Associate Pastor

Erb Street Mennonite Church

Job Description

The Associate Pastor will minister to the whole congregation with a particular emphasis on Faith Formation of children and youth. The Associate Pastor will be entrusted with the responsibility of providing leadership to the Christian Education and Formation Ministry (CEFM), creating an innovative youth program, and working to fully integrate youth, children and their families into the worshipping and community life of Erb Street Mennonite Church.

Terms of the position:

The position is 1⁄2 time (20 hours per week) and salaried. The pastor is accountable to the congregation through one of the lead pastors, Church Council and the Elders.

The ideal candidate will possess the following characteristics:

• Personable: ability to engage with people of all ages, enthusiastic, sensitive to the needs of others and a good team-player
• Cooperative Leadership skills: decisive, confident, able to inspire people to be involved
• Organized: skilled at organizing events and programs
• Flexible and Creative
• Good written and oral communications skills

Qualifications:

• Has pastoral training and/or relevant experience (paid or volunteer)
• Is committed to a Christian understanding of faith with a Mennonite perspective
• Supports the Vision Statement of ESMC

Responsibilities:

Worship, Preaching, and Pastoral Care

The Associate Pastor will work with the Pastoral Team and the Elders to organize pastoral care and plan worship and preaching that is attentive to the needs of children, youth, and families.

• Provide pastoral care to youth and their families.
• Facilitate and plan youth-led services and regular participation of youth and children in Sunday Services
• Provide leadership to Story Circle
• Work with the Youth and Children music leaders
• Coordinate and lead Milestone Sundays for Children and Youth

Programming for Youth and Jr. Youth

The Associate Pastor will work to create an active, vibrant and welcoming community for Youth/Jr. Youth through the following activities:

• Designing an innovative youth mentorship program
• Christian formation with a particular emphasis on Peace and Justice
• Coordinating bi-weekly Youth activities and monthly Junior Youth events for Erb Street Mennonite Church and W-K Mennonite Church
• Promote youth involvement in MCEC or broader Mennonite Church youth events.  Support involvement in Mennonite camps

Christian Education and Formation

The Associate Pastor will be responsible for planning and implementing an integrated program of faith formation for the children and youth of Erb Street Mennonite Church. This will include the following responsibilities:

• Teaching the Youth or Jr. Youth CE class
• Scheduling Sunday School teachers–paid and volunteer
• Ordering curriculum
• Communicating with parents and teachers
• Integrating children and youth from WKUMC when possible

The Associate Pastor will be ESMC’s liaison to a four church joint VBC planning committee. They will work to encourage children from ESMC to attend VBC and to recruit volunteers from ESMC.

A pdf of this opportunity can be downloaded here.