30 Unique Faith-Based Business Ideas (2024)

Updated: July 24th, 2024

Are you interested in starting a faith-based business idea? Typically, faith-based businesses create their mission from inherent belief systems.

Starting a religious-based business can help you reach a massive group with high purchasing power.

However, choosing the right faith based business is critical to your success.

In this post, we present some faith related business ideas you can start in 2024. We also spoke to owners of different faith-based businesses, who shared what it is like operating a faith focused business.

We hope these 30 faith-based ideas will inspire you to focus on this entrepreneurship line.

Here they are:

1. Start a prayer bowl business

A prayer bowl is a hand-designed bowl where believers keep their prayer intentions. The bowls come with note cards for which the believer writes reminders to pray. A prayer bowl business is not capital intensive, and anyone with a creative entrepreneurial mindset can start.

If you are an artist or a carpenter, you can make handcrafted wood bowls and sell them to believers. Alternatively, you can outsource prayer bowls from a carpentry workshop and sell them online.

How much you can make: $30,000/month

How long does it take to build: 60 days (?)

Prayer Bowls: How Tom & Karen Berry Built a Successful Christian Brand

PrayerBowls, a Christian business that sells bowls to hold prayer intentions, has sold over 450 stores, is aligned with three charities, and has seen revenue growth of 55% in 2017 and an expected 38% for 2018.

Read by 13,322 founders

2. Start a music school

If you have a passion for music and love teaching, starting an online music school can be a great way to kickstart your music tutoring business.

This not only helps you connect with local customers but also opens up opportunities to reach a global audience.

Moreover, starting an online music school gives you the freedom to work from anywhere and at your preferred time.

Whether you are brand new to teaching music online or you have been teaching online but are looking for some fresh inspiration, you can incorporate it into your online music school. examples include:

  • Teaching church music online
  • Teaching children’s choir
  • Youth & adults’ choirs
  • Teach live video sessions using online meeting platforms
  • Choir, band & orchestra

How much you can make: $2,000 — $100,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $4,535 (?)

How long does it take to build: 30 days (?)

How I Left My Job To Start A Music, Vocals, Dance And Art Academy

Former IT professional Meenakshi started Art Splash Academy of Fine Arts, offering Keyboard, Guitar, Violin, Rock & Pop vocals, Indian Music, Carnatic vocals, Bharatnatyam, Certified Jazz, Arts, Yoga, and Tabla courses for all ages with an investment of $9,000, and now manages it successfully with 80% of customers enrolling in online classes during COVID-19.

Read by 6,903 founders

3. Start a beach wedding company

If you have been aspiring to start a business that relates to weddings, you may consider starting a beach wedding company. Beach weddings have a naturally intimate romantic vibe and can be a perfect fit for couples looking for a unique experience.

Besides, beach weddings can be cheaper since there is not much décor to do and the ceremony and reception take place in the same venue.

How much you can make: $165,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $1,600 (?)

How long does it take to build: 90 days (?)

How I Started And Grew A Wedding Services Business To $2M/Year

Florida-based Gulf Beach Weddings offers customized beach wedding packages and services across nine counties in the state of Florida and Alabama, conducting about 1,000 weddings a year and generating revenue of around $2 million annually, thanks in part to its trademarked Beach WeddingStudio software and focus on customer service.

Read by 9,847 founders

4. Develop a halal mobile app

The number of mobile app users today is pretty overwhelming. If you have IT skills and can develop an app, a market you may want to venture into is halal mobile applications. The application can focus on teaching the Muslim doctrine, a notification application, etc. To start, find a niche and develop the application. Marketing the application will help you maximize the number of downloads.

How much you can make: $1/month

How much does it cost to start: $1,000 (?)

On Developing A Notification Tool For Muslim Voluntary Deeds

Sunnah Helper is a multilingual mobile application that serves the Muslim community, offering notifications for voluntary and obligatory prayers and more, with AdMob monetization earning an estimated $4-5 per month and plans for iOS widget implementation.

Read by 6,230 founders

5. Become a children's book writer

If you are passionate about early childhood education, why not become a children’s book writer? Starting a children’s bookstore is a low-barrier-to-entry business you can start today.

You can write storybooks or subject textbooks for kids, publish and distribute them through the bookshops or your online bookstore, or sell them on Amazon and other online bookstores.

How much you can make: $2,000 — $50,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $1,600 (?)

How long does it take to build: 365 days (?)

