Children's Director

Grace Kids, the children’s ministry of Grace Christian Fellowship, provides relevant, age-appropriate learning and connection opportunities for kids from birth to 5th grade.  During worship services and mid-week programing ministry for kids is provided and executed by a large base of volunteers led by the Kid Director. 

Background of GCF:

Grace is located in the Finger Lakes region of NY just south of Syracuse and north of Binghamton.  We are conveniently located just off of route 81 right between the towns of Homer and Cortland NY. Grace is a non-denominational Bible Church that closely aligns with the Evangelical Free Church; which our Senior Pastor has his ordination through.  The congregation at Grace is roughly 700 people on the weekends at our two contemporary worship service hours (pre-covid).  The Kids Ministry had roughly 80 Kids- Infant – 5th grade involved in the ministry. 

Our vision at Grace is to be an equipping ministry where we make disciples by equipping the saints for service.  As the Church continues to grow, we are looking to add someone to join our team who has a love for Kids and who has the ability and passion to build a lasting impact into the Kids at GCF.

Grace Christian Fellowship desires to make a lasting impact in the Cortland community by leading people & families to become fully devoted followers of Christ.  If you are passionate about kids’ ministry and impacting the Cortland community check out the details below.

Job Description:

Grace Kids Director is required to perform a range of duties including, but not limited to:

Weekend & Mid-Week Responsibilities

• Review over lesson plans each week and make necessary adjustments as needed.
• Oversee presentation team for weekend services, filling in as necessary.
• Recruit, Train, and regularly schedule volunteers.
• Provide leadership to all Early Childhood and Elementary volunteer teams and interns, including troubleshooting as needed
• Ensure that kingdom building is a primary focus for all kids weekend programs.

Leadership

• Be a champion for the vision of Grace Kids amongst families with young children. Regularly share the vision for empowering parents with the tools to lead their children into a strong, personal faith journey.
• Help champion the vision of Family Ministries to ensure best practices, policies, strategies and leadership initiatives are in place.
• Come up with solutions for expansion by brainstorming and offering input for change management.
• Oversee & Develop a midweek program. Find and modify curriculum for the weekly mid-week programming
• Work directly with the Campus Pastor and Volunteer coordinator as needed to recruit volunteers
• Run Grace kids’ events throughout the year
• Work closely with the Youth Pastor to effectively transition Grace kids graduates into the Youth ministry

Team Leadership

• Meet consistently with the volunteer Grace kids team to cast vision and training
• Regularly meet with the Campus Pastor on kid ministry strategy, and ongoing development and improvement of Grace kids programming.
• Create intentional development strategies and processes for volunteers new to ministry and/or new to Grace all the way up to experienced Kid ministry volunteers.

Other Responsibilities

Individual will complete responsibilities in accordance with the church’s policies and applicable procedures as assigned.

Qualifications:

Abilities-
Ability to develop adults and students to assume leadership roles
Ability to relate to others, including adult leaders and the kids
Capable of understanding and developing kids ministry
Clearly explain complicated processes and regulations
Provide objective solutions to complaints/inquiries
Take initiative and jump headfirst into a fast-paced, evolving ministry environment

Skills-
Effective at multi-tasking and time management
Excellent verbal, written, and oral communication skills
Experience with programming of experiences and events for Kids

Ability to problem-solve

Knowledge-
Strong working knowledge of office equipment and software use

Solid understanding of the Bible
Basic understanding of Kids ministry
Competent in regards to technology and social media

Essential Traits-
Administrative skills
Teaching Ability
Strong Communication
Leadership
Strong People skills
Delegating
Strong work ethic with ability to cast/work towards a vision for Kids Ministry

Education-
High school diploma required.  Would prefer a bachelor’s degree or higher

Directions for Application:

This Job is a full time salaried postion with benefits. If you are interested in the position please send a picture of yourself & your family, resume, and a cover letter to  Nick Dunn- ndunn@gcfcortland.org.