Groups Pastor

Willow Creek Community Church • West Chicago, IL

224d • $52,000 - $71,000

About The Position

Willow Creek Community Church is an egalitarian non-denominational, multi-site church in and across Chicagoland passionate about our vision of helping people take next steps to love God, love people, and change the world. We believe that life transformation happens best in and through community, so our strategy to serve people in our local communities is through groups ministries. As Group Pastor, you are someone who is more of a motivator than an implementer. You’re known for inviting, compelling and empowering others to take their next step with Jesus through a layered leadership approach, rather than operating and executing solo. You recognize that catalytic leadership requires you to invite more volunteers into the work as a way of empowering congregants to take their next step with Jesus. You’re successful at building dynamic volunteer teams and have a way of leading leaders. You embrace challenge with grit and are able to pastorally lead congregants through seasons of change with a level of adept change management. You will develop small group coaches & leaders at the campus level. Collaboratively, you will develop strategies with the Central Groups Ministry team and oversee all group efforts, including Rooted, serving groups, and all other types of groups. In addition, you understand the power of consistent, effective hospitality along the journey from site to seat. You can successfully lead large teams of volunteers and unleash them to cultivate warm, welcoming environments and touch points for Willow Creek Community Church weekend services and special events, with an intentional consideration and focus towards first-time guests. As an advocate for all people in your community, you will also educate the campus congregation about issues of injustice, act as the primary liaison with local partners in supporting your community, and mobilize the congregation.

Requirements

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Can balance and manage multiple demands simultaneously.
• Skilled in Building effective teams.
• Caring for Direct Reports.
• Excellent conflict management skills.
• Passion for Developing and caring for volunteers.
• Excellent Drive for Results.
• Strong Leadership and Delegation skills.
• Effective in using systems and software to stay organized and communicate effectively.

Nice To Haves

• Spiritually Mature: Deep relationship with God and sees the vision of community and fighting poverty & injustice as an integral part of the gospel.
• Self-Aware: Knows where they have weaknesses, and finds others to fill in those gaps.
• High Emotional and Cultural Intelligence: Self-awareness and the ability to quickly read and respond healthfully to people who are different than you.
• Action-oriented: Thrives in high-challenge situations, highly responsible, and able to make progress in multiple areas at the same time.
• Team-oriented: Strong team player who can bring their absolute best to staff and volunteer teams.
• Galvanizer: Confident to engage people in conversation so that they can invite people into the bigger vision.
• Culture-builder: Passion for serving people well and understands what it takes to create a culture of connection and spiritual growth.
• Willow Creek is (or will be) your home church, and you regularly attend and serve at one of our campuses.

Responsibilities

• Develop leaders who lead others through a layered leadership approach, including identifying, recruiting, onboarding, developing and caring for Group Leaders, Group Coaches, Rooted Facilitators, Local & Global Advisory Boards, and other volunteers.
• Participate in facilitating regular leader trainings and communication with the extended Groups ministry team.
• Contribute to the overall team culture (both at the campus and at the extended team levels), embody the vision & strategy of Groups ministry, and implement church wide initiatives (Groups Launches, COH, Hope Packs, etc.) at Willow Wheaton.
• Help cast the vision for discipleship and share the strategy for our vision that everyone is in a group and every group is on mission.
• Ensure high hospitality levels during weekend services with a guest ready environment and addressing customer service-related challenges & issues in a timely, professional manner.
• Build and maintain relationships with strategic Local Partners who fit the vision of our groups and serving strategy while also being relevant to the campus’ passions and context.
• Pastor those who are a part of your structure of care by praying with, encouraging, and inviting them to take their next steps with Jesus, as well as performing other pastoral duties as needed.
• Utilize our database to populate the groups directory and track engagement of leaders, coaches, and congregants to its fullest capacity.
• Skillfully use all other systems such as HIVE, Google Suite, etc. to manage hundreds of volunteers and several ongoing projects to support and execute all Groups strategies.

Benefits

• Health insurance.
• Dental insurance.
• Vision insurance.
• Life insurance.
• Retirement savings with company match.
• Maternity and paternity leave.
• Generous paid time off.
• Mental health counseling reimbursement.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree