Position: Discipleship Pastor

Discipleship Pastor Position with New Life Lutheran Church in Sterling IL Position Summary

Our church is at the size where we don't want to call a discipleship pastor to "DO" ministry. We need someone to help lead and develop our church members so THEY can do ministry. Our new pastor will be able to take on this challenge and learn with the staff as they transition from “doing” to “leading”.

The discipleship pastor will assist the lead pastor and leadership team in guiding the staff and congregation to grow in our journey of being transformed by Jesus. We’re looking for a “people person” who will love connecting people to Jesus and others for their faith transformation. This person will seek out those that aren’t connected, hear their story and help them to find their place in God’s kingdom.

This position is flexible enough to allow the candidate to follow the Holy Spirit and apply their expertise in:

• Growing life groups / small groups in both quantity and quality by promotion, recommending materials and connecting members to existing or starting new life groups. We feel like real faith grows best in a life group setting in addition to regular Sunday services.
• Organizing and providing training and leadership to volunteers throughout the church body. As you know the church runs on volunteers and helping them to be effective helps us all.
• Supporting the lead pastor in developing sermon series and preaching on them. Check out our website to see some of the great series we’ve had in the past.
• Supporting the staff in meeting and growing in their roles in the church.
• Promoting communication with congregation, staff, leadership team and community. Growth without confusion and hurt feelings needs great communication.

Our church was started 15 years ago and is blessed to be growing. Last year saw 19 baptisms, our biggest VBS yet (152 attendees), 3 trips with 15 tons of supplies to North Carolina hurricane relief, coordinated 150 volunteers from 10 churches for the first ever Sauk Valley Serve Day, our quilting & sewing group donated their
1000thquilt to the Rock River Hospice, a growing Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), youth ministries and more!

New Life is associated with Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC). We are located in northwestern Illinois in the city of Sterling, about midway between Rockford and the Quad Cities. Sterling is located on the Rock River and has a population of just under 15,000. Several towns of similar size are nearby with many smaller towns in the area.

New Life is looking for an LCMC trained pastor with a Masters of Divinity, or someone willing to get these credentials within an agreed upon time frame. We would like our new pastor to be excited about preaching, teaching, evangelism and caring for the congregation. Ideally, he or she will be passionate for Jesus and others, a people person that is welcoming, has the ability to connect and really listen to all groups, will not take themselves too seriously, have a sense of humor, be a lifelong learner and be willing to speak up when something or someone is starting down a wrong path.

You may be thinking that we are asking for an impossible amount from only one person, but we fully realize that no one is an expert in all the skills, traits and training it takes to be a pastor. If you feel called to this role, we’d love to connect and see if New Life could be the right place for you!

We offer a competitive salary, health care, retirement, vacation time and other benefits.