Reconciliation Church, located in South Holland, IL, not only bears the name “reconciliation,” we embody it in our history and life. We emerged from a 51-year-old Dutch Reformed congregation (Peace Christian Reformed Church) that desired to meet the challenge of being a homogenous congregation in a neighborhood that has transitioned from a predominantly Dutch community into a predominantly African-American community. To meet this challenge the congregation decided to “stay and change.” After years of soft attempts to change and multiple pastor turnovers, the congregation hired Glen McCarthy in 2015, an African American pastor with a background in school turnaround and community engagement to lead Peace Church towards their goal to change and reach their neighborhood community. In 2018 Pastor Glen lead the congregation through a restart process to form Reconciliation Church. The essence of the name Reconciliation Church derives from the church’s former name – Peace and the desire to stay and change. Throughout the Apostle Paul’s writing we see that “peace” is the goal of reconciliation (Eph. 2:14-16, Col. 1:19-20). In the New Testament, the word “reconciliation” comes from a Greek family of words that have its roots in the word “allassō” which means, “change” or “exchange.” Reconciliation involves a change in relationship between God and humanity, or people amongst each other. Reconciliation restores harmony and fellowship in a relationship where there has been hostility and brokenness. Through the transformative power of Jesus Christ, the brokenness between our local church congregation and our neighborhood community has been restored. Now it’s time to flourish!
Mission: To bring restoration of identity, purpose, and destiny in Jesus Christ through preaching His gospel, teaching God’s Word, and making disciples.
Vision: To be a new humanity: loving the Lord our God and what He loves, learning of the person and work of Jesus Christ, and living out the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Position Summary
Reconciliation Church is seeking a Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries to be a spiritual leader who is gifted in teaching and has a passion to influence teenagers and young adults to live for Jesus Christ, and to engage youth culture for transformation through social media, media arts, and performing arts. They will develop a strong understanding of our unique DNA and will work to seamlessly align the goals of our youth and young adult ministry into the overall mission and vision of the church.
The successful candidate will be able to express and share their thoughts of what a vibrant and healthy youth ministry looks like, work well with strong pastoral leadership, and be accountable. They will be passionate about their call to ministry and demonstrate a willingness to engage in the lives of students, their families, and young adults.
The successful candidate will have a history of experience as a strong communicator, with a background in recruiting, leading teams, and developing leaders. Also, they will embrace working in a grace-oriented setting committed to reaching the unchurched and developing relationships with community schools and organizations.
Responsibilities:
- Disciple teens and adult volunteers while providing oversight.
- Disciple young adults in the Gospel and activate them in church ministry.
- Recruit and train a team of volunteers to assist in leading the ministries.
- Develop or identify Christian discipleship curriculum for young adults and youth
- Provide online apologetic content for young adults and youth on church social media platforms
- Provide regular culturally relevant ministry through onsite video and/or live stream recordings targeting youth and young adults to address their demographic struggles and challenges to their Christian faith apologetically.
- Plan, organize, recruit and lead monthly gathering where youth and young adult can express themselves to the glory of Jesus Christ through performing arts, visual arts, fellowship, encouragement and grow spiritually.
- Partner with parents by creating a discipling culture and providing them with support and resources.
- Mentoring future leaders called to ministry, whether teens or adults.
- Lead the development of an on-going and invitational Growth Group community within youth and young adult ministries
Personal Characteristics / Skill Sets:
- Lead a youth and young adult ministry that is deep and wide. Reach targeted unchurched and dechurched people and intentionally disciple them.
- Leads a life of following Christ and has life/work balance in marriage, parenting, and friendships.
- An effective communicator that reaches an audience of all ages.
- Be an effective recruiter of leaders and volunteers for youth and young adult ministries.
- Possess the capability of casting vision, creatively executing plans, and developing systems for building a successful youth ministry that is based on changing lives.
- Relational, with a friendly and approachable disposition.
- Possess a teachable and coachable spirit.
- Comfortable receiving feedback from within a collaborative team.
- Growing emotional intelligence and awareness of strengths and weaknesses.
- A passion for developing, equipping, and propelling both individual leaders and teams.
- Commitment to the mission, vision, core values, and beliefs of Reconciliation Church
- If married, your spouse will be a strong partner in ministry
How To Apply
Please send the following three items directly to [email protected] to be considered for this position:
1. Résumé with cover letter
2. Two-minute video introducing yourself and your philosophy of ministry.
3. Links to a recent video message of you teaching.
Compensation Disclosure
- This is a 20-25 hour per week part-time salaried position (no benefits)
- The compensation is $30-35K annually
- This position allows for two-weeks off for paid vacation time and a total of 4 paid Sundays off per year
