Pastor

About:

Our Mission is to turn lost people into devoted disciples of Jesus Christ, for the praise of His glory, who exalt God, edify one another, evangelize, starting in our own locale, and extend disciple making to all the world.

Responsibilities:

The pastor’s job is to Teach/Preach, Lead, and Care for United Church so that the Body can fulfill its mission to make disciples and glorify God.

• Feed
  • Like Ezra, he should set his heart to study the Word of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach it.  (Ezra 10:7)
  • Like Timothy, he should preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.  (2 Tim. 4:2)
  • He must instruct against teaching strange doctrines and realize that some will not endure sound doctrine but want to have their ears tickled as they accumulate teachers that give them what they want.  (2 Tim. 4:3)
• Lead
  • Pursue the Church’s mission.
  • Develop and implement a strategy for (1) Evangelism (2) Growth/Discipleship.
  • Develop and implement the church’s strategy both the short term (1 year) and the long term (5 years or more).
  • Identify and train emerging leaders and workers.
  • Mentor Deacons, Trustees and Teachers.
• Care
  • Provide pastoral care for the congregation.
  • Visitation.
  • Bereavement, Funerals, Weddings, Baptisms, Dedications, etc.

Qualifications:

• Be able to work in the original languages of God’s Word because of having studied them and/or by being able to use language tools available today in a competent manner.
• Have a good understanding of orthodox, evangelical hermeneutics to know how to interpret and apply God’s Word.
• Understand and practice sound exegesis of the Word.
• Be able to prepare and preach expository and topical sermons that inspire, inform, build up, protect, and prepare believers to be effective in their Christian walk.
• Focus on Jesus Christ and God’s revealed will for the Church found in the faith once for all delivered to the Saints as revealed in God’s Word.
• Able to form relationships with others one on one and in small groups to lead them in growing as disciples in Christ who can also make disciples.
• Able to counsel those with various needs using God’s Word and have the ability refer them to other competent counselors.
• Be able to participate and lead in groups that are responsible for the life and the work of the church.
• Be mature enough to balance church ministry with family ministry and responsibilities.
• Be self-motivated, able to take initiative and able and willing to delegate responsibility when profitable to the church and to other believers.
• Be able to recognize needs in the church and prioritize how to meet them.
• Practice hospitality with the church.
• Form friendships and contacts outside the Church that enable personal evangelism.
• Teach UCS how to proclaim the Gospel through testimonies, friendly conversations, and using God’s Word.

Personal Attributes:

• Devoted to intimacy with God through study of the Word, prayer and active participation in the Body of Christ.
• Able to go beyond mere word and speech to deed and truth in his love for God and the Church.
• Lives with a sense of urgency considering the imminent coming of Jesus Christ to gather His Church.
• Has compassion for those who are like lost sheep in need of a shepherd.
• Shows love by comforting those who need comfort and confronting those who need confrontation.
• Consistently seeking to grow in his knowledge of and skill in handling the Word of God.
• Willingly seeks and expects accountability from those who share the leadership of the church.
• Loves his wife and family in a way that is like Christ’s love for the Church.
• Organized personally and professionally.   He should be able to set shared goals for the church and help plan the objectives and strategies to reach those goals.

Formal Education:

• Preferred: A Masters’ Degree from an accredited seminary.
• Required: a BS or BA from an accredited college, university or Bible school.

Compensation:

$70,000 to 80,000

Beliefs:

Our Pastor must be in wholehearted agreement with the confession of faith of United Church Sumner and its mission.

This church believes:

A.    The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men and the Divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life.

B.    In one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

C.    That Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived of the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. Further, He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Advocate.

D.    That the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and during this age to convict men, regenerate the believing sinner, indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an initial Christian experience simultaneous with conversion. As the Holy Spirit indwells every believer, his ministry needs to be continuously and increasingly appropriated. The primary evidences of the resulting fullness of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

E.     That man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is therefore lost and only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual live be obtained.

F.     That the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit, and thus become children of God.

G.    That water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church during the present age. They are, however, not to be regarded as means of salvation.

H.    That the true Church is composed of all such persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the body of Christ of which He is the head.

I.      That only those who are thus members of the true Church shall be eligible for membership in the local church.

J.      That Jesus Christ is the Lord and Head of the Church, and that every local church has the right under Christ to decide and govern its own affairs.

K.    In the personal and premillennial and imminent coming of  our Lord Jesus Christ and that this “Blessed Hope” has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer.

L.     In the bodily resurrection of the dead; of the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord, of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment.