Other Details

The Assistant Pastor is a full-time pastoral position at Grace Community Church. The Assistant Pastor is meant to be a pastoral “generalist”—that is, he is intended to be a full participant in all aspects of pastoral ministry in the church. While the position has some ministry area responsibilities, Grace is seeking a team approach to pastoral ministry. Staff relationships and collaboration are the bedrock of such an approach.

This position will be hired as an Assistant Pastor, with a commitment to discuss transition to Associate Pastor within 18-24 months from start date.

This job description is intended as a “best guess” of what this position might look like. Responsibilities will ultimately be tailored to the needs, gifts, and experiences of the Assistant Pastor.

The Assistant Pastor position is meant to provide broad pastoral experience to an individual interested in moving towards a senior pastor position in 5-7 years. This is a flexible expectation, however, in terms of both timing and sense of calling.

In terms of day-to-day responsibilities, the Assistant Pastor reports directly to the Senior Pastor. The Assistant Pastor is expected to attend and participate in Session meetings.

General Pastoral Duties

• Assist in preparing weekly liturgy.
• Provide weekly leadership during the worship service.
• Preach 6-8 times a year, or as requested by the Session or Senior Pastor.
• Teach as needed/requested in variety of discipleship contexts.
• Assist with pastoral visitation, counseling, and shepherding.
• Assist Senior Pastor in supervision of staff and ministry leaders.
• Meet weekly with Senior Pastor for fellowship, discussion of philosophy of ministry, and collaboration on ministry.
• Practice regular hospitality and build relationships with congregation members and visitors.

Small Groups

• Oversee ongoing small group ministry.
• Recruit/train/support small group leaders and hosts.
• Form new small groups as needed.
• Coordinate annual emphases for small group ministry.
• Devise means of advertising and communicating small group options to members and visitors.
• Help newcomers get involved with small groups.

Christian Education

• Create a comprehensive discipleship plan for church.
• Recruit/train/support teachers for Christian Education.
• Regularly teach within the Christian Education curriculum.

Assimilation

• Create a plan for welcoming and incorporating newcomers to the church.
• Help facilitate the enfolding of new members.
• Build relationships with new visitors/members to Grace.

Denominational Involvement

• As able, attend meetings of Presbytery and General Assembly.
• As able, serve on committees of Presbytery and General Assembly.

Pastoral Sustainability

• Regular times of private Scripture reading, prayer, and meditation.
• Ongoing attention to physical health.
• If applicable, prioritize the needs of family (wife and children) in a way that makes pastoral ministry life-giving to them.
• Receive counseling as needed to foster growth in emotional health and intelligence. Grace budgets to cover some of the cost of this counseling.
• The Assistant Pastor is encouraged to join and participate in a peer pastoral cohort. Grace will cover the reasonable cost of such participation.
• Regular study—formal or informal—outside of ministry responsibilities. Grace is open to helping offset costs of formal education programs.