How I Started A Six-Figure Niche Book Blog

OrderOfBooks.com is a website that lists books in both publication and chronological order and generates six-figure revenue after starting off as a resource for the founder and his friends, serving as a valuable resource for book readers.

Read by 18,600 founders

6. Start a religious dating website

Religious dating is a romantic union between two people of opposite sexes who are equally yoked in love.

Most American online daters say relationships from dating platforms are as successful as in-person meetings.
In addition, online daters say online dating is more successful than relationships that start in person. Therefore, online dating is a trend that is not stopping anytime soon.

Based on these findings, starting a religious dating platform can be a fun and lucrative business venture.

To set up an online dating platform, you can hire a programmer via online platforms to set up your website and configure the dating template kit. Popularize your service through social media advertising and other online advertising methods.

How much you can make: $13,000/month

How long does it take to build: 365 days (?)

How I Created A $13K/Month Website To Help People Start A Family

Modamily, a platform connecting people who are ready to start a family and educating them on all the ways they can create one, has brought in around $13K/month and has been featured in media all over the world, with subscriptions ranging from $30/mo to $10K.

Read by 10,341 founders

7. Start a Halal online marketplace

The introduction of online marketplaces has created an enormous opportunity for entrepreneurs. Experts estimate we will see tremendous innovation in building and running marketplaces in a few years.

If you are developer, you can build halal online marketplace focusing on particular religion or region. Halal marketplace offers a wide range of halal products. Starting a marketplace requires a sound strategy and knowing the best practices.

How much you can make: $200,000 — $1,800,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $5,000 (?)

How long does it take to build: 60 days (?)

I Started My Online Food Business At 17: It Now Earns $720K/Year

HalalWorldDepot is a Halal online marketplace that started three years ago as a meat and grocery delivery service and has now expanded to offer a wide variety of Halal products, with a customer return rate of 50-60%, profitability at 16-25%, and over 10,000 customers, with plans to expand to Canada and the United Kingdom within three to five years.

Read by 6,068 founders

8. Start a halal inspired footwear brand

Starting a Muslim-inspired footwear brand is a very profitable halal business idea. You can sell online or opt for a physical location and sell halal footwear. Good marketing and widespread publicity are essential for this business to prosper.

How much you can make: $15,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $5,000 (?)

How long does it take to build: 240 days (?)

How I Started A $15K/Month Asian Inspired Handcrafted Footwear Ecommerce

Meraki Design House founder Eman Bachani shares how she started a $15k/month Asian-inspired handcrafted footwear e-commerce company, with a focus on working with South Asian artisans and tapping into new markets during COVID through collaborations and influencer marketing.

Read by 4,627 founders

9. Start a religious candles business

Votive candles, also known as prayer candles, are white or beeswax yellow candles intended to be burnt as a votive offering in the act of prayer. The religious candles are popular among Anglican, Lutheran, and roman catholic Christians.

Lighting a votive candle is a way to extend the prayer and a sign of solidarity with the person the prayer is made on behalf of.

Christian believers also light the prayer candles to indicate gratitude to God for answering their prayers. Many votive candles are made using beeswax, and there is a reason for this.

How much you can make: $500,000/month

Selling Over 4,500 Candles

Wax & Wick is a 100% soy candle company with wood wicks, that creates environmentally-friendly products; starting off making $1,000 a month in 2015, they brought in about $20,000 per month during Q3 2017 and plan to add ten new scents and a premium sized jar for 2018's $50,000 per month goal.

Read by 19,361 founders

10. Start a halal clothing store

Halal clothing includes burqa, hijab, thobe, salwar kameez, jilbab, Hajj garment, etc. Opening a halal clothing store can be a fun and profitable business idea. Find a strategic location for your store and ensure you have all licenses required to operate the business.

You can start an online store and set up a physical store to boost performance.

How much you can make: $10,000 — $200,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $5,000 (?)

How long does it take to build: 60 days (?)

How I Started A $10K/Month Arabic Clothing Platform

HeraCloset is a successful online platform connecting customers with local Arabian and Khaleeji fashion brands, with over 80 brands selling on the platform and worldwide shipping.

Read by 7,081 founders

11. Start a dating coaching business

A dating coach offers training and guidance to improve the client's success in dating and relationships.

The dating coach evaluates the results of the client's actions and decides what changes to make to the client's dating approach to improve the outcome. Besides, dating coaches offer guidance and support, helping clients negotiate the often confusing first stages of their early romantic experiences.

