Director of Pastoral Care

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Other duties may be assigned.

• Recruit, train, and actively support pastoral care lay leadership and Care Team volunteers.
• Refine current and create future pastoral care processes for the flow of information to caregivers.
• Implement pastoral care procedures.
• Develop and facilitate classes, including recruiting and training instructional faculty, for topics about care, including grief, caring for aging parents, marriage, religious trauma, etc.
• Foster and maintain relationships with referral resources to meet the needs of the congregation.
• Work with the Senior Minister and Executive Team to create a community of care by triaging the church’s response to pastoral care needs, including those dealing with illness, grief, and other life‑changing situations.
• Celebrating milestones and marking important pastoral anniversaries with care in the lives of congregants, including but not limited a significant card ministry (creation/circulation of greeting cards of care and support).
• Maintain positive working relationships with staff to create a mutually supportive and efficient work environment.
• Oversee and maintain pastoral care records in the church database.
• Work effectively with Pastoral Care Assistant to delegate pastoral care needs.

• Attend weekly staff meetings and special events.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The Director of Pastoral Care must possess a deep understanding of Unitarian Universalism and how this liberal faith influences the practice of pastoral care with all prospective members, congregants, and spiritual seekers. Ability to interface with a diverse population of youth and adults is a must.

Strong organizational and time‑management skills, ability to multi‑task and attention to detail are essential to success. Strong written and verbal communication skills are a must. Applicants must pass a criminal background check.

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

First Unitarian Church of Dallas believes that the lived experience of a person is often the best teacher. Education, degrees, and training in related fields is preferred, but a minimum of three years of pastoral care experience is also acceptable. Experience in a church or other faith‑based organization, hospital or hospice chaplaincy, or social service agency providing care and counseling preferred.

Experience managing volunteers, working with a senior community, and delegating authority to volunteers. Some experience in counseling one‑on‑one or hospital visitation required.

Ability to read and interpret instructions, budgets and schedules. Ability to respond to inquiries or complaints from constituents; ability to interact appropriately with people of all ages. Ability to write reports or other materials as directed that conform to prescribed style and format using standard correct business English spelling and grammar.

Ability to work with mathematical concepts and apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.

Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions and deal with both abstract and concrete variables.

To perform this job successfully, an individual should have a strong knowledge of Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Publisher), Internet software and database software. Experience with ACS/Realm database a very strong plus.

This position directly supervises a paid part‑time assistant and volunteer staff. Management experience is strongly desired.

The noise level in the work environment during the M‑F phase is usually low; if work is occasionally scheduled on Sunday morning…