Filled
Women's Pastor
This Profile Contains
Elizabeth Eliot said: God is God. Because He is God, He is
worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in
His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.
Grace Covenant Church is looking for a gifted communicator to lead
others to discover and follow Christ. This person will be the
primary teacher and strategic overseer of our Women's Ministry,
which is vital to the health of the congregation. By equipping and
leading paid staff and volunteers, this person will impact the
entire congregation. As Grace moves into its new 1,800 seat worship
center in the summer of 2008, we desire to develop and expand this
vital ministry to women.
Grace Covenant Church (www.grace360.com)
is a dynamic and rapidly growing conservative evangelical church in
the northwest section of Austin, the sixteenth largest city in the
United States. The city of Austin has a population of 700,000 and a
metropolitan population of over 1,400,000.
The character of Austin is reflected in Grace Covenant Church:
- Austin is home of one of America's largest universities—The
University of Texas at Austin has over 50,000 students. At
Grace, these attributes are reflected in penetrating biblical
sermons that reach the heart, mind, and intellect. Members are
trained in a strong Protestant tradition—to read and understand
the Bible for themselves. A very large number of adults have
collegiate and graduate degrees. Relating to families, Grace has
a large number of private and home-schooled children.
- The city government of Austin calls itself “the live music
capital of the world.” Currently at Grace, the two
“contemporary” and one “classic” worship services contain teams
of outstanding musicians, many of whom have professional music
careers outside of church. Grace has recently hired Mike Gould,
an “authentic worship leader” for our contemporary services (see www.mikegould.org).
- Austin is the seat of the government for the state of Texas—with a feeling
of influence beyond the city borders. At Grace, local and
international missions are important, having a ministry to those
beyond our church grounds.
- Austin has a motto to support city business and culture, “Keep Austin
Weird: collaborative fission of coordinated individualism.” Grace has what few churches have—an openness to
diversity—accepting people for who they are and how God is
drawing them to Himself. Much of Austin's businesses are “high
tech,” spawning many affluent and upscale residents. Many
businesses are “start-ups,” giving the city a flavor of
entrepreneurial risk-takers. To help reach this community, the
church is re-designing its website to be interactive with “web
2.0” and to include a new logo, colors and branding. On April
24, 2005 Sr. Pastor Matt Cassidy preached a now classic message Grace is
Weird.
A church is called to model its ministry and ministers after
Christ—at Grace each believer is a minister. A church is also called
to be relevant to its society, “to seek and save the lost.” Grace
tenaciously holds to its biblical beliefs and core values.
Every church needs to have a vision statement that answers the
question, “Why do we exist?” Grace filters every program, budget
request and idea through its vision statement. If whatever is
planned doesn't help meet the vision, then it isn't done.
Grace Covenant Church exists to glorify God by leading people to
Christ and presenting each believer mature in Christ. Grace desires
to be “a courageous church, where every believer is a minister,
equipped and united, to impact people for Christ, for the glory of
God.”
- Our lives and ministries are to be Christ-centered,
reflecting the following values in balance:
- The Bible: we desire to hold and teach Biblical truth
unequivocally. (Matthew 5:18; John 10:35; 2 Timothy 4:2; 2
Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Revelation 22:18-19)
- Prayer and Worship: we desire to have a deep personal
and congregational relationship with God through meaningful
prayer, praise and worship. (Philippians 4:6-7; Matthew
22:37; Psalm 63:1-6; John 15:7)
- Community: we desire to relate biblically and with love
toward one another using our Covenant of Fellowship as our
basis and incorporating the principles of The Peacemaker
book by Ken Sande. (Ephesians 4:1-6; John 1:3; Hebrews
10:24-25)
- Evangelism and Global Outreach: we desire to share the
Gospel boldly by life and by word. (John 17:24; 1 Peter
3:15; Acts 1:8; Matthew 4:19; Romans 1:16; Matthew 28:19-20)
Grace Covenant uses a “3 Cog” motif for explaining how members
learn in different sized groups. The first cog is “Worship,” where every
member can participate in corporate worship—which can be continued
in private and family worship. The worship services are designed for
believers in Christ to worship the triune God. Seekers and
“de-churched” people are welcome to see how Christians worship in
Word and Truth. The second cog is “Learning.” The medium-sized Adult
Learning Communities are vital to the growth of members, prayer and
fellowship. The third cog is “Connection.” These small groups
emphasize study of the sermon, relationships and doing ministry
together.