Dating coaches have been around for years. A more recent trend is dating coaches who help people with conditions like autism overcome their situations and begin dating people they love. Do you love helping people achieve their dating goals? You can start a dating coach service today!

To start, identify a niche and create a website, to help you reach more people. You can target teenagers, divorced people, or older adults and help them through their dating life.

How much you can make: $1,300 — $30,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $1,250 (?)

How long does it take to build: 47 days (?)

Time commitment per week: Min. 3 hours/week

How I Started A Business Where I Plan Romantic Date Nights For Couples

Meet Ta'Veca Collins, founder of Romance On The Go, a concierge service that promotes romance and intimacy; since becoming a preferred vendor for The W Hotel Fort Lauderdale, their gross income has increased to around $3,200.00 monthly, and they are currently expanding their team to meet the demands of new partnered hotels.

Read by 25,535 founders

12. Start a religious embroidery business

Religious embroidery designs feature signs, icons, and ecclesiastical designs used since ancient times. In Christianity, the Christian embroidery designs teach and present Christian and catholic religious truths and spiritual reality.

You can start creating the ecclesiastical embroidery and sell it on Esty or other religious-based platforms.

How much you can make: $15,000/month

How I Started A $15K/Month Hand-Drawn Embroidery Samplers Business

Rebecca Ringquist turned a side project of hand-drawn embroidery samplers into a full-time job, grossing over $15K a month with her business Dropcloth Samplers, which she launched accidentally after selling a few samplers at an end of session craft sale that prominent bloggers bought and posted about.

Read by 9,341 founders

13. Start a handmade religious jewelry

The religious jewelry features symbols from the wearer's religion, a tradition in nearly every culture since ancient times. Religious jewelry expresses religious beliefs, marks social status, and even acts as a form of currency in different cultures.

If you have artistic skills, you can start a handmade religious jewelry business. Alternatively, you can engage an artist to make unique products for your business and sell them online or at a local store.

How much you can make: $400,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $7,500 (?)

How We Started A $400K/Month Personalized Hand-Engraved Jewelry Business

Merci Maman is a personalized jewelry brand founded in 2007 by Arnaud and Béatrice de Montille, generating over $5m in sales annually with flagship product 'Duchess Necklace' still a best-seller, shipping 75k orders a year worldwide with profits completely reinvested back into the business.

Read by 8,674 founders

14. Start a wedding rental business

Do you love wedding planning and looking for a business idea to turn your passion into profits? Starting a wedding rental business can be a great idea.

Your role as a wedding rental business is to supply all equipment and accessories to make the occasion colorful and memorable for attendees and the wedding couple. If you are starting a wedding rental business, focus on building relationships with wedding planners and event companies. Remember often couples visit wedding venues before even contacting a rental company. Being in contact with wedding venue business owners could get you repeat business.

How much you can make: $5,000 — $500,000/month

How long does it take to build: 305 days (?)

Embracing the Experience Economy with a $300K/mo Photo Booth Startup

Photobooth Supply Co. offers a profitable business opportunity through their sleek and portable photo booths, with up to 97% satisfaction rate and a focus on customer experience, in a fast-growing event industry where photo booths are exploding.

Read by 16,909 founders

15. Start a personalized gift business

Personalized gifts are great for celebrating important dates, joyous occasions, and memorable moments. The personalized gifts include photo frames, key chains, to group gifts.

A personalized gifts business is a low-capital idea since you do not need a physical storefront or office space to start the business. Besides, you can put as much time into the business as possible, which means you can run the business as a side hustle.

Check out our guide on how to start a personalized gift business

How much you can make: $1,000 — $800,000/month

How long does it take to build: 180 days (?)

How I Started A $500K/Month Stuffed Animal Care Packages Ecommerce Brand

Meet Tyler Macke, the 21-year-old founder of SendAFriend, an e-commerce brand that sells stuffed animal care packages, which began with $50k in revenue in 2019 and is now on track to make $5M in revenue this year, while donating 10% of revenue to children's hospitals throughout the United States.

Read by 18,061 founders

16. Start a Greeting Cards Business

People use greeting cards to mark births, deaths, graduations, anniversaries, and other parties or events.

If you love helping people celebrate special occasions, starting a greeting card business can be a great business opportunity.

When starting a greeting card business, choose a potential niche and write a business plan.

Then, find an ideal spot to sell the greeting cards.

