Park Avenue Baptist Church is seeking a bi-vocational Pastor of Families and Formation. Pastoral duties include caring for the diversity of families of PABC, providing christian education for grades K-5, congregational and pastoral care, regular preaching and worship leadership, and administration.

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Located in the thriving community of downtown Atlanta in the historic Grant Park community, PABC is a growing and diverse congregation of progressive baptists who are seeking to do church differently. We believe in a God who is bold, inclusive, and creative--a God who has acted and continues to act in human history out of love for the whole creation, lovingly nurturing, shaping and inviting us to co-create the world anew. This means if we are to follow God, we must seek to be bold, inclusive, and creative in God's world. Jesus called this "the kingdom of God", others have called it the Beloved Community. We are committed to building this community right here, right now. In this commitment we seek to be bold in deconstructing racism, classism, sexism, ageism, ableism- physical and mental, homophobia, transphobia, violence and hatred through the creative use of worship, dialogue, education, activism, protest, and resources - human, fiscal, and capital; in order to embody the inclusive way of Jesus.

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PABC partners with the Alliance of Baptist and with many local and community partners that work alongside us and within our building. You can learn more about us at ​https://www.parkavebaptist.com/​. Applicants should have significant experience working with children. A bachelor's degree is required. A seminary degree and experience in the field of mental health is preferred. Resumes and cover letters should be sent to pabcpersonnel@gmail.com​. Those received by January 15 will be prioritized.

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Job Description

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The Pastor of Families and Formation is responsible for overseeing the development, programming and implementation for the Children, Youth and Family Ministries at PABC. Pastor will also partner with the Spiritual Development Team and the Deacons to promote congregational care.

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• Develop and implement programming for the spiritual formation of children and youth in conjunction with Formation Team

• Develop and provide resources to equip parents to shape their children’s faith at home

• Provide vision, strategy, & development for all children and youth ministries

• Review, purchase and oversee the implementation of all curriculums for children and youth ministry activities

• Recruit and oversee volunteers for special events, providing leadership, training, and appreciation

• Develop and maintain a safe, clean, aesthetic for children and youth ministry environments

• Coordinate children’s ministry and youth ministry intern/volunteer as applicable

• Provide regular quality faith development programming and activities for children

• Provide pastoral care to young people, their families, members, and visitors as needed

• Collaborate to create strategies for and structures of congregational care

• Partner with the Spiritual Formation team to develop and market a plan for identifying and addressing the spiritual growth needs of the congregation

• Collaborate with the Council to create strategies for and structures of congregational care, infusing spiritual growth initiatives into church activities as determined by the Spiritual Formation team

• Develop the Deacon Team and equip the deacons for ministerial care

• Develop and provide resources to equip congregants for health and recovery.

 

Each member of the Pastoral Staff at Park Avenue Baptist Church (PABC) will embody our shared church values to live boldly, love inclusively, and serve creatively. In their shared and individual responsibilities, they will be bold in their ministry as they seek to live into and create brave spaces for our congregation, inclusive as they minister to the members of both our church and surrounding communities, and creative as they conceive of new, innovative ways in which they can engage opportunities for spiritual growth and community development.

Because PABC governs and operates with a circle pastoral and leadership model, each pastor has responsibilities inherent to the office of pastor and to be considered when carrying out the primary duties of their pastoral role.

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• All pastoral staff will preach on a rotating basis with the preaching team.

• They will be responsible for a specific aspect of congregational and communal spiritual development.

• Pastors will be accountable for = implementing and maintaining a structure of communication between the pastoral team, the congregation at large, the deacons, and the Council. Communication will be transparent and frequent to keep members engaged and connected to the work of the church.

• The pastoral team will meet once a week and will be expected to hold 20 hours each week. Hours may include time spent in the building accomplishing tasks as well as meeting with congregants/community

  members individually.

• All pastors will be responsible for crafting and facilitating the vision of the church in partnership with the congregation as PABC continues to move forward.

• All pastors will be responsible to craft a reasonable budget for the church as a whole and for their individual ministries, using consensus building processes in conjunction with their lay leadership, the Council and the congregation. They will work with the finance team to make these budgets transparent and accessible.

• All pastors will be engaged in community outreach to engage community members and the congregation in opportunities for social justice.

• The pastoral team will serve and function in a circle style of leadership that values all voices, consensus, collaboration, and community. In this style of leadership, all pastors will support the professional development and continuous learning of one another. They will also support the development of identified and emerging leaders in the congregation and those who serve as ministry interns.

• All pastors are encouraged to maintain a mentorship relationship with a person outside of PABC for the purposes of their own spiritual development.

• Serve as site mentor for ministry interns.

• Coordinate and facilitate church business meetings and other congregational meetings.

• Connect with first-time visitors and those interested in membership or baptism.

  Planning and Professional Development

• Plan a bi-annual staff retreat.

• Work with the Personnel team as they develop a yearly professional development plan for the pastoral team, and yearly evaluations.

• Because of the uniqueness of our leadership model, each pastor is encouraged to research, study, evaluate, and document the circle leadership model, in the context of the pastoral team and the congregation.

• Work with the Personnel team to assess and evaluate all church policies and procedures

• Serve as point person for denominational and other partnerships for conferences, events, etc