A member of the clergy who assists the pastor or priest in serving the congregation is known as an associate pastor. Pastor is a term used to describe clergy members of Christian communities rather than religious leaders of other faiths. The responsibilities of an associate pastor are determined in part the size of the parish; in some cases, an associate may serve more than one religious community.
Many protestant communities entrust the appointment of a church pastor to registered parishioners or the parish council. The pastor is in charge of church services, baptisms, weddings, and funerals, as well as administering to the sick. Associate pastors are chosen the elected pastor rather than the parish members in some branches of Protestantism. The pastor may appoint a full-time or part-time associate, whose wages and expenses are covered parish funds.
Associate pastors are usually ordained ministers, which means they have received formal religious training at a denominational seminary or at a college or university. The length of training varies Christian denomination, but in the Roman Catholic Church, the process usually lasts at least eight years. After completing their training, Roman Catholic priests receive their holy orders, and a Bishop assigns a pastor or associate pastor to a parish. Ordained protestant ministers are frequently required to start their own parishes or apply to be a pastor or associate pastor in an existing parish.
In the Roman Catholic Church and some other major Christian denominations, associate pastors essentially perform the same functions as the parish pastor. Multiple weekly services are held in some parishes, and the pastor and associate pastor may both lead some of the services. Some Christian denominations are divided into dioceses, or regions, and an associate pastor in one diocese may work with pastors in multiple parishes. When a pastor in the diocese is sick or on vacation, the diocese may hire associate pastors to handle weekly services. Some Christian denominations allow parishioners who have not received formal training to serve as associate pastors, despite the fact that these people are sometimes unable to perform some of the tasks that the pastor is responsible for.
In North America, the term associate pastor is widely used, but in other English-speaking countries, other terms are more commonly used to describe this position. Both Roman Catholic pastors and associate pastors are commonly referred to as priests in the United Kingdom. Pastors are sometimes referred to as rectors in the Episcopal Church in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, while associate pastors are referred to as vicars or associate vicars. Vergers are the title given to associate pastors who have not yet been ordained.