Middle School Ministries Pastor

Bridgeway Christian Church is a Scripture-soaked and Spirit-led community.

At Bridgeway, we are committed to a staff culture that glorifies God and serves people. We are a collaborative team of hard workers, and we place a high value on maintaining a healthy work/life balance. We strive to create excellent programs and excellent content, but caring for people always comes before programs. We take the mission God has set before us seriously, but we don't take ourselves too seriously. That means our office has plenty of laughter, fun, and camaraderie.

The goal of the Middle School Ministries (MSM) Pastor is to lead middle school students to be Scripture-soaked and Spirit-led followers of Jesus. The MSM Pastor serves the church by overseeing, administering, and coordinating a Middle School Ministry program that cares for the spiritual, social, and emotional well-being of middle school students.

The purpose of the MSM Pastor is to minister to middle school students and their families through teaching, leading, building volunteer teams, shepherding, administration, discipleship, and building relationships.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Maintain a vibrant personal relationship with Jesus.
• Maintain an appropriate work/life balance where you work hard as a key pastoral leader at Bridgeway while ensuring you take sufficient time for rest, family time, vacation, and leisure.
• Recruit, train, and invest in a team of adult volunteer leaders. Help guide prospective volunteers through a month of observation before they commit to joining the volunteer team.
• In conjunction with the Director of Discipleship and volunteer leaders, cast vision for the Middle School Ministry and set specific goals for th discipleship of middle school students.
• Create and maintain partnership and camaraderie with other pastors and leaders in the Next Gen department to help facilitate consistency of discipleship development and smooth transitions between ministries.
• Stay apprised of trends and challenges in youth culture, and create programming that addresses the needs of middle school students.
• In conjunction with the Middle School Administrator, manage and sustain the infrastructural needs of the Middle School Ministry in a professional and timely manner. This may include, parent communication, social media, event planning, calendaring, meeting with students and parents, promoting ministry events, budgeting, and developing curriculum.
• Cultivate relationships with MSM parents through regular connections, communications and management of parent expectations. Communicate in with parents in advance about event plans or any potentially controversial subject matter.
• Have regular meetings, [group and one-on-one] with MSM volunteers, staff, student leaders, etc. to nurture, train, equip, and encourage them and help ensure there are equipped to fulfill their roles within the ministry.
• Recognize, evaluate, develop, and implement new ministry opportunities within MSM. In conjunction with the Director of Discipleship and other NextGen pastors, continually evaluate ministry programs for effectiveness and alignment with the vision of the ministry.
• Create/develop event task lists, delegation systems, budgets, and goals for each major event. Allow time to debrief afterward.
• Ensure first-time visitors receive exceptional and timely follow up.
• Respond in a timely manner to any concerns raised about the ministry by parents, staff, or others.
• Maintain familiarity with the various resources Bridgeway offers so that you can refer students or adults who could utilize them.
• Coordinate, facilitate, attend, and plan summer camp (Hume Lake), a winter retreat, a volunteer retreat, and a student leadership retreat each year.
• Continually train and develop personal abilities, knowledge, and experience as a youth leader, pastor, and counselor with regular reading, mentorship, and strategic conferences.
• Other duties as assigned.
• Support and contribute to a safe and healthy work environment. Specifically, follow Bridgeway’s Injury Prevention and Safety program, support and maintain safety standards, and participate in safety training.

Experience and Ministry Expertise

• Three years experience as a youth pastor, preferably leading a student ministry with at least 100 students attending weekly
• Excellent time management and communication skills
• Desire to participate in and contribute to a healthy, collaborative, and fun staff culture
• Ability to manage multiple projects independently
• Ability to be a team player and support other staff members
• Passionate and energetic yet able to have a calm, clear head under pressure
• Excellent personal organization
• Excellent interpersonal skills with a people-oriented personality
• A strong heart for people and a strong desire to serve others
• Commitment to living a godly lifestyle
• Willingness to ask questions and share concerns with supervisors
• Able to track measurable data for your area and report back as needed

We believe people are genuinely curious about Jesus, but many are turned off by organized religion or the church. Bridgeway challenges one another to be transformed by the life and teachings of Jesus by helping everyone experience the power of God, freedom in Christ, and authentic community.

Bridgeway Christian Church is located off Washington Blvd and Industrial Ave across from Green Acres. We have two driveway entrances off of Industrial and one off of Washington. Pull in and park wherever you’d like. Our Worship Center is located in Building A, which is closest to Industrial Ave. We have First Time Guest Parking right by the main Entrance on the South Side of Building A. This is reserved to make your first visit as easy as possible.