Lead Pastor

Written By Cherie Miller

Job Overview: We are seeking a Christ-Centered Lead Pastor to guide our congregation with spiritual wisdom, compassionate leadership, and a commitment to nurturing a vibrant faith community. The Lead Pastor will play a pivotal role in fulfilling our church's mission, fostering spiritual growth, and engaging with our local community.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Biblical Preaching and Teaching: Through Biblically faithful, Christ-centered preaching and teaching, deliver spirit-led, relatable, and life-applicable sermons that inspire congregants to live missionally, deepen their relationship with God, and follow Jesus more intently in their daily lives

  • Leadership: In collaboration with Session, develops and casts vision in a way that inspires engagement of others

  • Disciple-Making: Help congregants deepen their faith and create a culture that encourages meaningful relationships that promote spiritual growth and disciple-making

  • Worship Services: In collaboration with the Director of Music and Worship, prepare and lead worship services, administer Sacraments, officiate weddings, and preside over funerals; ensure meaningful worship experiences for a multigenerational church

  • Session Leadership: Serve as Moderator and leader while collaborating with Session members to discern strategic direction, establish goals, manage financial resources, and review the church's overall mission, ensuring that key decisions are successfully communicated; train officers and encourage the shepherding role of elders in the life of the church

  • Congregational Support: Shepherd and support efforts to enhance our strong congregational family as we grow, promoting unity in Jesus amidst diverse preferences and perspectives

  • Community Engagement: Build relationships within the local community, participate in outreach and mission activities, and collaborate with other organizations to address community needs

  • Head of Staff: Work closely with ordained and non-ordained staff to implement the church's mission and vision, ensuring accountability as established by the Session; responsible for supervising, directing, and holding accountable staff with support from Session; model and promote the balancing of ministry, personal life, and personal spiritual development

  • Mentorship/Staff Development: Mentor staff by fostering teamwork, supportive relationships, and personal and spiritual growth, encouraging the development of individual talents for a stronger whole

  • Lay Leadership: Shepherd congregants and raise up lay leaders and lay pastors, inspiring them to lead in areas where they are gifted; provide oversight to pastoral care

  • Mission Collaboration: Collaborate with other ministries in the West End of Richmond and globally to help others find and follow Jesus, embracing and serving the marginalized

  • Affinity Group Partnership: Build and maintain partnerships with other churches in our ECO “Missional Affinity Group (MAG)” in Richmond

Qualifications and Desired Skills:

  1. Personal Faith: Strong and evident personal belief in God the Father, Christ the Savior, and the Holy Spirit; an abiding faith in Jesus and the knowledge that they are a child of God the Father through Jesus Christ; pursuit of Jesus through highly-disciplined spiritual practices including time with the Lord and accountability in community; an active listener to the voice of God

  2. Scriptural Knowledge: Deep knowledge of Scripture, placing God’s work and will foremost in life and ministry

  3. Engaging Preacher: A great preacher with an engaging preaching style: delivering sermons that are Biblically-based, challenging, and relevant to daily lives; sharing fresh and relatable experiences with God

  4. Generational and Cultural Sensitivity: Awareness of and sensitivity to the needs across multiple generations, cultures, differing preferences for worship style, and the varying needs of singles, couples, and families

  5. Interpersonal Skills: A warm, personal presence that encourages personal change and builds community through an emphasis on the unmerited grace of Jesus, deep listening, and compassion towards others

  6. Teachable and Humble: A teachable, approachable, humble leader with an evident prayer life and transparency of strengths and weaknesses

  7. Visionary Leader: One who can identify and lead the implementation of new and evolving strategies to encourage all generations to find and follow Jesus

  8. Organizational and Communication Skills: Strong organizational, administrative, and communication (oral and written)

  9. Collaborative Leadership: Collaborative, team-based leadership with an ability to build consensus, delegate, communicate effectively, and manage multiple tasks including meetings and sermon deadlines

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

  • Master of Theology or Divinity, or its equivalent, from an accredited seminary.

  • Aligns with and personally adheres to the Essential Tenets of ECO (see Essential Tenets in ECO Constitution: https://eco-pres.org/wp-content/uploads/ECOCONSTITUTION.pdf

  • Ordained or able to be ordained in ECO

  • Prefer 5+ years experience as a Senior Pastor or other pastoral role in a thriving congregation

How to Apply:

Submit cover letter and resume to Community West’s Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC) at: pnc@communitywestchurch.org

Please also provide:

  • Statement of Faith

  • Three video-recorded sermons

For additional information, email us at pnc@comunitywestchurch.org

Click here for a copy of our church profile

Cherie Miller