The church emerged from a home Bible study in 1968. The first
study was on the biblical covenants, culminating with the “grace
covenant” and so the name of this independent Bible church. In 2004,
the ministry celebrated its 35th year. Early pastors were Dick
Flaten and Max Anders, followed by Jim Rose. Matt Cassidy became the
fourth Senior Pastor in 2002, having served on the staff for 13
years in other positions.
Today, the community of Grace Covenant includes over 2,000
adults. The three worship services—a “classic” service at 8:00 and
“contemporary” services at 9:30 and 11:00 am draw more than 1,100
people each week; the new worship center will seat 1,800. There are
over 360 children in Children's Education and 250 youth in The Attic
(7-12th grades). Midweek AWANA attracts over 200 kids. There are
over 35 home study groups, called Impact Groups, which continue the
study from the Sunday sermon. Fourteen Adult Learning Communities
and ten Introductory/Equipping Classes allow people to gather on
Sunday morning in medium-sized groups for study, prayer and
fellowship. Local and International Missions are also important at
the church, with a significant amount of people and funds being
invested each year.
Grace Covenant is a church on the move—literally. After two years
of careful study, in 2004 the leadership set forth a master plan to
build or rebuild almost every building on the church campus. The
goal was to accomplish this Herculean feat with the minimal use of
long-term debt. Over eight million dollars were pledged for the
first phase of the project: a new office building for staff,
renovation of the Cornerstone Building for Children's Ministry and a
new 1,800 seat worship center.
- In the spring of 2005, the congregation pledged $8,000,000
for the new building. An adjacent office building was purchased
for staff offices and renamed the Grace360 building.
- In the summer of 2005, the staff moved from the Cornerstone
building into the Grace360 building.
- In the summer of 2006, renovation was completed on two
floors of the Cornerstone building. This created new Early
Childhood facilities.
- In the spring of 2007, the old Children's Education building
will be demolished.
- In the summer of 2007, the new worship center will break
ground.
Grace is a church that is planning for the future—including the
staff needed as the church grows. The Women's Minister is a vital
part of the staffing needs at the church.
Grace is launching several new ministry strategies. With an
established Stephen Minister program, the church wants to expand its
care in a new direction. Grace will launch Celebrate Recovery in the
fall of 2007.
In a desire to help people resolve conflict biblically, Grace set
on a far reaching strategy of changing its spiritual DNA to include
“peacemaking.” This began with the intentional design of the Elders,
followed by a series of messages in the fall and winter of 2006-07.
The church desires to have a regular sermon series on biblical
conflict resolution and to develop a “culture of peacemaking.”
To reach men in the congregation and community, the church is
setting its strategic priorities for a “Men's Ministry for the 21st
century.” Leadership development is important for the church, and
Grace feels that leadership development needs to be offered to key
men and women. The process of integrating men and women for
leadership development, a men's ministry and a women's ministry, are
the current critical thinking areas for church leadership.
Dedicated to Giving
Few churches have a history of such dedicated giving. The leaders
of the church have made a commitment to give ten percent of their
income to Grace Covenant. The percentage of donations by
members/attendees is among the top one percent in the United States.
The Minister to Women will report to one of the Executive
Pastors. Grace has a three person executive team, consisting of the
Senior Pastor and two Executive Pastors.
The Women's Minister will respond to a genuine call from God to:
- Strategically Lead and Teach the Women's Ministry. Help
shape and implement a shared vision and strategy to grow and
strengthen women in alignment with the mission of the church.
Servant leaders at Grace are inspirational, relational and
collaborative. This includes a strong teaching component that
will develop a new holistic teaching curricula for Women's
Ministry.
- Oversee the stewardship of people and material resources in
the Women's Ministry, maximizing the investment of each person
in the ministry.
- The Minister shall touch and influence single, married,
divorced and widowed women.
- Ministry will happen with women in or emerging from
critical life issues, such as chemical dependencies or
addictive relationships.
- Because of the encompassing nature of this ministry, as
well as peacemaking and counseling, every person at the
church will be affected by this dynamic ministry.
- Build, Mentor and Develop strong leaders and effective teams
in the Women's Ministry. Proactively seek and build leaders
according to their giftedness. Give direction to the leaders and
ministers by clearly communicating vision and strategy on a
regular basis. The Pastor should be able to formulate and
articulate a vision for the ministry that aligns with the church
vision and inspires participation of others. Recruit, challenge,
train and develop current and future people to become part of
the Women's Ministry.
- Collaboratively work with the pastoral staff, administrative
staff and the Women's Ministry Leadership Team. Utilize the
giftedness of volunteer leaders so that ministry is shared,
enhanced and expanded. The Pastor should coordinate with the
other ministry areas to maximize mutual effectiveness.
- Assess the current needs of the congregation for growth in
Women's Ministry.