For instance, you can offer greeting card design and posting services, so customers can choose the best designs and post greeting cards online.

How much you can make: $1,000 — $100,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $8,750 (?)

How long does it take to build: 77 days (?)

I Created A Prank Card Company & Grew It To $30K/Month

Joker Greeting sells unique prank gifts, including a non-stop musical birthday card, an idea raised by the founders visiting their mom's house, having no website or marketing and yet raising $92,073 on Kickstarter in 30 days due to being picked up by media, enabling them to sell 15,000 units in the first year, owned SEO for their niche, selling almost 40,000 units in 2017 and expected to reach 50,000 to 60,000 in 2018 with a small team, using Shopify and various social media channels with lots of organic traffic.

Read by 16,246 founders

17. Start a christian faith based business

Faith-based businesses are a unique and powerful way to bring your mission-driven company to life.

Starting a faith-based business is a great way to get a sense of purpose for the work you do, whether it's making beautiful jewelry or saving the environment. It's also a great way to build community and foster relationships with other people who share your values.

Faith-based businesses can be built around any industry, from food trucks and restaurants to clothing stores and beyond. They're run by people who want to spread their beliefs through their work ethic, their customer service, and their products.

How much you can make: $4,300 — $500,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $5,000 (?)

How long does it take to build: 60 days (?)

How I Turned My Hobby For Painting Into A Successful Art Business

Innerglow Art is a successful custom abstract painting business that incorporates scripture and personable connection with buyers to produce beautiful and unique artwork.

Read by 53,368 founders

18. Become a meditation coach

A meditation coach teaches and guides those who seek mental clarity through meditation. The meditation teacher typically combines breathing and concentration to deepen understanding and help the clients achieve relaxation.

Working as a meditation coach allows you to guide clients in finding new practices and techniques that may provide additional health benefits in their daily lives. In addition, meditation coaches earn a decent salary and enjoy the opportunity to define their working hours while building relationships with people from different backgrounds.

How much you can make: $3,000/month

How long does it take to build: 330 days (?)

I Left My Old Career & Started A Meditation Online Courses Business

Meditation company MindEasy offers personalized, relevant courses to help people find their way into mindfulness and meditation in a way that helps them achieve their career and personal goals, with focus on mental optimization, health and wellbeing, and spiritual approaches.

Read by 3,980 founders

19. Start a holiday decorating service

Holiday decorators make the interior and exterior of businesses and homes festive. While the holiday decoration business is seasonal, it is also highly profitable and requires minimal startup investments. You do not need any special training to start the holiday decorating business. However, being creative and having experience in decorating is crucial to running a successful business.

How much you can make: $20,000/month

How I Started A $20K/Month Balloon Installations And Decorations Business

Balloon Haus LLC, founded by Janeen Brown, is a successful balloon boutique generating an average of $20K/monthly, providing custom exquisite and trendy balloon installations and decorations to notable clients such as Instagram, Marriott, and American Express.

Read by 32,153 founders

20. Become a religious blogger

Religious blogs provide readers with balanced theological reporting and spiritual teaching and help their audience answer questions and learn more about the Christian faith. You can make it through a religious blog by serving your audience with religious teachings and selling e-books, digital theology courses, and advertising space for religious leaders.

21. Start a non-profit fundraiser

A nonprofit fundraiser is an ongoing process of soliciting donations or voluntary funds to help organizations grow and to meet the community's needs. The faith-based fundraiser focus on helping the members of the community. Within which the organization serves.

To start a not-for-profit fundraiser, you must register the nonprofit organization and show the causes you intend to support. Popular causes supported through nonprofit fundraisers include:

  • Animals
  • Children & Youth
  • Cultural & Education
  • Disabilities
  • Disaster Relief
  • Elderly
  • Environment
  • Global – Locale Based

How long does it take to build: 272 days (?)

22. Become a mindfulness coach

Mindfulness coaches use various techniques to help clients remain mindful in life, so they can relax and focus. Mindful living has various benefits, including relieving stress, lowering blood pressure, improving sleep, reducing chronic pain, and decreasing anxiety/depression.

To start a mindfulness coaching business, create a website and list the services you intend to offer. Start a blog and advertise your business widely on social media to create awareness.

How much you can make: $500 — $40,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $7,500 (?)

How long does it take to build: 105 days (?)

