Madison Church: Square Campus (Grand Rapids, MI)
Job Description: Administrative Assistant
Primary Purpose: To enhance ministry at the Square Campus by providing hospitable service for guests, smooth execution of office operations, and administrative support for staff and events.
Hours: Part time; approximately 15-20 hours per week
Accountable to: Square Campus Director of Administration and Operations (DAO)
Gift Set: Administration, Helps, Hospitality, Mercy
Education and Experience:
Associates degree or equivalent preferred
A minimum of two years of administrative experience in a church and/or organizational setting is desirable
Duties and Responsibilities
Provides administrative support for the ministries of the Square campus, including but not limited to:
- First Impressions:
Serve as a positive, warm, welcoming, and hospitable point person for church staff, members, neighbors, community partners, and guests.
Connect individuals with staff, ministries, and resources as needed. Maintain confidentiality, handle sensitive information, and be trustworthy with personal and financial information.
- Ministry Support (Scheduling, Communications, Staff and Event Support):
Provide administrative and scheduling support for ministry events
Help write and distribute printed and online communications, announcements, and other information under the direction of the All-Site Director of Communications
Maintain the Square campus ministry calendar in collaboration with Square Campus DAO
Provide administrative support to Square Campus Pastors, Square Campus DAO, and other Square staff as needed
Take minutes at Square staff meetings and follow through on action steps
Assist with planning, preparing, and purchasing for ministry events
- Office Operations:
Manage phone and email correspondence
Process incoming mail and payments
Inventory and purchase office supplies
Complete printing, photocopying, and scanning projects
Assist with processing and submitting receipts, invoices, etc.
Maintain church directory and membership information
- External Events:
Manage requests for event rental space (provide excellent customer service, schedule, process applications and payments, document thoroughly)
Provide tours to prospective renters
- Collaboration:
Cross train and collaborate with Square DAO
Cross train and collaborate with administrative staff from other Madison campuses
Qualifications
- Be a mature Christian and a member (or willing to become a member) of Madison Church, in complete agreement with our vision, mission, values and beliefs, and be comfortable with Reformed theology
- Have experience serving in a multicultural organization with an articulated understanding of Christian Community Development Principles, racial reconciliation, and Biblical justice
- Excellent relational, oral and written communication skills with ability to connect with others
- Self-starter and team player that exhibits motivation to fill in gaps, ensuring good service between various ministries or departments
- Strong initiative in asking questions and clarifying information
- Sees the big picture – detail oriented, but with vision to see how the parts affect the whole
- Professionalism in the office and in communication
- Comfortable with Google Suite and other basic technological applications
To apply, please email your cover letter and resume to [email protected] .
Comments
August,
My understanding is that 90%+ of the announcements to pastors and churches go via email. I'm not sure about this one in particular or the reason it was sent via postal mail. But the vast majority is sent electronically.
also, believe it or not, there are churches that do not use email. I've found this more true in the US than in Canada.
A new distribution system would provide options for each church e-mail - fax or snail mail.
I would like to update the discussion on this topic given the 2016 Synod decision to "re imagine" the Ministry Share system inside the CRCNA.
Actually the article I am using to start this discussion already gets at the heart of the issue. Money is not a problem. Membership and how the Head Office of the CRCNA is organized and run is.
We all know that membership is declining. So is loyalty as older members pass away. Barnabas Foundation and Christian Stewardship Services are doing awesome work. Their Estate Planning services are responsible for a lot of Estate gifts to the various ministries of the CRCNA. That income is peaking.
H.O does not appear to recognize that as membership declines, their cost should also go down. They have already removed missionaries from the payroll. The overall cost in the denomination office have not gone down. How is that possible? The cost of not raising Ministry Shares is estimated at $200,000. That would be the salary of some 4 missionaries who are now supposed to raise their own salary. The HO folks of World Mission are not asked to raise their own money, why not? Based on salary schedules as reported in the Agenda of Synod only two of WM executive salaries would equal the $200,000.
Statistics show the number of professing members it takes to pay for one full time staff at CRCNA H.O. has been increasing which means the HO costs are rising faster than the Professing members! It is that reality that the Executive has to deal with. Not the Board of Trustees.
Another very important statistic is that the number of professing members per church is declining at a precipitous rate. That means we the CRNA has too many small churches. From where I sit this is being caused by Regional Home 'Missionaries who have little else to do but promote church plants.Local churches get on the band wagon because of "HO" funding.
John Bolt was absolutely right ... The ministry share program is a very efficient way to raise money.... Leave it alone but solve the cost problem. Also stop creating and or funding new positions in the regions. If churches want to do something in their own area let them pay for it.
My own church last year reduced the budget for ministry shares from 75% to 60% of what was approved at Synod. That was a decision based on what Council wanted to achieve at the local level. It was a courageous and necessary decision.
The CRCNA HO leaders need to take decisive action to get their costs under control and work at a program to let those of in the pew know what they are paying for. Not with numbers but with names and what those names are doing to further the spread of the gospel.
Starting with non-paper communication would be a very good start. The Banner?
I can understand that churches reduce their giving to Synodical causes. However, Synod spends money on our behalf. When I attended Synod, there was no meaningful discussion on finances. Too much material in too short a time. The board of trustees are meeting on our behalf. They have a better chance to instruct head office to reduce costs. Voting with your money is fine for industry, but causes concern in the church. Should each church also look at their finances and reduce costs if membership dwindles? What other costs can be reduced besides the minister's salary, classical quotas and synodical quotas?
August Guillaume
Ministry share payments are the closing item on a local budget in (and this is my guess) 90% of congregations. Pastors, staff, utilities and mortgages all have legal requirements. Ministry Shares are moral obligations. Unlike governments (of all stripes,) churches can not go to that bottomless borrowing well. However I am in favor of using the the church's property ownership equity to meet those obligations and or incur a debt to assist (e,g) a local Christian school.
Let's Discuss
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