Senior Pastor

Description

The Senior Pastor serves as the primary spiritual leader and shepherd of the church. This role includes preaching and teaching God’s Word, providing the leadership and oversight for pastoral care, developing leaders, guiding ministry vision, supporting church operations, and fostering a healthy culture of discipleship, unity, outreach, and prayer.

This will require a Senior Pastor who delegates wisely, empowers others, and helps his staff, ministry leaders, and volunteers exercise their gifts with clarity, confidence, and accountability. We are prayerfully seeking a Senior Pastor who will shepherd the congregation, equip leaders, and help guide the church into its next season of faithful ministry.

Overview of Church and Community

Who We Are

New Minas Baptist Church exists to bring glory to God and advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ through worship, fellowship, biblical preaching and teaching, evangelism, integral mission, prayer, and spiritual formation.

As we prepare to call a new Senior Pastor, we have engaged in a process of communal sharing, listening, and discernment through listening sessions with different groups in our congregation. Across these sessions, we heard gratitude for NMBC as a church family where people are welcomed, cared for, spiritually fed, and encouraged to serve. We also heard a desire to strengthen discipleship, intergenerational connection, pastoral care, mission, worship, and shared ministry leadership.

Who We Are Striving to Become

We are striving to become a church that continues to grow in spiritual maturity, prayerfulness, unity, and love. Through the listening sessions, we heard a desire for deeper discipleship, stronger biblical literacy, meaningful prayer, and spiritual formation for people at every age and stage of life. We especially want to strengthen intergenerational connection, so that children, youth, young adults, families, seniors, and newcomers are welcomed, supported, mentored, and encouraged to use their gifts in the life and mission of the church.

We also sense a call to engage the world around us with biblical wisdom, courage, humility, integral mission, and compassion. The listening sessions highlighted the importance of preaching that teaches Scripture clearly and helps us discern how to live as followers of Jesus in the realities of our time. We want to strengthen our life together across generations and cultures, deepen our witness in the community, care well for one another, and be the presence of Christ in our communities and in the world as we participate faithfully in God’s mission locally and globally. We desire to be a church where pastoral care is shared, leaders are equipped, volunteers are supported, and ministries are connected rather than isolated from one another. This will require a Senior Pastor who delegates wisely, empowers others, and helps staff, ministry leaders, and volunteers exercise their gifts with clarity, confidence, and accountability.

Who We Want to Join Us

New Minas Baptist Church is seeking a Senior Pastor who is first and foremost committed to the Lord Jesus Christ and who will affirm and uphold NMBC’s doctrine, purpose, by-laws, regulations, and executive limitations. The Senior Pastor will lead as the spiritual, executive, and operational leader with maturity, humility, integrity, self-control, faithfulness, compassion, sound judgment, and servant-hearted care for God’s people. The Senior Pastor will help us

preserve what is healthy, address what needs strengthening, and lead us with hope as we take faithful next steps together. This role includes: preaching and teaching as the lead of a preaching team; equipping the congregation for ministry; developing leaders; overseeing staff; fostering unity; and helping the church discern and pursue God’s immediate and long-term direction.

While the Senior Pastor must have a genuine pastoral heart, pastoral care must be shared appropriately among pastors, deacons, ministry leaders, small groups, and the wider congregation. Because NMBC is a large and active congregation with many ministries, the Senior Pastor must lead through others by giving clear direction, delegating appropriate responsibility and authority, supporting those entrusted with ministry leadership, and fostering shared ownership rather than becoming the centre of every ministry decision or pastoral need. This includes a healthy approach to staff leadership marked by clear communication, regular encouragement, role clarity, appropriate accountability, and a commitment to helping associate pastors and staff grow in their callings.

We seek a Senior Pastor who will join us in loving God, loving one another, proclaiming the gospel, making disciples, strengthening the church, and serving the world in the name of Jesus Christ.

Church Purpose | Mission Statement

New Minas Baptist Church exists to bring glory to God and advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ through worship, fellowship, biblical preaching and teaching from God’s Word, evangelism, integral mission, prayer, and spiritual formation. We are a multi- generational congregation of the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada, seeking to love God and neighbour as we center ourselves on Christ and respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Qualifications and Education Requirements

MDiv or equivalent

Role and Responsibilities

Key Oversight Responsibilities

The following describe the Senior Pastor’s primary areas of leadership and oversight. These responsibilities will be carried out personally where appropriate and through the leadership, delegation, support, and coordination of associate pastors, staff, ministry leaders, volunteers, and the wider congregation.

