General Information

Job Title:

Assistant Pastor

Job Description:

OVERVIEW

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.

REPORTING

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.

RESPONSIBILITIES

I. General Pastoral Duties

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

II. Small Groups

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

III. Christian Education

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

 

IV. Assimilation

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

V. Denominational Involvement

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

 

VI. Pastoral Sustainability

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

How to Apply

Please send the following to candidates@cvillegrace.org

  • Resume
  • Cover Letter
  • Audio recordings of at least two sermons (link preferred)

 

Please use the following format to label all attachments:

FirstnameLastname_Resume

Examples:

  • DavidSmith_Resume
  • DavidSmith_CoverLetter
  • DavidSmith_Sermons

 

Application Process

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.  However, the preferred cutoff date for new applications is April 15, 2025.  Applications submitted after this date may not be considered.

To learn more about Grace Community Church, please visit www.cvillegrace.org

 

Position Qualifications:

  • Ordained or ordainable in the PCA
  • Willingness to embrace Grace’s core theological principles and ministry values and goals
  • Must be dependable, a team leader, and a self-starter with the ability to take the initiative
  • Able to set goals and work with and trust respective staff and volunteers to make it happen
  • Humble and willing to meet people where they are
  • Able to work collaboratively
  • Good sense of humor (We laugh a lot. Seriously, a lot.)

Application Deadline

04/15/2024

Job Type:

Full Time

Salary Range:

$71k-$90k

General Information

Church/Organization Name

Grace Community Church

Contact Name & Contact Info

(434) 975-2259
candidates@cvillegrace.org

Industry

Church

Denomination

Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)

City, State

Charlottesville, VA

Description of Organization

Grace Community Church (GCC) is a member of the Blue Ridge Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Our congregation began as a church plant of Charlottesville’s Trinity Presbyterian Church. Their search committee selected Don Ward who accepted the call to be our Senior Pastor. In September 1997 we held our inaugural worship service in Albemarle County’s Sutherland Middle School where we continued to meet for nearly ten years. In 2006, GCC acquired property in northern Albemarle County and built our permanent location. On January 8, 2007, we held our first worship service in the new building.

Don Ward faithfully served as our Senior Pastor until January 2019. In 2020 Jon Anderson was brought on as the Senior Pastor in the especially turbulent time of the Covid pandemic. The staff is also ably comprised of a Worship Director, Children’s Ministry Director, and Administrative Assistant. We are also supported by the tireless efforts of six Elders, four Deacons, three Deacon Assistants, and a host of member-volunteers for GCC’s many activities.

Sunday mornings we come together to worship our Lord and are led in song & praise by a gifted and treasured worship team. The Gospel is preached and prayer is lifted up for our body, the missionaries we support, and other churches in the greater Charlottesville community. In addition to our worship time, we also fellowship and grow in our sanctification by studying the Word and related topics in our Sunday School classes.

Beyond Sunday, many opportunities for growing together are found within small groups, women & men’s ministries, and our youth group.

Apply Online Contact Via Email