Director, Church Engagement

Praxis began in 2011 with a desire to support and equip Christian entrepreneurs and has grown steadily into a 30+ person, NY-centric team advancing the redemptive imagination and action of founders, funders, and innovators motivated by their faith to address the major issues of our time. As a $15M+/year nonprofit with ambitious growth plans, we’re expanding our venture-building work globally, organizing around the major issues of our time, and building media and more to activate the redemptive potential of Christians around the world.

We see our team as the first carriers of the mission, building an organization that is great to work at, excellent in its craft, and redemptive in its finances as well as its programs.

Praxis is hiring a Director of Church Engagement to lead its work with local churches and universities. This person helps churches use the Praxis Course and related resources well, builds trusted friendships with senior pastors, and makes sure churches feel served and equipped rather than sold to. They lead a growing team and are responsible for whether churches move from first interest, to actively hosting, to a lasting habit of forming their people in the Redemptive Way.

The posture is one of service to the church and its pastors, in the spirit of helping the church do what only the church can do.

This role exists to serve, equip, and enable the local church and its senior pastor. The Director of Church Engagement is the person who carries Praxis’s relationship with churches: understanding what pastors are trying to build, removing friction, and helping each church use Praxis resources in a way that fits its own community and calling. The aim is not to grow Praxis.

The aim is to help churches activate people, and to help pastors lead congregations that practice generosity, courage, and care for their neighbors over the long haul.

While Praxis is known and respected amongst local church leadership, it is a newer entrant (with new offerings) to church-facing work, so unlike organizations with an established church presence, this role includes a healthy, servant-hearted invitation in the early years: helping churches discover the Course (and other formational experiences) and decide to host it. That invitation is always offered in the posture of service, never as a sales pitch.

If this role is working, Praxis, through the Course and additional resources, is deployed as the vocational version of Alpha. We will see more people formed, through more churches, more often.

We will track our progress by asking a few simple questions:

• How many churches are actively engaged with Praxis resources?
• What share of each congregation is taking part?
• How often do churches run the Course again after their first time?
• How is the fruit and faithful action of those encountering Praxis ideas, stories and resources changing over time?

Leading indicators we will watch include:

• Churches where the senior pastor is personally engaged.
• Churches where a staff member owns the work day to day.
• The rate at which churches return to host again.
• Churches that clearly understand what Praxis offers and why.
• Stories and case studies that show formation taking root.

Church Engagement Strategy

• Develop the vision and strategy for how we will engage and reach local church leaders, networks and denominations. Igniting a global community activating redemptive potential of their local congregations.
• Approach the role with an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset. Develop creative approaches to strategy, engagement, community, reach and fellowship.

Pastor & Church Relationships

• Build and steward trusted relationships with senior pastors and church teams, helping…