Settled Pastor Job Description

Bethany Mennonite Church

Settled Pastor Job Description

Details

  • Bethany Mennonite Church is a rural church in Bridgewater, Vermont. We are searching for a settled pastor to support the congregation following a transition from a previous pastor (24 years), through a period of lay-leadership (13 months), and time with an interim pastor (15 months, ending April 2026). 
  • The congregation is small, capable, and comfortable organizing Sunday worship, and seeks a settled pastor to serve on a 1/2 to 3/4 basis.
  • Bethany intends to pay according to denominational recommendations. Housing is a challenge in Vermont and the congregation intends to help source and subsidize housing.

About us

  • We are an open and affirming congregation, and have spent a season learning together and shaping our Welcoming Statement in 2020 and ‘21. While this is an unsettled issue in our conference and denomination, our statement was adopted by consensus and with conviction. In a similar vein, we invite all to celebrate communion with us regardless of background or affiliation. 
  • We are a small church with a long history in a rural community. While a Sunday service may only see 20 – 40 attendees, many in the surrounding towns are part of our extended church family. 
  • The regular attendees are an engaged group that share the work of “doing church,” rotating weekly through willing Worship Leaders, Song Leaders, Children’s Story readers, and Messages. These messages are followed by an open time of response and reflection that is characterized by honesty, vulnerability, and trust. 
  • At Bethany we treat faith formation as a continuing journey. We welcome questions and new sources of spiritual enrichment. We embrace new perspectives like we embrace new hymnals, celebrating what is new to us while treasuring familiar songs, prayers, and poems. 
  • Membership at Bethany is open to all, in the form of an annually affirmed covenant signed by the willing, based on personal reflection and commitment. 

Work to be done

We seek the help of a settled pastor in these areas:

  • Preaching 2-3 times per month. Limited organizational administration.
  • Bethany plans and operates through committees, including Worship, Congregational Care, Education, Outreach, and Creation Care which typically meet monthly or quarterly. A pastor will attend these meetings and serve as a connection point for the whole congregation.
  • In our small congregation, Pastoral Care takes the shape of building relationships with those in the church. 
  • Bethany is an open and affirming congregation that values its connection to its conference and the greater Mennonite Church. As Mosaic Conference and MCUSA individually discern their future, our congregation wonders where we fit in. Navigating this question is a slow process we undertake as a congregation with thoughtfulness and patience, and we’ll need help and support from our future settled pastor.

For more information and to apply, please email:

Steve Kriss
Conference Minister
skriss@mosaicmennonites.org