Where can I find pastor job descriptions?

You can find a couple sample job descriptions under Church Finance and Administration Resources.  If you go to crcna.org and search on church finance, you will find the page.  Look under the "Employment Issues" section called "Job Descriptions." You will see samples for a Pastor of Discipleship and Senior Pastor. Hpefully you have looked at the "Evaluation Essentials for Congregational Leaders" from Sustaining Pastoral Excellence. You can google search on crcna.org and also find this excellent resource published in 2010.

Here is a Pastor's Job Description that our church uses.

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PASTOR’S GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES  

The Pastor is to serve God and the church by:

1. Providing biblical, spiritual, pastoral and visionary leadership within the framework of the church’s overall vision, mission and purpose.
2. Promoting the spiritual health, growth and well-being of the congregation through preaching, teaching, prayer and administration of the sacraments.

PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS:  

       1.   Be a committed Christian, speaking freely about a personal relationship with the Lord.

       2.   Be a person of prayer, a student of the Bible, and be committed to personal spiritual growth and

              is convinced of the doctrines of the Reformed faith.

1. Exhibit the qualifications of elder as stated in 1Timothy 3, Titus 1 and the Form for the

Ordination of Ministers. (pg. 995 CRC Hymnal)

1. Be gifted in building relationships and fostering the building of relationships among others.
2. Demonstrate a personal lifestyle which serves as a model for the congregation, balancing

commitments to church, self and family, has a sense of humour.

1. Have a love for the Christian Reformed Church, submitting to accountability, acknowledging the authority of the Body of Christ

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS: 

1. Possess excellent communications skills with a love for communicating God’s Word through

             preaching and teaching.

       2.   Have a strong conviction, combined with training, to help the church reach the lost for Christ.

       3.   Possess strong pastoral care skills, trained in the art of listening and spiritual counsel.   

       4.   Possess management skills in cooperative leadership, combined with an ability to multi-task.

       5.   Possess the education and academic training required of Christian Reformed ministers in order to           

             serve in the denomination – engaging in on-going professional education.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES:

WORSHIP:

1.  Plan and lead worship services in conjunction with the worship committee and worship planners.

2.  Administer the sacraments.

3.  Lead four worship services per month, plus special services such as Christmas, Good Friday,   

     Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, etc.

4 . Assess his workload and to arrange pulpit exchanges with the approval of the council executive.

5.  Attend worship committee meetings.

OUTREACH:

1.      Support and encourage church members to join and support local and distant mission trips and

projects.

2.      Encourage all members to make guests and strangers feel welcomed in worship and ministry    

programs.

3.      Stimulate the development of materials and resources to be distributed to newcomers.  

WELCOMING AND ENFOLDING OF NEW MEMBERS AND ADHERENTS:

1.  Visit, or arrange for a visit, to new families or individuals who have been attending regularly a few    

      times. Provide a church brochure and other pertinent materials.

2.  Develops with Welcome and Enfolding Coordinator and church administrator, any plans and events to

     encourage the reception of newcomers. 

LEADERSHIP:  

The pastor provides leadership in the church’s ministry by:

1. Overseeing the administration of the church office, and working in partnership with council and   

    consistory in overseeing the work of various committees and staff.

2. Supporting and assisting the worship planners and pastoral care teams in their responsibilities.

3. Supporting and encouraging all ministry committees.

4. Providing, or arranging for leadership development and training for church officers and staff.

5. Encouraging members with leadership potential to use their gifts in church ministry.

6. Engaging in visioning: Providing direction and new ideas for all church ministries, encourage new  

    outreach ministries, promote faithful stewardship and financial giving, and participate in council

    retreats.

 PASTORAL CARE:

1. Is the first contact for primary responsible pastoral care.

2. Delegates and shares pastoral care work with the district elder, deacon and pastoral care workers.

3. Makes routine hospital visits (especially in emergencies and crisis visits).

4. Makes periodic visits to seniors (75 years and older) and the shut-ins.

5. Makes baptism preparation visits when deemed appropriate.

6. Makes pastoral visits as requested by the elders.

7. Notifies the congregation of pastoral needs through church call/email links and church bulletin.

EDUCATION:

1. Provide spiritual/biblical instruction to high school’ers and above, leading to public profession

    of faith

2. Teach a class on “Reformed faith and life” essentials to those from non-Reformed church backgrounds.

WORKINGCONDITIONS:

    The position requires considerable flexibility in hours available for work including evenings and     

    weekends. The church will provide an office, and equipment, with secretarial assistance.

OTHERRESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Regularly attend Executive, Elder and Council meetings, and at least one Deacon meeting

    per year.

2. Provide leadership for weddings, funerals, when requested, for church members. Requests

    for such services from non-CRC members should be first cleared with Consistory Executive.

3. Secure marriage preparation sessions for engaged couples.

4. Attend continuing education courses, workshops, seminars, retreats etc,

5. Attend Classis meetings as requested by Council.

6. Establish a Pastor Relations Committee as a personal support for self and family.

ACCOUNTABILITY:

1. Serves under the supervision of Council for administrative matters and under the supervision of    

    Consistory for spiritual and pastoral care matters.

2. Presents oral and written reports of all visits and meetings to each Consistory meeting.

3. This job description may be reviewed at the request of the Pastor, Consistory or Council.

Thanks a lot. These were very helpful comments!!

Several resources that apply widely are:

the letter of call: http://www.faithaliveresources.org/Content/Site135/FilesSamples/49710464065pdf_00000009268.pdf

the charge to the minister in the ordination/installation form in the Psalter Hymnal p. 995

and of course anything your Council has established to guide your pastor in the work they do.

And let's not forget Articles 11 and 12 of the CRC Church Order (:-).

The letter of call is now posted at http://www.crcna.org/site_uploads/uploads/pcr/Letter_of_Call.pdf