About Saint James

Saint James is large and growing parish founded in 1744 in the middle of a historic, vibrant city. We are led by an innovative team of excellent lay and ordained leaders in a fast-paced context that combines the benefits and challenges of a dynamic downtown setting with a high-resource destination congregation. As a result of a sustained period of growth, we are pleased to offer several new lay and ordained leadership positions to meet the needs of our growing parish and take us to the leading edge. We are seeking leaders with wide experience of church, supporting individual faith journeys, and meeting the needs of others. Saint James deeply values children and youth, art, and inclusion alongside ecumenism and contemplative spirituality. We are looking to build on our diversity of ages, perspectives, talents, and spiritualities by hiring people who embody radical hospitality, curiosity, humility, and a strong work ethic.

About the Position

The Associate Rector for Membership and Engagement will be the senior ordained colleague to the rector and would suit someone who has been a rector or associate previously in the Episcopal Church or a church in communion with it. The primary focus is on congregational care, newcomers and growth, membership, engagement and giving. As such s/he will lead on or oversee the contribution of others on pastoral care, children, youth and families, ministry engagement, stewardship of time talent and treasure as well as new member incorporation. Each of these vital areas follows objectives and plans identified in the long-range plan of vestry and comes with a working group of Vestry to create ideas and capacity for identifying what priorities, objectives and key results could look like.

This position is full-time and offers flexible hours with Sundays, Easter weekend, Christmas Eve, and some additional weekend, evenings and holiday hours required. Saint James offers a competitive compensation package ($85,000 - $100,000) that includes generous benefits and paid time off.

This position reports to the Rector.

Essential Functions

• Congregational care, providing special care of newcomers and developing a pathway to membership, engagement and giving
• Direction and encouragement of ordinands
• Proactive diocesan engagement and liaison
• Preaching, teaching, and liturgical work
• Supervise the children, youth, and families director
• Supervise the pastoral care coordinator
• Collaborate with staff and clergy on stewardship initiatives to encourage congregational engagement and giving of time, talent, and treasure
• Oversee clergy associates and ordinands

Qualifications

• Ordained in the Episcopal Church
• Previous leadership experience in an Episcopal church or a church in communion with it
• Liturgical flexibility, depth, and a willingness to learn new things
• Able to give multimedia presentations and a sense of how multimedia preaching could be incorporated into worship and other intergenerational presentations
• A strong sense of marketing and social media use
• Excellent pastoral care skills and interests
• Understanding of how important ecumenism, contemplative spirituality and practices are to 21st century Christianity
• Administrative strengths and consistent attention to detail
• Capacity to work comfortably with spreadsheets, data sets, and metrics (Saint James uses Realm church management software)
• Ability to identify theological themes for giving and parish engagement campaigns and oversee the production of multimedia materials in support of such initiatives.
• A warm, collaborative, and collegial presence and leadership capacity
• Strong communication and collaboration skills
• Familiarity and comfort with Episcopal theology
• Ability to network, collaborate and build trust and partnerships through attention to detail
• Excellence in preaching, teaching and worship leading in a variety of styles, sizes and settings
• Familiarity with different trends in generational connecting, giving and belonging
• Acceptance of a diverse congregation
• Flexibility in hours and scheduling. This position works weekdays, Sundays, Christmas Eve, Easter, and possibly other standard holidays. *Weekdays can be determined by programming and seasonal needs.
• A successful background check
• A valid driver’s license and ability to drive
• Familiarity with and willingness to adhere strictly to Episcopal Church Safe Church policies and guidelines

Application deadline: May 20, 2024

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