritual, principles of pastoral ministry, homiletics, evangelism, church/parish organization and management, Christian ethics, church history, and related studies.
Rabbinical Studies:
A program that prepares individuals for ordination as Rabbis. Includes instruction in Talmud, Halacha, Liturgy and Rituals, Rabbinical Thought, Jewish Ethics, Jewish Education, Pastoral Counselling and Homiletics.
Theology and Religions Vocations (Other):
Any instructional program in theological and ministerial studies which includes preparation for religious vocations in faiths other than Christianity and Judaism.
Pastoral Studies/Counselling:
A program that focuses on the theory and principles of pastoral care and prepares ordained clergy to provide non-clinical pastoral counselling to individuals and groups. Includes instruction in pastoral leadership, counselling psychology; crisis intervention; individual and group procedures; theological and spiritual counselling; pastoral care; and applications to specific types of ministry.
Subjects in these fields include:
• Mission in the Urban Context
• Cross-Cultural Field Education
• Evangelism
• Understanding Islam and Muslim Societies
• Qu’ran and Hadith
• Sociology of Religion
• Buddhist Studies
• Hindu Studies
• Principles of Leadership & Management
• Communication Principles
• Pastoral Care
• Counselling
• Lay Ministries
• Diaconal Ministries
• Christian Education
• Youth Ministry
• Children’s Ministry
Employment
- Preparing and conducting services of public worship and acknowledgments of faith
- Preparing and delivering sermons, homilies and special talks, and planning music for services
- Participating in the social and welfare activities of communities, encouraging people to be aware of their responsibilities, and organising participation in community projects
- Conducting classes of religious instruction, and supervising prayer and discussion groups, retreats and seminars
- Conducting premarital and family counselling and referring people to professional service agencies where necessar
- Performing marriages, funerals and special memorial services according to tradition and ecclesiastical and civil law
- Visiting members of the community in their homes, hospitals and other institutions to provide advice and religious comfort
- Keeping records as required by the church and civil law
- Participates in the social and welfare activities of communities, encourages people to be aware of their responsibilities, and organises participation in community projects
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