In 1804, still too young for a spiritual appointment, he began tutoring at their home the children of Johann Joachim Bellermann, the director of the Gymnasium of the Grey Friary.
On 18 June 1821, Ritschl married his second wife, Auguste Sebald, an accomplished singer, whose father was a court justice and a co-founder of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin.
For twenty-seven years, he held this office in a time when the Calvinist, Lutheran, and united Protestant doctrines were at loggerheads, due to the establishment of the Prussian Union of churches in 1817.
From September 1829 to May 1830, Ritschl took a leave of absence from his duties in the Province of Pomerania and, on a plea from the Russian government, travelled to St. Petersburg in order to help lay the groundwork for the Evangelical-Lutheran church in Russia.
While living in Stettin (after 1945 renamed Szczecin), Ritschl worked with the composer Carl Loewe to nurture the city's musical life.