Description

Director of Children’s Ministry

Christ Presbyterian Church, Santa Barbara is seeking its next director of Children’s ministries to lead our church in nurturing our children as we all grow up in Christ. This position will direct Christ Presbyterian Church’s ministries to children from birth through elementary school (6th grade).

Position Responsibilities

Program and Policy Development

• In consultation with the pastoral team, develop benchmarks and goals for the formation of children at CPC.
• Develop, review, and determine appropriate teaching content/curricula under the oversight of the Lead Pastor.
• Oversee Sunday morning children’s programs.
• Plan and implement specific children’s programs for the spiritual development of our children.
• Work with staff to determine how to best serve children and their families through ongoing and new church-wide programs.
• Facilitate children’s participation in the worship service.
• Communicate goals, events, and children’s ministry opportunities to the church.
• Collaborate with the Pastor for Youth and Community Engagement on the transition between children’s ministry and youth ministry.
• Works with the pastoral team to determine how to support families in the nurture of their children.
• Implement child-protection policies.
• Work with the session to ensure that policies/procedures are in place that promote and protect the health and safety of children in the program. 

Volunteer Direction

• Recruit, train, and oversee all children’s ministry volunteers and additional staff as needed.
• Ensure safety and well-being of children by upholding child-protection policies.
• Model gospel-focused teaching and gospel-oriented engagement with children.

Oversight of Children’s Facilities 

• Maintain children’s room and ministry supplies.
• Communicate facility needs to the deacons (through staff liaison if applicable).

Staff Responsibilities

• Attend weekly staff meetings.
• Participate in staff development and training.
• Collaborate with staff on major events and special services.
• Give insight & input on whether there needs to be a children’s component (childcare, activities, etc) at a particular church event.

History, Ethos, and Mission of Christ Presbyterian Church - Santa Barbara

Christ Presbyterian Church (CPC) was birthed 25 years ago out of a small prayer group that called Pastor Scott Bridges to plant a PCA church. In December of 2003, CPC took residence in her current downtown location so that she might fulfill her purpose of being a present and faithful witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ in the cultural center of Santa Barbara. Our current lead pastor, Kyle Wells, came in February 2010.

Santa Barbara is an affluent and highly transient city where the mountains reach the ocean. It boasts a top tier research University, a top tier Christian College, and a number of tech startups and engineering firms. According to Barna, Santa Barbara also has the second highest never-churched population in the country (i.e., people who have never attended church regularly), and ranks as the ninth most Post-Christian city in the country. 

These realities notwithstanding, over the last decade the church has experienced steady growth, both in attendance and in visibility and service to our city. We currently also have ministries supporting those who have recently immigrated (The stranger), the homeless (the poor), and the foster system (the fatherless). Beyond these partnerships, we seek the common good of Santa Barbara by having an art gallery, participating in First Thursdays (a downtown arts evening for which we won an award), and allowing our building to be used for community events.

Our current children’s ministry offerings include multiple levels of Christian education during the service; planned activities for tweens; meetups for families with younger children; and occasional equipping events for parents and “Saturday Mornings Out” for children. At present, the ministry engages with 10-15 families on a regular basis. In concert with the Pastor for Youth and Community Engagement, we hope to increase the number of families in our community who are served by the children’s ministry of CPC. 

Our children’s ministry space is limited and, at times, we have been forced to rent classroom space down the street. The good news is that we have plans to expand our facilities, which will solve these limitations and greatly enhance our family ministry programs. We are beginning the permitting process and hope to complete the renovations by summer 2025.

Our services are liturgically high (use of traditional prayers and creeds) and culturally low/roots (modern musical arrangements; conversational english; majority are casually dressed). Those attending are very diverse educationally (PhD to no GED), politically (democrats, republicans, independents, libertarians); racially (substantial portion identifying as Latino, Hispanic, Asian, and Black); socio-economically (home owners to homeless), religiously (we have cradle Presbyterians, Eastern Orthodox, Baptists, Anglicans, and about 5-10% unbelievers), and in age (children to retirees). 

Position: Director of Children’s Ministry

Hours: 20 per week (flexible +/-) 

Pay: $25-$30/hour, based on experience

Reports directly to: Lead Pastor

Requirements

How to Apply

If you know of any potential candidates who would fit this role, please contact Holly Covington at hollycov@cpcsb.org. Qualified and interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to the same address.

Primary Contact: Holly Covington

Email: hollycov@cpcsb.org

Phone: -

Apply Online: View