Youth Pastor

Job Description

When you ask us what we do at Southside, you don’t just get a job description. You hear about a way of life: centered around our Vision to bring more hope, help and a home for this city. We are passionate about using our talents and energy for God’s purposes and that’s why we’ve dedicated our careers to a mission, not just a job title. 

We have the privilege of leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. As we do, we strive to be risk-taking, innovative, culturally-relevant, irrationally generous, spiritual contributors who laugh hard together and honor God with integrity. 

Southside Church is a place where there’s a seat saved for everyone and the Youth Pastor has so much to do with that. The Youth Pastor at Southside Church isn’t leading “tomorrow’s church”. The Youth Pastor at Southside Church is leading a vital part of today’s church.  We are honoured to have the opportunity to love, energize and inspire the young men and women of our city and bring them hope.

The basics

• Discernment comes naturally: an ability to make decisions and see opportunities most people don’t
• A Vision Caster: an understanding and ability to communicate the vision of Southside Church in all settings
  • All of our ministries are united under this one vision: to see people far from God enter into a relationship with Him, and then follow Him one next step at a time
• An ability to inspire people and keep a group motivated
  • Can convey vision to any sized group of leaders 
• Culture Setter and Protector: we love that our students are growing spiritually and personally, and this position requires someone who can maintain and grow  a healthy culture in Youth ministry
• Friendly Confidence: You should smile easily and have an eye and passion for people who are nervous to join groups (and teach the people you lead to do the same).
• A drive to continue to answer the question “How could this ______ (group, environment, process) be better?”
• Is a naturally charismatic leader who is energized by leading people through their next steps
• Is enthusiastic about teaching others how to lead well and enjoy working with a team
• Loves to schedule, plot, and plan and thrives in a fast-paced growing and changing ministry

The works

• Facilitate three levels of relationship for our students:
  • With God
  • With leaders
  • With each other
• By:
  • Facilitating “big group” events with music and preaching (the candidate should have the ability to communicate well to groups of people) to present the message of Jesus to students
    • There will be two separate “big groups”:
      • Middle school (grades 6-8)
      • High school (grades 9-12)
  • Working to establish a team of youth leaders whose main priority is building relationships with students through one-on-one and small group meetings. This team should be focussed on connection and discipleship of students.
  • Planning fun events that attract students and give them a great opportunity to invite friends.
• Establishing an “ownership” within the Youth group:
  • Have a core group of youth that help brainstorm ideas and make them happen. This builds their leadership and their buy-in to Southside Youth.
  • Let our youth know that Southside isn’t their church “someday”, but TODAY.  We value them and want them to be a big part of this mission.
• Create a culture of invitation.
  • The kind of place where kids feel comfortable and motivated to invite others.

The additions

• Staff-wide involvement:
  • Leading/Helping teams for “Help” projects such as For This City and All is Bright days
  • Staff Retreats
  • Weekly scheduled meetings
• One-on-one meetings with your Direct Reports 
• Team meetings

Working at Southside is dynamic because we’re willing to go above and beyond to bring more help and hope to our city. It’s the exception and not the rule, but sometimes our staff rallies together to pull off projects that are hard to define or list on a job description. 

This may include big events outside the normal Sunday-to-Sunday calendar, important meetings that affect the future of our church or even pulling off last minute projects because a new idea is way too important to be delayed.

This “find a way” mentality is ingrained in the DNA of our leadership, the staff and our church. We don’t complain, we don’t gossip and we have each other’s backs. We are open about our support of Pastor Mike and Corinne, our fellow staff members, our church and our teams,  and we’re private when we have a question that needs answering or constructive criticism that needs addressing (in this case, go straight to your direct report).

Jesus changes everything. Southside Church exists to bring the hope of Jesus to people one life, one story at a time. We exist to see families restored, marriages strengthened, and young people supported and mentored. All of our ministries are united under this one vision:  to see people far from God enter into a relationship with him and then follow him one next step at a time.

You will see lives changed and people saved. You will watch as Jesus uses your efforts to change our city. You can expect MORE because God is calling us to more and it’s an honour to get to be a part of that!

Organization Description

• About 2,700 people engaged on Sunday mornings
• Nondenominational, North Point partner church
• Contemporary worship
• Just outside of Vancouver, only 25 minutes from the US border
• https://southsidelife.com/