How I Started A $1.8K/Month Travel Business While Traveling Around The World

Wandering Aunt founder Robin Finney shares her journey of starting a sustainable travel business, including her decision to leave her corporate marketing job of 11 years, using a simple website and free tools like Mailchimp to grow her email list and attract customers, and the importance of investing in a coaching program for support.

Read by 7,625 founders

23. Start a kosher catering business

Kosher catering serves any food or beverage allowed through the Jewish dietary laws. The Jewish law is specific about the food you can and cannot eat. Besides, the law is also strict on how you prepare, process, and inspect food.

Kosher foods are not just for the Jewish. Therefore, you can start a kosher catering service even in non-Jewish regions.

24. Become a wedding officiant

A wedding officiant is a person who performs official duties at a wedding ceremony. The wedding officiant works with the couple to prepare materials for their wedding ceremony and perform the marriage on a particular day.

The duties of a wedding officiant include:

  • Helping the couple personalize their wedding ceremony
  • Keeping up with the wedding trends
  • Writing and performing wedding ceremonies
  • Performing civil ceremonies and legal intent
  • Completing the marriage license and filing it appropriately

To become a wedding officiant, you need to be an ordained or invested member of a religious group where you can perform the weddings. Alternatively, you could be a public official with a state license to perform a wedding.

How much you can make: $50,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $2,500 (?)

How long does it take to build: 45 days (?)

This Couple Started A $50K/Month Business Helping People Get Married in Denmark

This husband and wife duo started a wedding consultancy agency, 'Getting Married in Denmark', which has gone from doing 5-10 weddings a month to 80-100 weddings a month in just 4 years, massively growing their revenue.

Read by 7,305 founders

25. Start a christian bookstore

A Christian bookstore sells religious books targeting Christian believers. To start a Christian bookstore, identify the target market and contact publishers/writers to list their books. Alternatively, you can write Christian books and list them at your bookstore.

A Christian bookstore can be online or set up at a local church with high traffic of Christians.

How much you can make: $13,000/month

How We Developed A $8.5K/Month Reporting Tool For Influencers

InfluenceKit is a reporting tool that helps content creators increase their sponsored content revenue with accurate, always-updated reports, who have 180 paying customers so far, popular among bloggers, Instagrammers, YouTubers and podcasters.

Read by 8,236 founders

26. Become a religious tutor

A religious tutor teaches religious students about faith. As a religious tutor, you can work in a private school affiliated with a religious organization or through a church program that provides learners with religious instructions.

In Christianity, the main duty of a religious tutor is to instruct Christians about to undergo sacraments through the catechesis program. The catechists teach their students the doctrine and meaning of religious customs and rites.

To become a religious tutor, you must be a practicing faith member and earn the prerequisite certifications defined through the religious education program. After meeting the teaching and professional education requirements, the candidate is ordained and can start teaching.

27. Start a church

A church is a building used for public Christian worship. Some churches operate as non-profits, and their incomes support church-affiliated charitable deeds. However, others act as a business, and part of their income goes into the owner's pockets, while for others, the revenue goes into conducting church business.

How long does it take to build: 105 days (?)

28. Become a religious podcaster

Do you have knowledge and passion for the religion that you'd love to share with other people? Or perhaps you are a religious content creator looking for ways to expand your revenue streams. If you match these criteria, becoming a religious podcaster could be your perfect opportunity.

Podcasts are the new radio. Podcasting is one of the fastest-growing mediums for online audio, and it's not expected to slow down any time soon. But unlike traditional radio, podcasts are driven by content creators passionate about sharing stories with their listeners.

One of the main benefits of starting a podcast is the minimal investment needed. All you need is a computer or phone with a microphone and a way to host it online. You can even create one on your website if you want.

29. Start a christmas tree farm

Are you looking for an exciting way to make money every December? Starting a Christmas tree farm could be the right business for you. You can grow Christmas trees in your backyard and harvest them in December, then sell them to décor companies and consultants.

Here are steps for starting your Christmas tree farm:

  • Choose the Christmas tree variety and purchase the seedlings
  • Prepare your backyard farm
  • Plant the seedlings and care for them to maturity

Some Christmas trees will take more than two years to grow to maturity. However, the waiting time also depends on the size of the Christmas tree you desire.

30. Start an islamic marriage bureau business

An Islamic marriage bureau provides marriage services to Muslims. Couples will seek guidance and counseling to ensure sustainable marriages. If you are an Islamic counselor, you can start a marriage bureau and counsel couples.

meet the author
Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.