Student Pastor

Job Description

Job Description

The Student Pastor at Peoples Church will lead our Student Ministry, providing vision, pastoral care, and team leadership for one of our most visible ministries to junior high and high school students. This pastor will inherit a healthy ministry with its own standalone building, offices, a cafe, administrative support, and a strong base of students and families, with real runway to grow. The role is both evangelistic and discipleship-focused: we want our students to engage on campus and to grow deep in their faith, led by someone who reaches new students while shepherding them toward maturity in Christ. We are looking for a Student Pastor with the leadership instincts to develop other leaders and the pastoral heart to walk with students and families for the long haul.

Why We Love This Opportunity

Peoples Church gives a student pastor everything they need to actually win: a dedicated building, a real budget, administrative support, and the freedom to lead without someone hovering over their shoulder. There is a healthy, diverse ministry here to build on, deep roots in a community that loves its city, and a church family that will genuinely embrace you. For the right leader who loves students, loves being on campus, and wants to develop leaders, this is a rare combination of resources, trust, and runway.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide overall pastoral and strategic leadership for our Student Ministry, serving junior high and high school students.
• Lead and develop the teams that run our junior high, high school, and campus ministries, including investing in the relationship with our volunteer Junior High Pastor and our Associate Student Ministry Leader.
• Design and lead weekly gatherings, including teaching, worship, and discipleship environments for students.
• Be an evangelistic, present voice on local campuses, engaging students in their extracurricular activities and deepening partnerships like our work with FCA and local sports teams.
• Lead our annual student outreach events and partner with area youth pastors on shared efforts.
• Coordinate with our Missions Pastor on student mission trips, reflecting how central missions is to who we are.
• Steward the Student Ministry’s staff, volunteer base, building, and budget with care and intentionality.
• Shepherd a diverse student body, including many students in difficult circumstances, helping them know God and take real steps in their faith.

Key Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree, ideally in biblical studies or a related field.
• Two to five years of student ministry experience preferred, ideally as a lead student pastor or strong second chair.
• Has led a sizable youth group.
• A self-starter who sets their own goals and a team player willing to work within the wide hallways of our leadership culture.
• An excellent communicator, both in person and electronically.
• Comfortable hitting the ground running and able to stabilize and grow an established ministry.
• A background in evangelistic, campus-engaged youth ministry is a strong plus.
• Aligned with our theological convictions.

About This Organization

Peoples Church is a church in Fresno, California, and has been a prominent presence in the Central Valley for over 70 years. We average around 3,500 in Sunday morning attendance at our gatherings.We are well known and respected in the community for our focus on serving the city we love, and we are traditionally known as a loving church where people feel at home when they come on campus. Guided by our vision of Helping People See God and Participate in His Redemptive Story, we come alongside our community to show them the hope found in Jesus, shaped by our values of Loving God, Loving Others, Loving Truth, Loving Culture, and Loving Sacrifice. We are a multi-generational and increasingly diverse congregation, and we actively extend a hand into the community through events that meet people where they are. We are a big church that works hard to feel like a small one, where it is easy to get connected and where people are welcomed in and treated like family.

Location

Fresno is a respite from the large cities that typify ideas about California, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. Fresno County produces agriculture that feeds the world and is home to a tight-knit, diverse community with a rich history and a small-town feel. Sitting in the heart of the Central Valley, Fresno offers an enviable location with easy access to both the mountains and the coast, with Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks practically in the backyard, and both Los Angeles and the Bay Area within easy reach for a weekend trip. It is a place where a pastor and family can put down roots, raise children, and build a life alongside their ministry for the long haul.

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