Over the last few years, change has marked our church experience, even my pastoring. Pastors and other staff members have transitioned. Church members have moved away and left for good reasons, while others left for, shall we say, less than good reasons. All this change is normal for churches. Maybe only the rate of change over the last three or four years has been abnormal.

And yet for all the change, the people and pastors here have also tried not to change the critical elements that make a church a church. I think, by God’s grace, we’ve gone back deeper into the basics. Back to God and his Word. Back to the primacy of the gospel and deeds of mercy and mission. In fact, for as hard as it’s been, the Lord has used the struggles to refine us. He’s grown our church numerically but also, maybe more importantly, in our depth of faithfulness. Soli deo gloria.

Part of the change at our church comes as we prepare to send out one of our pastors and dozens of people to plant a church a few miles away in the center of our city. We’ve never done this before—at least I’ve never done this before—and we’re learning as we go. But it feels right. The church won’t be planted officially until January 2024, yet we’re now starting the search for another associate pastor, a pastor who can help lead and preach, a pastor with ministry experience.

Below is the job description. We’ve posted it on job boards and with seminaries, but I thought I’d share it here too. Maybe you know someone who’d like to work with us. You can also see the PDF here and here’s a link to our website: Community Evangelical Free Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

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Associate Pastor

OVERVIEW

The associate pastor will serve with the other members of the church staff and our pastor-elders to further our church’s vision. He will serve as a generalist, able to help in areas that need more attention in any given season but have a particular emphasis on leading and training and preaching. He will operate under the direct supervision of the senior pastor and under the overall governance of the Pastor-Elder Board.


COMPENSATION

Benefits: 7 paid holidays, 15 paid vacation days, 5 paid personal days, 1 day off during the week in addition to Saturday, which is considered a day off (Sundays are considered a workday); pay every 2 weeks on a Wednesday

Salary: Please ask for salary range during interviews.


JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Committed Christian who will participate and engage in our church and who agrees with the EFCA Statement of Faith.

• Humility and willingness to work with teams. Deep love and compassion for people, Christian and non-Christian alike.

• Skilled expositor of God’s Word; ability to teach and preach to all ages of the church.

• Excellent people skills with the ability to engage diverse types of people.

• Aptitude for training, recruiting, and developing leaders and pastors for ministry.

• 5–10 years of ministry experience in a local church (completed MDiv degree strongly preferred).

• A shared theological and philosophical DNA with the pastor-elders, including warm complementarianism, a humble embrace of Reformed soteriology, and a gospel-centeredness in all of ministry.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

The other associate pastor roles at Community have specific areas of oversight, such as connections, worship, or discipleship and visitation. This role, however, will be something of a generalist role but have a particular emphasis in leading the church and mentoring others. As an associate pastor, he will help with church administration, preaching and teaching, administering baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and officiating weddings and funerals. He will preach a minimum of eight sermons a year.


CHURCH BIO & HOW TO APPLY?

Our church mission statement is “to see the weak, wounded, and wayward enjoy the living Jesus.” We belong to the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) and have around 200 members, 300 people in attendance in the sanctuary each Sunday, and 200 people in small groups throughout the week. Our lead pastor has served here for almost ten years. This position became open because we are planting a church and sending a current associate pastor to lead that church. Please see our website for more information, CommunityFreeChurch.org. Send your resume and cover letter to jobs@communityfreechurch.org. Within two weeks, we’ll follow up about potential next steps. We hope to fill the role in the spring of 2023.