Senior Pastor

SEEKING: Senior pastor to lead the ministry team at Crums Church, in Berryville, VA.

We are looking for a dynamic and creative team player who is sincerely dedicated to serving Jesus. We are an active and growing congregation outgrowing our worship space and committed to sharing God’s love with our community. We have a contemporary and a traditional worship service each Sunday and are looking at adding a third worship service. 

Compensation will include health care and retirement contributions and the use of the parsonage or a housing allowance.

Qualifications:

·      Theological and pastoral training with a methodist/Wesleyan alignment.  Master of Divinity is preferred but will consider equivalent education/experience. 

·      Willingness to abide by the by-laws of Crums Church available on www.crumschurch.com

·      3-5 years of experience as a lead pastor at a minimum

·      Preaching and teaching ability.

·      Experience leading a team to develop a vision and achieve a shared objective. Christian character and passion for local church ministry in a more rural community.

·      Pastoral care experience and demonstrated ability to relate to a multi-generational church.

·      Must pass background check and substance screening.

If interested, send your resume, a one-page theological statement as to your Christian faith, and a link to one or two sermons to Employment.Crums@gmail.com or JustChurchJobs.com.

For more information about us, please consult our website at crumschurch.com.

A description of Crums Church.

Crums Church is a vibrant, growing independent (formerly United Methodist Church) located in Berryville, Virginia. We are Wesleyan or Methodist in doctrine. Crums averaged 153 in attendance at our two worship services in 2025. We have seen steady and increasing growth over the last five years. Our staff and giving have increased correspondingly. We have a full-time office manager and in 2025 had a senior pastor along with a 25 hour a week seminary student/youth director/praise band leader along with a 10 hour per week congregational care person.

We have two worship services. Our 9 AM worship service includes a praise band, children’s church, and weekly communion. Average attendance 121 (2025). Our 11:15 AM worship is traditional with hymns and a choir and monthly communion. Average attendance 32 (2025). We have Sunday School for all ages at 10:15 AM. The church is active in the community and missions internationally. We have many who have participated in Walk to Emmaus, Kairos Prison Ministry, and we support mission work in Haiti, Mexico, Hungary, and Brazil. We encourage small group participation and spiritual disciplines as keys to living faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Theologically the church is Methodist or Wesleyan doctrinally but not a member of any denomination. The church was part of the United Methodist Church until a congregational vote in 2022 to disaffiliate from the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. The paperwork was completed on January 6th, 2023. We incorporated as Crums Church and the Church Council (25 members) has chosen to stay independent. Crums is doing our best to be in the mainstream of historic, orthodox, biblical Christianity. From our Bylaws (available on our website:

We believe in:

1. The inspiration of the Bible, and therefore its authority and infallibility 

2. The virgin birth of Christ

3. The substitutionary atonement of Christ

4. The bodily resurrection of Christ 

5. The historicity of the biblical miracles. 

For a more detailed description of the doctrines and beliefs held by Crums Church, we refer to the Transitional Book of Doctrines and Discipline of the Global Methodist Church, Parts One and Two. See attachment 1 (of the Bylaws).

We practice an open communion table and infant baptism. Women are welcome in leadership and the pulpit. We expect abstinence in singleness and fidelity in marriage between one man and one woman. We have strong lay leadership with at least 12 lay speakers who have spoken from the pulpit and many who are actively leading and participating in the life of the church. Church leadership is shared between the lead pastor and the church council (bylaws available on request and on our website).

We are in a rural area east of Winchester VA and about 6 miles northwest of downtown Berryville, very close to West Virginia but also approximately an hour to Northern Virginia and the Washington D.C. metroplex. The church sits on about 9 acres with a charming 2-bedroom 2-bathroom parsonage with office on the property. The historic sanctuary was built in 1903 which seats just under 100 and a Fellowship Hall that seats 160, along with six Sunday School rooms.

With the departure in December of a student pastor who was also leading our praise team, we are looking for an associate pastor immediately and beginning the search for a senior pastor to replace our senior pastor as he retires in the next few years. 

Crums Church is a vibrant, growing independent (formerly United Methodist Church) located in Berryville, Virginia. We are Wesleyan or Methodist in doctrine. Crums averaged 153 in attendance at our two worship services in 2025. We have seen steady and increasing growth over the last five years. Our staff and giving have increased correspondingly. We have a full-time office manager and in 2025 had a senior pastor along with a 25 hour a week seminary student/youth director/praise band leader along with a 10 hour per week congregational care person.

We have two worship services. Our 9 AM worship service includes a praise band, children’s church, and weekly communion. Average attendance 121 (2025). Our 11:15 AM worship is traditional with hymns and a choir and monthly communion. Average attendance 32 (2025). We have Sunday School for all ages at 10:15 AM. The church is active in the community and missions internationally. We have many who have participated in Walk to Emmaus, Kairos Prison Ministry, and we support mission work in Haiti, Mexico, Hungary, and Brazil. We encourage small group participation and spiritual disciplines as keys to living faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ.