Director of Youth & Children’s Ministry

Director of Youth & Children’s Ministry

Saint David’s has celebrated periods of active children and youth ministry. We have also wandered through deserts of low participation, especially following COVID. A Search Committee composed of youth and parents are looking for a dedicated person who will build a strong family ministry program at Saint David’s that includes youth (grades 5-12),  children (grades K-4) and their families in the life of the parish. This is a full-time position that includes benefits.

Who are we looking for? Quite simply: Someone who loves Jesus, has a sense of humor, is fun to be around and truly enjoys the company of kids and teens. That person will need to have excellent  communication and planning skills. If they have the spirit to build something, Saint David’s will be a playground for them!

The following is a transparent review of the work ahead. The bulk of this position focuses on rebuilding—or creating!—formation programs for youth and children.

The Current Situation

We enjoyed robust Youth and Godly Play programs for several years until the pandemic came. Since then, we have experienced major challenges in finding Godly Play teachers and helpers as well as consistent youth and children participation. As a result, Youth Sunday School, Youth Group and Godly Play have taken a sabbath and in their places we are providing a three-pronged approach that focuses on building community among families with youth and children.

1. Sunday Gospel Storytime: Children leave the liturgy after the Gospel is read to hear a Bible story and do an activity from The Biggest Story Bible Storybook.
2. “First Sunday Formation”: An intergenerational group of children, parents, youth, and other supportive adults gathers on the first Sunday each month to share lunch and reflect together on a timely topic, which could be anything from forgiveness to “What is All Saints’ Day about?”
3. “Third Sunday Social”: The same group gathers to share lunch and do something fun together, such as roller skating, a hike or group games. Fellowship and building community among families is the goal of this gathering.

What would you be doing?

Rebuild a Youth community.

Our Youth activities and leadership has ebbed and flowed over the last ten years. Presently, outside of the Sunday Formation and Social gatherings, our rector encourages participation in Grace Point Summer Camp through the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, but not all families take advantage of this. Our teens know and enjoy each other’s company; most have been at Saint David’s since infancy. Many serve as acolytes, one has delivered a Sunday sermon and we have three youth members of this search committee. Saint David’s looks for ways to involve our teens.

Celebrations:

• The youth who attend regularly are excited to be here.

Challenges:

• We have a small number of youth, but with an invigorated program others will return.

 Rebuild a Christian formation program for grade school children.

We have three full Godly Play set-ups, which speaks to a time at Saint David’s when our Sunday School population and attendance were very strong. We also had a Children’s Church program that met prior to Sunday School and enabled kids to play leadership roles in a modified liturgy that was casual and accessible; many parents attended. We would like to return to offering Godly Play, but are open to other curricula ideas.

Celebrations:

• We have a strong critical mass of families committed to Christian Formation and who show up regularly for the First and Third Sunday programming.
• Saint David’s supports and loves the children and youth and their families and are committed to revitalizing this aspect of our ministry.

Challenges:

• Post-pandemic fatigue lingers among parents and older volunteers.
• Many parents say Sunday mornings are an obstacle to coming to Sunday School.

Assist Rector in the life of the parish, especially social media.

In addition to rebuilding or creating Christian formation programming for children, youth and families, you will be

• Leading online evangelism by managing social media.
• Preaching from time to time, though this is not a requirement.
• Participating in the life of the Diocese of Tennessee—Diocesan Youth Ministry, and other committees as needed
• Assisting the Rector with visioning for the parish in a way that advocates for children, youth and their families.