Director of Children's & Family Ministries
Principle Function: To grow servant-hearted top leaders who guide teams to create safe, joyful, Christ-honoring environments in Sunday morning and peripheral children’s ministries, for children birth-through-grade 5 and their families--that help them learn
to trust Jesus, grow as his disciples, and bless others for his glory.
Scope and supervision:
- Category: Full-time, paid program staff
- Compensation: Competitive, commensurate with skills and experience; with health & pension benefits
- Reports to: Lead Pastor
Context: Kaw Prairie is a 13-year-old church worshiping approx. 450/week, located in the western Kansas City suburbs, led by our founding pastor and a team of thoughtful, faithful elders. We're a mix of family-types, professions, ages, politics, and backgrounds—
united by a common mission and refueling weekly with contemporary, band-led, sacramental worship and Biblically-grounded, exegetical and topical messages from our pastors. We’ve long been a church with a playful, hard-working staff team, nurturing a strong
culture of high-capacity volunteer servants in a community church full of young families. We are rebuidling a couple ministries, though, and we’re seeking a gifted leader excited by the Orange model of ministry, eager to help revitalize and grow a children’s
ministry that uses it, and passionate for helping guide children and families to
trust Jesus, grow as disciples, and bless people with Jesus’ love.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Initially, celebrate the accomplishments and integrate the reinvigorated volunteers from the interim Childrens’ Ministry teams.
- Then recruit, lead, manage and shepherd a new Ministry Leadership Team, with whom to recruit, lead and manage the hundreds of ministry volunteer servants who make ministries run.
- Evaluation and selection of all Children’s Ministry curriculum, materials, and programs (Sunday mornings, VBS, occasional retreats, midweek events, and other things that further the mission). We use the Orange curriculum, and there is largely satisfaction
with that.
- Evaluate the staffing and program structure of the Children’s Ministry and make changes commensurate with the vision and effectiveness in executing it.
- Develop and communicate overall vision, goals and strategy of the ministry to the church.
- Build positive relationships with volunteer servant-leaders, adult and teens, as well as church families and guests.
- Develop Milestone Family events. (Bible gifting, family communion training retreat, etc.)
- Collaborate with Associate Pastor on program transitions during 5th grade, and in future joint ministries when possible.
- Collect measurable data for all Children’s Ministry events, and attend to follow-up and care processes established across the church.
- Manage personally or recruit top assistants to manage ministry budget, calendar, and supplies.
- Maintain and promote child protection policies and procedures for the church, training volunteers and staff on a regular basis.
- Supervise paid staff and nurture program leaders in all capacities.
- Other responsibilities as assigned.
Qualifications:
- Living faith, inner peace, and a confident trust in Jesus Christ
- Humility, joyfulness, self-differentiation, self-confidence
- Enjoyment of teamwork with other staff and the compromise and flexibility required
- Comfort with making hard decisions and having hard conversations when necessary
- Comfort with interacting with parents, guests, and the rest of the church!
- Team player willing to take feedback, learn gratefully from and share knowledge freely with others
- Personable, good-humored, self-starter and process-maker
- Appropriate organizational, administrative, and communication skills
- Team building and recruitment skills
- Financially, emotionally, ethically, psychologically, and theologically sound. (Not perfect, just sound!)
- Understanding of spiritual gifts and commitment to seeing volunteers use theirs in a way that builds them up and blesses those they serve.
- Passion for the hearts of children, the health of their families and the growth of their church.
- Commitment to the mission and ministries of this church, and comfortable with the denominational affiliations of the church (ELCA, PCUSA, Willow Creek Association)
- Successful leadership experiences in children’s ministry or secular children’s work
- Bachelor’s Degree preferred
Please send cover letter and resume to hr@kawprairie.org.
Job Posting Date: June 15, 2017
Job Start Window: August 1-September 1, 2017
