Late last week I read a blog post by Brian Berry (a Student Pastor in San Diego, USA) about how his job is changing:
I have been asked to expand my oversight responsibilities to include children’s ministry as well. [Probably cuz we I have 5 of them living in my home :)] This means in addition to being hands on in high school, I’ll also be overseeing the staff and volunteers responsible for our ministries that target anyone at Journey ages birth through college age. We’re officially calling it a “generations pastor”. Sounds like a lot, but we have a great paid and volunteer team that is going to be expanding some here in the near future as we hire a couple of more part-time slots and provide tons of ways for volunteers to get involved.
The whole post made me smile because I’m in a very similar position. I did mention a bit about it here, but I’ve been reluctant to say too much as we’ve been in transition for a while and it’s been vague as to what my “new” post would look like. However, things are starting to piece together and while I don’t have a clear job title, I’m taking on two main areas of responsibility:
- The oversight and strategic direction of our childrens and youth work (much like Brian talks about above)
- The general oversight and management of the church activities.
The second point is the fuzziest and involves some staff management (including everyone’s favourite tech blogger Dave Johnson), HR responsibilities, project oversight, representing the church in various partnerships, office management, etc, etc.
While all these new responsibilities are important and exciting, my passion is still work with young people. When these changes settle down, this role will give me more of an opportunity to direct, assess, and develop what we do at a strategic level.
Perhaps most importantly, with me out of the way “on the ground” it will give more opportunities for our staff and volunteers to develop their own ideas and practices in ways that wouldn’t have been possible before. My hope and prayer is that this transition allows other people to step into their own gifts
How about you? Where are you at and where do you want to be?
2 responses to “My job is changing too!”
Hey Jon! Congratulations on your new role! Sounds really exciting and challenging but at least the right person is in the job! Go for it! (Possibly too many exclamation marks?!)
Hi Pete, Thanks for the kind words!