JOB DESCRIPTION: Director – Pastoral Care Ministry
Reporting to: Pastor – Spiritual Formation, Care and Men’s Ministry (KEVIN HEDGES)
Hours per week: Approximately 40 hours per week (includes many Saturdays and/or Sundays)
FLSA: Exempt (Salaried)
BASIC FUNCTION & RESPONSIBILITY:
Pastoral Care: The Care Ministry Director provides care to congregants and those in our community by securing officiants, providing visitation, grief support and short-term spiritual counseling. The Care Ministry Director also recruits, trains and develops lay pastoral care volunteers to assist with needs of Riverbend Church congregants and the local community in the areas of visitation, grief support, and recovery to name just a few.
CHARACTERISTIC DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES: The essential functions, pursuant to the Americans with Disability Act, may include the characteristic duties, knowledge, skills and abilities noted herein, however, this list represents EXAMPLES ONLY and is not a comprehensive listing of all functions and tasks performed by positions found in this job description.
Responsibilities include:
Pastoral Care:
- Provide first line care to congregants and community: This will include:
- Timely response to incoming prayer requests, visitations, frontline grief meetings, in-need meeting requests.
- Ability to discern when to refer to other pastors or ministries as appropriate.
- Availability after hours, nights and weekends for urgent needs from congregants and community members.
- Offer grief support and short-term pastoral counseling (or referral to support)
- Coordinate funeral and memorial services held at Riverbend Church
- Communicate with families, funeral homes/cemeteries, clergy, musicians, and church staff
- Schedule and confirm service details and logistics
- Compile and provide as needed a list of Musicians for services
- Block Riverbend space/rooms and coordinate scheduling of these services within the Riverbend planning system
- Oversee the flow of services on the day of the funeral or memorial
- Direct Facilities team of needs – including campus signage and room set up.
- Schedule technical staff for sound system needs.
- Ensure all spaces are prepared and ready for families and guests
- Arrange officiants for funeral, memorial, inurnment services (and provide assistance to pastors who will officiate).
- Coordinate with funeral/memorial/inurnment officiants to meet, officiate, and follow up with families
- Coordinate Care ministry events and activities with Riverbend Remembrance Memorial Gardens staff when services involve the Gardens.
- Coordinate Baptisms:
- Coordinate dates of baptisms with other church events and ensure Baptisms are on the church calendar.
- Ensure Baptism candidates complete orientation and review class prior to date of Baptism.
- Coordinate all set-up arrangements for Baptisms:
- Technical audio needs
- Facility Needs – tables, etc.
- Arrange officiants for Baptisms
- Print Baptism certificates and update in Riverbend Church CCB records
- Coordinate Communion Services:
- Ensure Monthly Communion is scheduled on the Chapel event calendar
- Ensure weekly Communion is scheduled in the Upper Room event calendar
- Coordinate the availability of the communion elements (bread, juice) in time for each event.
- Coordinate the set-up of Communion elements for each event. Ensuring clean trays are available, filled and covered ready for service.
- Coordinate volunteers to serve Communion in the Upper Room and Chapel
- Coordinate Hospital, Rehab and Assisted Living visits to congregants – coordinate visits as needed by either the Care Director, Eldercare Director, Pastors or volunteers
- Volunteer development: Lead the recruitment and development of PCLV (Pastoral Care Lay Person Volunteers) program which includes:
- Recruiting, training, and scheduling volunteers.
- Shepherd and develop existing leaders
- Recruit new leaders as needed to build volunteer leadership teams
- Track attendance and training of volunteers
- Oversee and lead counseling and recovery ministry(be the point of contact for current service providers) alongside Care Pastor (your supervisor).
- Establish and become familiar with contacts from community organizations that include, but not limited to, Scouts of America, Bridge to Shore, Alcoholics Anonymous and other addiction recovery groups.
- Understand the desired outcome and provide support to programs such as:
Building Healthy Marriages, Divorce Recovery, Grief Recovery Method, Etc. - Compile and provide as needed a list of professionals who provide Psychological Care.
- Help to develop new programs, help to refer individuals to programs, and recruit individuals for ‘life-change testimonies’ as needed.
- General Duties:
- Participation in staff and church meetings and functions
- Participation in church strategy development processes as needed.
- Oversee flow of memorials, funerals, baptisms and dedications
- Some lay pastoral counseling and shepherding under Pastoral direction.
- Ability to be available after regular business hours and on weekends for urgent care needs.
- Ability to discern and take appropriate proactive and reactive actions for urgent care needs.
- Other duties, as assigned
Administrative Support to Pastors and Community:
- Support the Pastors and leadership staff who oversee the church and care of the congregation
- Screen and route care requests
- Provide general support to visitors, callers as appropriate
- Organize and schedule appointments as necessary
- Schedule and attend meetings as directed and invited. Secure meeting rooms and take detailed minutes (when asked/required) during meetings and create follow-up action items for team members
- Write and distribute emails, correspondence memos, letters, and forms for the Care Pastor as needed
- Assist in the preparation of scheduled reports and presentations
- Support pastors in coordination with Communications Department for the collateral needed to promote upcoming events
- Track and maintain a list (post updates on dry erase board in central hallway) of hospitalizations and ambulatory care recipients for pastors to visit and pray for.
- Maintain and update the weekly prayer requests for the staff prayer time on Thursdays.
- Must be flexible to assist other departments as directed when the need arises so that everyone can meet deadlines as efficiently as possible.
- Other duties as required
Minimum Work Requirements:
- Bachelor’s Degree (Graduate degree preferred) and 5+ years ministry or similar Christian leadership experience
- Demonstrated discernment in confidential and sensitive matters
- Demonstrate professionalism, discretion, and a service orientation in all interactions
- Have a servant’s heart and be accommodating to other staff members, church congregants and the public who may call for church business or ministerial care.
- Manage phone calls, email, voicemail, and communication requests in a timely, thorough, and professional manner
- Willingness to engage in difficult conversations, without judgment
- Ability to spend substantial time with members, staff, patients, and their loved ones which requires a high degree of emotional energy and mental alertness
- Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Adobe PDF.
- Database Management: Experience with or ability to quickly learn Riverbend Connect (CCB) and other in-house database software
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Previous Administrative Experience (both in a serving and leading capacity)
- Working knowledge of office equipment (i.e. printers, scanners, and other office machines)
- Excellent time management skills and the ability to prioritize work
- Attention to detail and problem-solving skills
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to multi-task
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
- Supervisory Skills: Manage direct and indirect staff and volunteers under your leadership with effective directions, mentorship, communications and feedback to help them learn and grow in their skills, knowledge and abilities
This description is intended to indicate the kinds of tasks and levels of work difficulty required of positions given this title and shall not be construed as declaring what the specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position shall be. It is not intended to limit or in any way modify the right of any supervisor to assign, direct and control the work of employees under their supervision. The use of a particular expression or illustration describing duties shall not be held to exclude other duties not mentioned that are of similar kind or level of difficulty.
