Missional Living Minister

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for your prayerful consideration of joining our team at Wasilla Bible Church (WBC)! My prayer in this process is twofold:

• I pray the Lord would use this process to build up, encourage, and direct everyone involved for the work that He is setting before them. As part of this prayer, I am asking the Lord to clarify His direction for you and the other applicants – that He would use the process to refine His calling on your life, whatever that may be.
• I pray the Lord would raise up the right person for this need in WBC, that He would continue to grow His Church as He knits our lives together for His glory.

Let me take a few minutes to walk you through some vital aspects about our context, our church, and this position. Understanding these elements will be critical to filling this position successfully, and so I ask you to read through them deliberately as you consider whether this might be a position for which God would have you apply.

Our Local Context

Wasilla Bible Church is an established church located in Wasilla, Alaska, approximately one hour north of Anchorage, the largest and most populated city in Alaska. It sits within the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (“the Valley”), which is roughly the size of West Virginia and is home to roughly 115,000 people. 90% of these people live in the area surrounding Wasilla and Palmer, which are roughly 10 miles apart. Alaskans are a generally individualistic, independent-minded people – which comes with its own shepherding benefits and challenges. (I will happily answer any cultural, missional questions you may have regarding our specific ministry context during the application process.)

Our Church’s History and Makeup

WBC has gathered and served in the Valley for almost 50 years. We truly are a “non-denominational” community church with people and leaders from a variety of denominational backgrounds – Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Assemblies of God, Pentecostal, Catholic, and Orthodox, just to name a few – as well as people who have absolutely no church background. With this said, our church teaching positions generally fall within the historical stream of Reformed theology. To make this work well, we have learned to approach our points of disagreement with grace as we stand on the truth of Scripture, which is a non-negotiable skill for anyone who serves on our staff and leadership team.

We currently gather on Sundays with a worship attendance of approximately 700 adults and 200 kids/students. As an established church, our demographics range from toddlers to seniors, with the bulk of our people being career-age adults, families, and kids. We are not a flashy or cutting-edge church, but we have a long history of faithful consistency as we endeavor to live lives of witness together as a church, in our community and in our world.

This past summer, we planted our first church from within our own church body. That church plant (Restoration Community Church) is located approximately 15 minutes away, in another community of the Valley. We are excited to continue partnering with them in ministry as we, together, pursue our shared vision of lives of witness, lived together as, not just a single local church, but as a growing family of inter-dependent churches.

Vision for Our Church

Our desire as a family of faith is to live lives of witness together as a church in our community and in our world. Practically speaking, in the next 20 years, I would love to see WBC have a hand in saturating the Valley with the gospel. I long to make it hard to go to hell from the Mat-Su because of how prevalent our witness is as individuals, as a family of faith, and in partnership with other local churches! What might that look like in measurable terms? My desire would be to see, on any given Sunday, at least 10% of the people in the Valley in attendance at a WBC-related church (WBC, WBC church plant, or other local churches with whom WBC intentionally partners). Ideally, half of those in attendance would be committed disciples, deliberately moving Godward as committed members of those churches. The other half would be people who are in the process of turning Godward and becoming committed to following King Jesus. The reason for this goal percentage is that it would likely result in any person in the Valley being no more than one degree of separation from a committed follower of Jesus who can share the gospel with them. And that same desire for gospel saturation ripples out around the globe! This is why we partner with local churches on every inhabited continent – to strengthen and grow them for witness in their own contexts, so that more and more people will step out of darkness and into the light of King Jesus’ Unshakable Kingdom.

Vision for This Position

Given the vision for our church, the task of the Missional Living Minister can be summarized in one phrase: Keep us witnessing – Keep us pointing to the reality of Jesus in word and deed! Though various aspects of this job have been in place for several years at WBC, the specific role of Missional Living Minister will be a new one on our staff. My desire is that the man filling this position will help our family of faith be more intentional in our “going” (Mat. 28:19), as we seek to make disciples in our own community and around the world. (Although the various aspects of this job could be fulfilled by both men and women, we are hoping to fill the position with a qualified man to level out the balance of our male and female ministers on staff.) The Missional Living Minister must be skilled in both relational and organizational leadership as he refines existing structures and partnerships while simultaneously developing and fielding new ones. This will be done with a twofold goal:

• Shepherding and equipping our members to be more intentional in our pursuit of witness within our personal, daily, relational networks, and
• Shepherding and equipping our family of faith to be more intentional, organizationally, in our efforts to support and grow the local church for witness on every inhabited continent.

Practically speaking, this will require the person who successfully fills this position to be a creative coach of leaders, skilled at relational networking and strategic opportunity development.

