Associate Director of Education and Formation
About The Position
Serving as an integral part of the Education and Formation Team, the Director provides pastoral leadership, management, intergenerational worship and program planning for the entire Riverside Church community including children, youth, families and adults of all ages with a primary focus on youth and college/early career adults. This individual brings a diverse set of skills to a multi-faceted range of responsibilities that cross musical, educational, developmental, generational, ecumenical, liturgical, and demographic boundaries. This person embodies the best practices of education and worship to facilitate spaces and experiences that invite youth and college/early career adults to engage the Riverside Church and our faith to their fullest potential. The Director collaborates with the Education and Formation Team to create a long-term vision for youth and college/early career adults at The Riverside Church and their integration into the full life of the worshiping community. This person also inspires a team of lay leaders, adult volunteers, and Education Commission members to partner in this vision and enact it on a large scale. Finally, the Director advocates, along with the Education and Formation Team, for the further inclusion of youth and college/early career adults and their needs in worship, bringing the ministry into the 21st century of progressive educational thought.
Requirements
- M.Div. degree (or comparable graduate education) and minimum five (5) years of experience in this area.
- Educational or teaching experience with children of varying ages, abilities, demographics, and backgrounds.
- Theological understanding consistent with the core values of the Riverside Church.
- Teaching or pastoral experience in a congregation with a multi-cultural membership and diverse staff.
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Demonstrated ability to interact in a collaborative manner with other ministries and staff.
- Superb skill in administration, budgeting, and staff supervision.
Responsibilities
- Facilitate Sunday morning worship for middle and high school students.
- Provide curriculum and materials that enrich the faith formation of adolescents, teens, and college/early career adults.
- Help create worship experiences founded in best practices of play, exploration, and discovery.
- Co-create, with the Minister for Intergenerational Christian Education, a Sunday education experience that serves to help youth connect to the Bible, the way of Jesus, other Christians, other forms of spirituality, and other faith traditions.
- Provide opportunities for integrating youth, college/early career adults, and adults in healthy, mutually beneficial intergenerational contexts such as Martin Luther King Sunday, Earth Day, and other opportunities for service and advocacy.
- Explore new and fresh ways to support youth and college/early career adults to feel more comfortable in corporate worship experiences.
- Work with the Minister of Intergenerational Christian Education & Formation to create opportunities and programming for college/early career adults to connect with each other and the wider Riverside community while deepening their faith and connection to God.
- Provide pastoral care and discipleship.
- Create a welcoming atmosphere for incoming college students and young professionals
- Form connections to local universities and college campuses and their chaplaincy teams
- Partner with Mission and Social Justice to develop and sustain existing partnerships with community organizations such as Children’s Defense Fund, Green Faith, and Equality NY.
- Develop and sustain programming that engages youth and college/early career adults in our New York City neighborhood like a Justice Leadership Academy.
- Partner with the Minister of Worship to create worship experiences in the nave that enrich the faith formation of youth and college/early career adults.
- Utilize gifts of writing, drama, and storytelling to communicate the gospel in intergenerational ways.
- Partner with the Minister of Social Justice to educate youth and college/early career adults on the importance of justice work.
- Create pathways toward activism and service that are appropriate for youth and college/early career adults.
- Partner with the Minister of Parish Care to facilitate counseling and care for youth and college/early career adults.
- Partner with the ministry to older adults to create connections between age groups.
- Partner with the Education team on cultivating relationships between young adults, youth, and children as they move through faith development.
- Recruit a strong team of educational leaders for church school and other Riverside programming for youth.
- Provide leadership, development, and direction for church school leaders and other adults who volunteer with programming.
- Provide leadership and management for summer staff, i.e. Summer Camp.
- Provide leadership and management for the lay leaders and staff working with youth, ensuring Child Protection policy.
- Evaluate lay and employed staff.
- Create a space where our youngest congregants feel safe and welcomed.
- Assume other tasks as assigned by the Minister of Faith Formation.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
