Top Career Paths for Christians Who Want to Do Good and Give Back

Giving back and helping the world shine just a little bit lighter is something that every Christian should do for those who share their beliefs and those who don’t. Helping others is doing God’s work, and there are many ways you can direct your efforts to help those most in need and to dedicate an entire career to it. 

Being paid to do good does not detract from the good that you do, it just means that you can dedicate more time to it, and more importantly, can support yourself and your family. Being able to reward and treat yourself with the money you earn is also important, because it is in these little joys we can collect for ourselves that we can find true and enduring happiness. 

There are so many ways to help the world with your career. In some cases, you may be able to switch careers seamlessly, while in others, you may need formal training and education to make that change. Regardless, this guide will help you understand just a few of the amazing career opportunities out there: 

1. Therapists

From therapists to counselors to psychologists, there are many different roles out there that all do one thing: help people. You can specialize in a specific issue, like substance abuse, specialize by helping a specific condition, like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), or can even help a demographic, for example, children. 

The level of care and guidance you can provide will be decided by how trained you are. You can be a life coach with minimal training, for example, but to become a therapist, you will need a formal background in psychology. 

If you don’t have this already, don’t worry, as you can earn an online Christian psychology degree that provides all the essential information you will need to get started on this career path. To become a therapist or psychologist, you will need to continue your education with a Master’s degree and doctorate, but both career options start with that BSc, so you need to look first. 

2. Nursing and Healthcare 

Working in healthcare can seem very daunting, but it doesn’t need to be. You don’t need to go through medical school and then complete a residency before you get started. You can instead get started within healthcare almost immediately by becoming a nurse. There are different levels of nursing, of course, but it only takes a few weeks to complete the Certified Nursing Assistant course and to get started working holistically to help others. If you have a degree in science already and want to fast-track through a BSN (like you could with your BSc in Psychology), opt for this option, as it will allow you to start working as an RN sooner and with fewer steps. 

3. For Charities, Not-for-Profits, and NGOs 

Working directly for a charity or an NGO is a great place to give back and help the world in the ways you are most passionate about. This could be with Christian-based charities and NGOs, environmentalist organizations, children’s organizations, and more. Simply put, when the government alone does not do enough, there are charities and NGOs out there working to do better. 

There is a bit of a difference between these different organization types. Charities typically offer services and raise money for those services for the overall good of society. A non-profit is a business that does not focus on, you guessed it, profits. Instead, they often put the money earned or collected through donations or grants and use that to focus on a cause. Charities and non-profits both rely heavily on volunteers.  

An NGO is a non-government organization, and it can have a lot of power. In fact, the term was first coined to describe the UN way back in 1945 when it was created. NGOs are also non-profits, can collect money from donations and even from the government, but they are independent from the government council. 

So what separates all these types? Charities are non-profits that are tax-exempted, whereas NGOs or non-profits will not be tax-exempted. NGOs and non-profits are very similar, though NGOs are typically large-scale organizations that operate multiple programs around the country or the world, whereas non-profits can be smaller. 

4. Social Work 

 Social work is another excellent career path for those who want to do good and help people out. You can work with adults, children, or families. Social work is an incredibly demanding, difficult job and one of the most important in the entire country. You won’t just be helping people accomplish one of many tasks on their to-do list. You won’t be helping a CEO and their business get richer. Instead, you will be helping people at their absolute worst get back up on their feet so that they can build a brighter future for themselves. 

You can help put families back together, can help victims escape their abusers, can help someone who just lost their job get back up on their feet. When it comes to working as Christ would have, this is one of the best roles to work in.

5. The Overlap 

You can technically work in several of these roles at once. For example, you could become a child psychologist who evaluates children and helps them when they are getting out of an abusive or dangerous environment. You can work as a nurse for a non-profit or charity. 

You can even transfer your existing line of work into these roles. If you work in marketing, for example, you can transfer your career to a charity or NGO to help advertise the work they do and to help increase donations. If you work as an accountant, you can go almost anywhere and help others. There are so many projects out there that will allow you to do good and focus on that good as a career, so start looking at those job boards and slowly shuffle your way into a thriving new career.