YOUTH PASTOR

St Mary’s Longfleet is a large church rooted in the Word and the Spirit. At SML, we are stepping into an exciting new season as the Lord invites us into adventure: growing leaders and disciples, and releasing new expressions of church.

We are looking for a visionary and bold Youth Pastor with a heart for the presence of God and a love for young people. As a large, multi-generational church on the South Coast of England, we are blessed with many gifted people and are seeking someone who can develop teams and leaders, releasing them creatively across the youth ministry.

We are blessed with a thriving, multi-generational church family that invests around 25% of our resources in Emerging Generations, from birth to age 18. Around 40% of our worshipping community are under 18, and one in four are aged 11–18. This represents an average of 200 actively attending young people, around a third of whom come from non-church backgrounds.

Youth Ministries

• You will take overall leadership and responsibility for the spiritual direction, pastoral support and curriculum of the different youth groups covering the 11-18 age range.
• You will recruit, train and encourage a team of volunteer leaders on an ongoing basis who will collaboratively lead the ministry with you.
• You will be committed to growing young people as adventurous disciples of Jesus.
• You will (with ministry and admin support staff and volunteers) plan and execute a full range of activities on Sundays and throughout the week (e.g. midweek groups for younger and older youth, Sunday morning & evening groups, involvement in evening service, youth mentoring, worship groups and termly socials).
• You will oversee age-appropriate gatherings for youth and build community and friendships. This includes creatively using opportunities offered by our Church Centre, main church building and surrounding area.
• You will be able to model and equip our young people to share their faith naturally with unchurched family and friends.
• You will release young people to discover their gifts (e.g. worship, leadership, admin, service, encouragement, and outreach) and to grow as disciples through spiritual disciplines and equipping and safely empowering holy Spirit ministry (i.e prophetic gifts, evangelism, outreach prayer).

Essential Requirements

• Strong personal faith and mature discipleship
• Ability to communicate and model biblical truths clearly
• Servant-hearted and open to the work of the Spirit
• Able to build trust and be genuine with young people and their families
• Active listening and empathy with emotional intelligence
• Able to manage conflict and relate to people with differing beliefs and backgrounds
• Providing spiritual and emotional support, adhering to our safeguarding policy at all times
• Recognising and referring safeguarding and mental health concerns
• Encouraging relationships and building mentoring opportunities for youth