First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia
Job Description: Minister for Faith Formation
Salary & Housing: $69,400; standard UU Ministerial Benefit Package
The First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia is a progressive and spiritually diverse ~270 member congregation whose mission is to awaken love and justice in our lives and the world. Rooted in our historic home at 22nd and Chestnut Streets in Center City Philadelphia, we are a vibrantly multigenerational congregation (~one third 20s/30s, ~one third retirees/empty nesters, ~one third everybody else). We are committed to deepening our spiritual life, expanding our justice work, and growing our congregation – particularly growing in diversity along racial, sexual orientation, and gender expression lines as we grow in numbers. Learn more at www.philauu.org.
Position Summary:
The Minister for Faith Formation will collaborate with the Lead Minister, other staff and laypeople to provide dynamic and skilled leadership to all aspects of our membership, religious education, spiritual development, and community-building program life.
Essential Functions:
Lifespan Faith Formation:
• Nursery: Supervise Nursery Director.
• Elementary: Teacher recruitment & supervision; curricula selection & development.
• Middle-School: Teacher and/or advisor recruitment & supervision; program development.
• High School: Advisor recruitment & supervision; program development.
• Adult: Lead the collaboration between lay leadership and staff to build diverse programming at the intersections of spiritual development, community building, and justice making. Collaborate with large 20s/30s group in building and sustaining programming.
• Multigenerational & Family: Provide vision and leadership to the expansion of faith formation programs & events across generational lines.
Membership Ministries
• Lead the collaboration between lay leadership and staff to envision, lead, and manage paths to membership and congregational engagement, from “visitors” to “engaged,” “members,” and “leaders.”
Pastoral Care
• Lead the collaboration between lay leadership and staff to envision, lead, and manage lay-led pastoral ministries (meals, rides, cards, flowers, prayer shawls, etc.)
• Share individual pastoral care duties with Lead Minister.
Worship
• Preach 5-9 times per year (0-2x/month during program year).
• Serve in worship leadership as Liturgist, leader of Time for All Ages, co-officiant of Child Dedications, co-leader of Intergenerational services, etc. (additional 1-2x/month during program year for a total of 2-3x on the chancel/month).
• Continue to deepen & strengthen the practice of Children’s Chapel.
• Participate in special services on occasion (holidays, vespers, etc.).
• Officiate memorial services, weddings, and ceremonies as needed, interested, and available.
Volunteer Coordination & Leadership Development:
• Collaborate with staff and lay leaders to recruit/ support volunteers in the congregation to help carry out its ministries and mission.
Administration & Management:
• Manage the Faith Formation & Membership pathways calendar.
• Maintain Religious Education registration/attendance records.
• Manage supplies & budgets for Religious Education & Membership.
• Supervise part-time Religious Education staff.
• Communicate with congregation regularly about activities, mission, and vision of Faith Formation programming.
• Track newcomer engagement & invitations into deeper relationship with congregation.
Organizational Ministry:
• Report to and/or attend Board of Trustees or other leadership bodies when appropriate.
Staff Collaboration:
• Collaborate with Minister, Business Administrator, and rest of Staff Team in carrying out mission of congregation.
Core Competencies:
As the key staff leader attending to spiritual-development and community-building programming at First Unitarian Church, the Minister for Faith Formation must have talents in working with volunteers and developing congregation-based programming through a multigenerational and anti-oppressive lens. As part of the ministerial team of the congregation, the Minister for Faith Formation must have a deep sense of integrity, a grounded spirituality, a joyful sense of mission ownership, and must be able to build healthy relationships of trust across the congregation and staff team.
The successful candidate will have strong communications, interpersonal, and project management skills, and solid sense of self. The Minister for Faith Formation must be creative and take initiative, be gifted at motivating and developing leaders, have the ability to work effectively and honestly with challenging conversations for successful resolution, and be able to set priorities and manage tasks with grace and humor in a complex and dynamic environment.
Physical Requirements:
Able to move freely around all four floors of our historic church building (as we are unfortunately not fully wheelchair accessible at this time).
Computer & Technology skills:
Proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, (and/or their GoogleDoc equivalents), Zoom, and social networking platforms. In addition, experience with simple web management, congregation databases such as Breeze, and/or communication tools such MailChimp/Constant Contact are a bonus.
Qualifications:
Is in good standing and in Ministerial Fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association, is a member of the UU Ministers’ Association.
To Apply:
Send resume and cover letter, as well as at least 2 sermons or links to preaching videos, to the attention of Minister for Faith Formation Hiring Team, work@philauu.org. Though our calendar has some flexibility, we hope to receive applications around the first week of May, and conduct interviews and reference checks in early May.
Position start date early August, 2024. Questions or informal conversation welcomed for any interested candidates! Reach out to Lead Minister Rev. Abbey Tennis (she/her) at email address above.
Diversity and Inclusion are core values of First Unitarian Church. We are an equal opportunity employer and will not allow discrimination based on age, race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, national origin, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic background. Black, Indigenous, and other Candidates of Color and LGBTQIA candidates are especially encouraged to apply.