SEARCHING FOR A CHURCH EDUCATOR

Churches who have decided to hire a Christian educator or youth leader have made an important decision. There are several good ways to begin this task but here are some steps to consider while organizing the search process:

Select the members of a Search Committee. This group should consist of persons who have the confidence of the congregation and who understand the educational and/or youth needs of the congregation. It is recommended that current staff members and spouses/partners not serve on the Search Committee.

Determine your church's needs and resources. This will help you assess the level of expertise appropriate for your situation, be it a church school superintendent, a professional educator, an assistant pastor of Christian education, a Commissioned Minister of Education or the use of a consultant.

Consider the members of your congregation who can be nurtured or trained.

Inform your Area Office and/or the Massachusetts Conference Office in Framingham. The Conference staff may have knowledge of candidates and/or consultants who may be interested in the position. However, they do not serve as a search committee for local congregations. Staff listings can be found at http://www.macucc.org/contact/staff.htm

Once your job description is prepared, you can email it to Cindy Bolton boltonc@macucc.org The posting is only circulated to United Church of Christ churches within the Massachusetts Conference and is also added to our website.

Post your listing (1) on your church website, (2) by sending a description to Andover Newton Theological School, Harvard Divinity School, Boston College, Boston University, Bangor Theological School , (3) and to social service agencies where there are apt to be people with the types of skills you are seeking and who might be looking for employment.

Congregations need to ensure that the person they hire has some specialized training or will complete the education needed to do a professional job. Educational opportunities are listed on the last page of this booklet. Another practical way to help a new person is to hire a consultant/mentor to shepherd this person for a year or so.

Once an educator is hired, the congregation must continue to support this person in their ministry. This support should come from the pastor/associate pastor, Christian Education Committee, personnel committee or others who are interested in seeing that this ministry succeeds.

To read the entire Educational Ministries Compensation Booklet which includes sample job descriptions, contracts and many other resources, please click here.