• Creative coach of leaders: This position involves building relationships with a variety of small group leaders and volunteers and then collaboratively helping them develop goals and strategies to be more effective in their individual contexts. In other words, this person must be able to adapt appropriately their ministry, training, and discipleship approach to various individuals and groups.
• Relational networking: This position involves developing strong relationships between the members of WBC and roughly a dozen ministry partners spread throughout our community and around the globe. This will require someone to build relational trust with both church members and partners, and then to bring the two together to build strong bonds between them. This position regularly recognizes the potential for strong relationships between others and then makes them happen.
• Strategic opportunity development: This position involves working with both WBC members and Extended Ministries partners and asking two questions: 1) What are you doing? 2) How can we help? They will then sift through the answers to figure out what opportunities (realized or potential) are out there, which ones will best work toward our church’s vision, and which ones will not. This person will then need to figure out how to mobilize the time, talent, and treasure of WBC members toward the most strategic opportunities.

Compensation

All salary and benefits will be administered in accordance with WBC’s Personnel Handbook and Compensation Tables. What follows is a rough estimate of compensation amounts for the sake of your planning and consideration through this process. If you decide to apply and are offered a position, we will finalize the particulars as part of an official hire offer.

• Salary is determined by WBC’s compensation tables which are annually assessed using the compensation reports developed by Church Law & Tax. (During our current, ongoing fiscal year, the basic range for this position would be roughly $70k-85k, depending upon experience and training.)
• Retirement currently is set at 6% of the employee’s salary, paid into a self-directed 403(b) account.
• Medical allowance is roughly $6k-10k, adjusting with the number of dependents in the household.

Applying for the Position

As you prayerfully consider this position, please review the enclosed Missional Living Minister job description, WBC Core Commitments, and WBC Statement of Faith. These documents establish the basic expectations and responsibilities for the person who will fill this need on our team and in our family of faith. If you decide to apply, please submit the following items prior to the application deadline of November 10, 2024. (Incomplete applications will not be considered.)

• Resume
• Signed copy of WBC Core Commitments and WBC Statement of Faith
• Two reference forms (included in the packet), completed by non-family members. At least one of the references should be completed by a peer or supervisor with whom you have volunteered or worked in ministry.

To submit your application, or if you have any questions, please email our Director of Operations, Brittney Kroon, at brittney.kroon@wasillabible.org, or you can call her directly at (907) 376-2176. You may also physically drop off completed, printed application materials at our church office.

Thank you for your prayerful consideration of this position. I look forward to walking through this process with you!

In Him,

William Ashley Brown

Senior Pastor

Missional Living MinisterPurpose

To encourage and equip WBC members to pursue intentional lives of witness, lived together as a church in our community and in our world.

Relationships

• Supervised by and reports to the Senior Pastor.
• Leads the Extended Ministries Team and volunteers.
• Trains and leads the leaders of WBC’s Community Groups.

General ResponsibilitiesCommunity Groups

• Identify, engage, equip, and encourage Community Group Leaders.
  • Train and mentor Community Group Leaders to provide “first responder” levels of pastoral care and service for the members of their Community Groups.
• Provide pastoral counseling and professional referrals for WBC members who need more assistance than volunteer Community Group Leaders can provide.
• Coordinate, resource, and equip WBC members to meet the benevolent needs we encounter or experience.
• Develop and oversee the Annual Ministry Plans, budgets, and calendar for the Community Groups.
• Coordinate administrative and logistical support for Community Groups and training events.

Extended Ministries

• Develop and oversee Annual Ministry Plans and Budget for WBC Extended Ministries – projects, partnerships, and initiatives that extend our congregational witness into our community and around the globe.
• Explore, develop, assess, and review both current and possible future partnerships to maintain a full partnership portfolio in keeping with WBC’s vision and Extended Ministries Policy.
• Explore and develop opportunities for WBC to strengthen and grow other local churches (and their partnerships) for the sake of witness in their context.
• Ensure regular, clear communication and coordination with Extended Ministries partners and congregation.
• Develop and oversee external, congregational projects and events for WBC.
  • g. – Valley Blessing, Burchell mentorship program, English Language Learning

Benevolent Fund

• Manage and steward the use of WBC’s Benevolent Fund in accordance with the WBC Benevolent Policy.

Teaching

• Engage in various teaching venues as tasked by the Senior Pastor.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Meet the biblical qualifications of a Deacon/Minister in 1Timothy 3.
• Demonstrate a God-ward heart that continually seeks to know, love, and serve Jesus Christ above all else.
• Share Wasilla Bible Church Core Commitments and Statement of Faith.
• Gifted and passionate in identifying, engaging, equipping, and encouraging volunteer leaders. (Not simply a leader, but a leader of leaders.)
• Theological training and/or experience that can ensure sound theology in areas of ministry responsibility.
• Able to facilitate and lead Bible studies and teach in a variety of venues.
• Embodies WBC's vision – Lives of witness, lived together as a church.
• Ability to manage multiple administrative projects and tasks in line with the WBC Annual Ministry Plans.
• Prior experience (or the ability to learn) the effective use of basic computer programs and office equipment.

Time and Term:

• This position is intended to be a full-time career placement.
• A formal performance review will be conducted after 90 days and then semi-annually thereafter.
• Pay and benefits to be determined in accordance with WBC’s Compensation Tables and Personnel Handbook.