Youth and Children's Ministry
Associate Pastor of Youth and Family
What You Do Here Matters
The Associate Pastor of Youth and Family oversees all youth programming and environments for Christ’s Church of Amherst, a ministry that supports roughly 10 regularly-attending children and is also preparing to receive a larger group of incoming students. This includes weekly programming and other events. They recruit, train, and lead a team of volunteers to provide engaging opportunities for students to learn about Jesus. They will lead the charge to develop creative opportunities to build purposeful connections with students in the surrounding community (e.g., high schools and middle schools wherever possible) and also make space for students in the church to discover and grow deeper in their faith.
The Associate Pastor of Youth and Family is also a part of the outreach culture and structure of Christ’s Church, investing time in events, follow-up classes, and creating fresh opportunities to reach more people.
Lastly, the Associate Pastor of Youth and Family provides edification to the church through relevant, biblical preaching and teaching once every 4-6 weeks.
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People you talk to a lot
I directly report to John Nuxoll, the Senior Pastor of Christ’s Church. I engage in staff meetings on Thursday mornings and find ways to connect with youth leaders at Grace Chapel to collaborate and learn from their experiences. I work with teams of volunteers responsible for putting on programming for youth and special youth events throughout the year.
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Responsibilities
Core Aspects / Description / Percent of Time
Programming 40%
Facilitate and develop creative, “out-of-the-box” programming to engage students during the week both inside the church and outside the church in meaningful ways that will lead to next steps on their spiritual journey.
Relationship Building 15%
Build relationships with parents, volunteers and community members working with students to encourage them and work cooperatively to reach kids.
Sunday Morning Responsibilities 15%
Prepare occasional relevant, biblical sermons that engage a broad audience and help people live out their faith in a practical way.
Volunteer Development 10%
Recruit, train, and oversee a team of people responsible for developing engaging opportunities for students to grow in their relationship with God and develop faith-affirming relationships within the church. The director will be responsible for knowing proper safety protocols and training all volunteers appropriately.
Collaboration / Teamwork 10%
Participate in the staff life, responsibilities, meetings, activities of Christ’s Church as needed and engage leaders at our strategic partner, Grace Chapel, to learn ways to better serve our community.
Church Life 10%
Work with staff members on projects outside the nature of their job description such as set up and tear down for events. The associate pastor needs to show a willingness to assist with projects like these, but should not be expected to do work that is unreasonably outside the scope of this job description.
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Personal Traits
A growing personal relationship with Jesus Christ
A passion for lost people
Energetic with a strong desire to be part of a local church ministry team
A passion for youth and their families and for helping people become connected to the ministry
A positive, team-building leadership style with proven success at inviting and training volunteers
A creative, out-of-the-box mindset willing to take reasonable risks to build connections with people
A history of reliability, personal accountability, and practicing confidentiality
Strong skills in oral and written communication, problem-solving, and customer service
Theological training (seminary preferred): conversant with biblical themes and concepts and able to distill them in memorable, thought-provoking, and applicable ways
Able to organize, pay close attention to details, and manage a variety of tasks
Proactive, flexible, and able to adapt to last-minute developments typical of church ministry
Christ’s Church is looking for someone who can supportively work under its mission statement, bylaws and statement of faith.
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A Typical Week
A typical week for me might include a Thursday morning staff meeting, time developing and preparing curriculum and events, time checking in with one of my teams, and time connecting with people inside and outside the church. I may put a little time aside for sermon prep as well. Once a month, I’ll check in with Pastor John and reach out to a leader at Grace Chapel to collaborate and gain insight into student ministry.