- Be informed of trends and culture as it relates to Women's
Ministry.
- Develop effective relationships with congregational leaders
and key volunteers.
- Ensure that conflicts and complaints within the department
and staff are quickly identified and resolved in a biblical
manner.
- It is highly preferred that the Pastor have a Master of
Divinity degree or similar advanced degree. Candidates with only
a Bachelor's degree may apply, but must have the highest
professional qualifications.
- The candidate will have a history of an ongoing program of
personal and professional development.
- The candidate will have a theological base shaped by
conservative evangelical theology and fully agree with and be
able to teach the church's doctrinal statement.
- The candidate may have experience in a multiple staff church
setting, with a minimum of five years ministry experience. This
may be as a department head at a large church, a teacher in a
public or private school, or perhaps from an education-based or
evangelism-based para-church ministry.
Key Competencies/Attributes
- A shepherd with a heart for women's ministry. A born-again
Christian with integrity, high moral values and a genuine call
from God to this church and position.
- A highly effective relational leader who inspires, motivates
and mobilizes others to strive for and attain dreams and goals
that are bigger than they thought possible. A leader who can
inspire others with vision so as to achieve desired results. A
sensitive leader who is aware of this multi-cultural,
multi-ethnic and multi-generational congregation.
- A skilled manager who can plan, budget, delegate, allocate
resources and meet deadlines on time and under budget.
- A skilled communicator, with keen listening skills and
effective oral communications. A leader who can handle the Word
of God accurately and points women to the Word and personal
devotion to Christ.
- A mature, self-sacrificing and driven team player. One who
is committed to the success of the ministry and others.
Compensation will be commensurate with other Women's Pastors of
similarly sized congregations, as based on a periodic salary survey
by the National Association of Church Business Administrators (www.nacba.net).
A relocation budget will be provided. Two weeks of paid vacation
are given, along with 9 paid holidays and 2 personal days per year.
Medical, dental and life insurance are provided.
Grace desires a candidate who will invest the next 7-10 years, or
more, in this position.
- Our mission is to
- Introduce women to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ
- Connect women to each other to stimulate courage in
living life
- Disciple women in biblical truth and Christian living
- Develop women for personal ministry with their family,
neighbors and co-workers
- We desire a vital women's ministry that implements the
maturity model of ministry with the Women of Grace and supports
the overall growth of our church.
Why our Vision & Values are in print
- Repeatability—the ability for the next generation of leaders
to learn
- Communication—we want to share our goals and abilities with
the congregation and other churches
- Life-long learners, growth—we want to continue to grow and
not become sedate
- Spiritual DNA—we want to know and express our values
- Defining our purpose—we want to delineate why do we what we
do; if we fail to learn the lessons of history, we will repeat
its mistakes.
Women's Ministry Activities
- MOPS–Mothers of Pre-Schoolers–We have two very active MOPS
groups. Each meets on alternating Friday morning. There is a
strong steering team for each with key positions filled by Grace
women. We have helped other churches launch MOPS programs.
- Precept Bible Study–A group of women meets weekly to do
various Precept studies.
- Women's Bible Study–This is a weekly meeting with one
session in the morning and another in the evening. There are
usually 2-3 alternative groups that women can join. One has been
for younger believers, a second for those that want to study the
Bible using an inductive method and a third has been a video
Bible Study, such as a Beth Moore study (note: this is a
critical area for the Women's Pastor to evaluate and to
present a holistic teaching curricula)
- One-on-one discipleship–there is some one-on-one
discipleship, but this should become a greater emphasis.
- Annual Women's Retreat–For a weekend during the winter, the
women go on an annual retreat. This includes a speaker, small
group discussion, quiet time and various fun activities.
- Annual Christmas Coffee–As an evangelistic outreach a coffee
with a guest speaker is done during the holiday season.
- Neighborhood Bible Studies–over the last year, several
women's small group Bible studies have started as an
evangelistic outreach.
- Hearts of Grace Learning Community–This is an adult learning
community on Sunday morning exclusively for women.
- Special Events–during the year various social events are
planned.
Direction of the Women's Ministry
- We desire to see our Women's Ministry increase its capacity
to minister to our current women's population and to be prepared
to expand its ministry as new women come to Grace with the
opening of our new Worship Center. We desire this ministry to be
more effective at discipling women to grow toward maturity and
equipping them for personal ministry.
Position Filled
All e-mails will receive an initial response
within 48 hours and a determination of
status within 10 days. You can learn more about our style of hiring in
one of Dr.
Fletcher's articles on hiring.
As this position entails a teaching ministry, be
prepared to e-mail MP3s of several recent teaching sessions.