Preaching, Teaching, and Worship

• Prepare and deliver biblically grounded, Christ-centered sermons that encourage spiritual growth and faithful living as the lead of NMBC’s preaching team.
• Provide overall leadership to the teaching ministry in worship services, Bible studies, discipleship settings, membership classes, and other ministry environments as needed.
• Work collaboratively with worship leaders and ministry teams to plan meaningful worship services and special gatherings.
• Administer ordinances (baptism) or sacraments (Lord’s supper) in keeping with the church’s theology and bylaws.

Pastoral Care and Shepherding

• Ensure compassionate pastoral care, visitation, prayer, spiritual guidance, and encouragement to individuals and families.
• Support those during times of illness, grief, crisis, celebration, and discernment.
• Conduct weddings, funerals, baptisms, dedications, communion services, and other pastoral functions as appropriate.
• Foster a caring church culture where members actively support and serve one another.

Leadership, Vision, and Discipleship

• Develop and communicate a prayerful ministry vision aligned with the church’s mission, values, doctrine, regulations and governance.
• Equip, mentor, and encourage ministry leaders, staff, volunteers, board members, or committees as applicable.
• Promote spiritual formation through prayer, Bible study, small groups, service, evangelism, and leadership development.
• Help identify, train, and release emerging leaders for ministry within the church and community.

Community Engagement and Outreach

• Encourage evangelism, missions, hospitality, and service that reflect the love of Christ in the local community and beyond.
• Represent the church with integrity in community relationships, and partnerships with local ministries or organizations.
• Support outreach initiatives that invite people into worship, fellowship, discipleship, and service.
• Continue and strengthen the church relationships with the CBAC, Canadian Baptist Ministries, and other ministries and missionaries that the church supports.

Administration and Organizational Oversight

• Work with church leadership to support effective planning, communication, stewardship, budgeting, and ministry coordination.
• Supervise staff or ministry teams as assigned, providing clarity, accountability, encouragement, and spiritual leadership.
• Participate in leadership meetings and support healthy decision-making in accordance with the church’s bylaws, regulations, and governance structure.
• Ensure church ministries are aligned with the church’s mission and values.

Qualifications

• A clear testimony of faith in Jesus Christ and a demonstrated commitment to prayer, Scripture, holiness, humility, and servant leadership.
• Agreement with the church’s statement of faith, doctrine, mission, values, governance, regulations and executive limitations.
• Ordained as a Baptist minister and accredited by, or willing to pursue accreditation with, the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada..
• Ordinarily holds a Master of Divinity degree or equivalent theological education and ministry preparation.
• Proven pastoral ministry experience, including preaching, teaching, pastoral care, leadership development, and organizational oversight.

Desired Personal Qualities

• Spiritually mature, prayerful, and grounded in Scripture.
• Compassionate shepherd with a heart for people of all ages and stages of life.
• Humble, approachable, trustworthy, has integrity, self-control, faithfulness, sound judgement and able to maintain confidentiality.
• Visionary and practical, with the ability to inspire participation and follow through on ministry priorities.
• Committed to unity, reconciliation, healthy relationships, and the spiritual health of the church.
• Passionate about discipleship, evangelism, missions, and equipping believers for ministry.
• Demonstrates a desire for lifelong learning and ongoing growth, Biblical knowledge, ministry skills, and personal development.
• Strong communication skills, emotional maturity, relational wisdom, and the ability to lead through change and conflict with grace.
• Ability to work collaboratively with church leadership, staff, volunteers, and the congregation.

Reporting Relationship

The Senior Pastor reports to the Governance Board and works collaboratively with associate pastors, church leadership, ministry teams, office staff, and volunteers.

Preferred Skills

The Senior Pastor serves as the primary spiritual leader and shepherd of the church. This role includes preaching and teaching God’s Word, providing the leadership and oversight for pastoral care, developing leaders, guiding ministry vision, supporting church operations, and fostering a healthy culture of discipleship, unity, outreach, and prayer.

This will require a Senior Pastor who delegates wisely, empowers others, and helps his staff, ministry leaders, and volunteers exercise their gifts with clarity, confidence, and accountability. We are prayerfully seeking a Senior Pastor who will shepherd the congregation, equip leaders, and help guide the church into its next season of faithful ministry.

Contact

Interested applicants should submit a resume, cover letter and statement of Faith to the Church Moderator, James Skafte (Show email