Solo Pastor - Starkville, MS
Listed: 07-01-2021
Employer: Trinity Presbyterian Church PC(USA) - 607 Hospital Road, Starkville, MS 39759 | (662) 418-7487 PNC Chair | www.trinitypresstarkville.org
Location: Starkville, MS
Type: Full-time
Download: Job Description - Solo Pastor
Brief Church Mission Statement:
Acceptance. Inquiry. Service
The Mission of Trinity Presbyterian Church is to create a safe environment for everyone to learn, explore, and seek God. Jesus is among us when we make room for all persons with their questions, doubts, beliefs, ideas, and passions. “What you do for the least of these in my name, you do for me.” We are seeking to grow in faith, understanding, service and love.
What is the congregation’s or organization’s vision for ministry? Additionally describe how this vision is lived out.
As a Matthew 25 and More Light congregation, Trinity is called to offer an open, affirming worship alternative within a small community. Trinity seeks always to provide a warm, lively place of spiritual rejuvenation for its worshipers, whether longtime members or first-time visitors. Trinity in many ways serves a small niche congregation, particularly emphasizing love, and inclusion, but it also serves a membership who desire all to feel welcomed and who wish to grow in number.
Surrounded by serene greenery within a university town, Trinity’s congregation feels God’s presence in the beauty of the natural world and the marvels of science. We seek to model stewardship of the environment and vulnerable populations to our young people joyfully, as a part of a holistic Christian experience, demonstrating through service that church is not merely a weekly worship hour. We wish to engage in multi-generational, cross-cultural dialogues and missions, serving God as agents of change in our local community and beyond.
We seek opportunities to worship God both as a body and individually, respecting one another’s spiritual journeys. Trinity offers both traditional and unconventional worship experiences to help all members find meaningful moments that resonate.
Finally, Trinitarians celebrate connection and fellowship, often coming together with music and food. Frequent gatherings are a vital part of Trinity’s mission, as we support our church family throughout all phases of life.
How do you feel called to reach out to address the emerging needs of your community or constituency?
Trinitarians value compassion and open-mindedness—not merely tolerating but embracing and affirming diverse perspectives—and our church is a source of community activism. Trinity’s long history of service counteracts pervasive problems like poverty, illiteracy, hunger, and lack of access to safe water. Trinity believes in action, physically giving our time, talents, and ourselves to worthy causes municipally, regionally, nationally, or globally. Our congregation is active in causes such as helping provide meals for the needy, organizing semiannual blood drives, supporting Habitat for Humanity, and reaching out to neighbors impacted by ICE raids. Our calling to protect natural resources ranges from installing water-treatment facilities in developing countries to sponsoring a local chapter of the Boy Scouts. Our facility is utilized by the community as a local voting precinct and hosts regular bridge, yoga, book club, and lunch/breakfast club gatherings.
We want to be active allies in stamping out intolerance in all its forms and seek a pastor to lead us boldly and energetically toward a more inclusive future that embraces all regardless of race, economic status, gender identification, sexual orientation, or disability. We wish to wrestle with difficult topics involving social injustice and inequity, as well as encourage our local leaders to craft solutions. Trinity espouses a growth mindset over a fixed one, and we seek to model a living, inclusive, service-based faith.
How will this position help you to reach your vision and mission goals?
The Sacraments teach us to give thanks for God’s blessings, to commit to living by Christ’s example even amidst the challenges of modern times, to serve our Lord by serving our neighbors, and to welcome all to the table, reconciling personal differences in recognition that we are all children of God.
Trinity seeks a pastor who primarily serves in a support role for the congregation in the above capacities, with some executive functions. By setting an example of living gratefully and joyfully, the pastor would inspire and rejuvenate the congregation. By preaching timely sermons relevant to modern, real-world families and issues, the pastor would serve as a beacon of wisdom and empathy in these harried times. By engaging in church outreach and community activism, the pastor would become a catalyst, enabler, and bridge-builder for positive change. By serving as Trinity’s recognizable face within the community, our pastor would boost our local profile and help attract new members who are hungry for the type of open, accepting, informal worship opportunities we provide. At Trinity, we believe that many young families and individuals in our community are looking for a church exactly like ours.
Provide a description of the characteristics needed by the person who is open to being called to this congregation and or organization.
Our congregation feels God’s call toward a pastor who exudes enthusiasm, empathy, and openness. Our pastor will join our congregation in warmly celebrating life’s joyous moments and will guide and counsel us through life’s inevitable pitfalls and sorrows. Our pastor will feel a sense of ease with all our worshipers, from the very young to the elderly—including our valued members who identify as LGBTQ+ or who have disabilities.
Our pastor will help us meet young families and new members where they currently are: in the “real world,” struggling to balance the competing demands of growing children, busy careers, aging parents, and self-care. We will recognize our pastor through dynamic, relatable sermons underscoring contemporary issues. Our pastor will embrace modern technology to help expand our church’s social media footprint and local visibility.
God is calling our pastor to be an activist, searching out opportunities for our congregation to challenge injustice or hate (including if we find it within ourselves) and to shape productive solutions, such as through community and church partnerships.
Last but not least, our pastor will eschew rigidity and pretention for flexibility and creativity. Our pastor will push us as a congregation to find new ways to celebrate God and engage with our neighbors, both within and outside our church walls. In turn, our pastor will be receptive to non-traditional opportunities for growth and fellowship.
What specific tasks, assignments, and program areas will this person have responsibility?
Worship Leadership and Congregational Care:
Serve as a spiritual role model and guide of deep Christian faith
Lead weekly worship services with engaging sermons that challenge and appeal to a diverse congregation
Plan services so that the liturgy and sermon are appropriate to the church calendar
Oversee engaging, age-appropriate children’s sermons weekly and joyfully interact with the children
Identify and bring into service the specific talents and expertise of the congregants, leading members to effective participation
Confer the Sacraments, arranging to serve Communion on a regular basis to homebound congregants
Attend to pastoral duties such as weddings and funerals
Provide special support for congregation members and friends with acute and/or long-term struggles, including pastoral care and visits to the homebound as needed
Executive and Administrative Functions:
Act as Head of Staff/Pastor
Serve as our liaison to the St. Andrew Presbytery, the Synod of Living Waters, PC (USA)
Moderate monthly Session meetings
Work with church committee chairs
Work collaboratively with the Worship Committee, choir director, and church pianist
Assist in the church’s recruitment efforts and social media/marketing initiatives
Serve as Trinity’s authoritative source regarding procedural rules and regulations
Oversee production of the Sunday Bulletin
Hold weekly office hours
Supervise the church secretary
Train new elders
Leadership Competencies:
Preaching and Worship Leadership
Spiritual Maturity
Public Communicator
Change Agent
Culturally Proficient
Risk Taker
Organizational Agility
Interpersonal Engagement
Motivator
Flexibility
Compensation and Housing:
Minimum Effective Salary: $43,000
Housing Type: Housing Allowance
Job listings submitted by third parties are not verified by McCormick Theological Seminary. If you have a job you would like to see listed here send the details to webmaster@mccormick.edu