Associate Pastor | Rockhampton Baptist Church

Qld Baptists; Rockhampton Regional; Hybrid; AUD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Rockhampton Baptist Church in Central Queensland invites an experienced Associate Pastor to shape our next chapter. You will lead a team, preach faithfully, and walk with people through everyday life and faith, growing Life Groups and mentoring relationships.

Join a church that values discipleship, regional outreach, and strategic collaboration with our Lead Pastor to extend our influence in the community and schools within the region.

Qualifications

• Experience leading teams and preaching in a church setting.
• Ability to disciple individuals and groups across age ranges.
• Willingness to partner with the Lead Pastor in strategic ministry.

Responsibilities

• Shape Sunday PM service and develop leadership pipelines.
• Coach and empower Life Groups and mentoring relationships.
• Lead outreach and community engagement in Central Queensland.
• Collaborate with ministries to steward benevolence and mission.

Skills

Team leadership

Preaching

Pastoral care

Discipleship

Life Groups

Education

Theology degree

Ordination

Job description

A church with a future. A region worth calling home.

Come and see what God is doing in Central Queensland

Rockhampton Baptist Church is looking for an experienced Associate Pastor to help lead the next chapter of our story; a story of discipleship, of outward-facing mission, and of a church that genuinely believes ordinary people, formed well, can change a city. Our desire is to be a people who 'Live Intentionally with Jesus'; 'Practice Faith Together'; 'Equip Everyday People'; and together, 'Pursue the Transformation of our Region'.

We're not looking for someone to simply run programs. We're looking for a pastor who believes, as we do, that discipleship isn't a box to tick but a way of life; intentional, strategic, and lived out in real community. We are seeking a pastoral leader who wants to build people and teams, not just fill rosters. Someone who wants to help people find their belonging in Life Groups, in mentoring relationships, in the 'New to Faith' pathways, and in the wider life of the church, and who wants to lead our congregation further out into the community God has placed us in, through embedded relationships like Glenmore State School, Religious Instruction, our Mission Task Force, and the care we extend through our benevolence ministry.

This is a role with real breadth; shaping our Sunday PM service and raising up emerging leaders and preachers, walking alongside a team that includes our Generations, Community Outreach, Bookshop, and Worship/Pastoral Care ministries, and partnering closely with our Lead Pastor in the strategic direction of the whole church. It's a role for someone ready to lead, not just assist!

Who we are

Rockhampton Baptist Church is a growing church full of diversity, especially families. During "Our Future Summit" we have been closing out a season of listening, praying, and dreaming together as a whole church family about who God is calling us to be. We are a church in motion: reviewing our structures, clarifying our roles, and asking hard, good questions about what faithful, sustainable, Spirit-led ministry looks like for us in this next season.

We are warm. We are hands-on. We are the kind of church where "discipleship" isn't a buzzword, and the Lead Pastor still gets involved in the daily, unglamorous, faithful work of walking with people as they grow. We seek to hold our faith seriously and our people gently. We believe in team ministry over silo ministry, in raising up leaders rather than just filling gaps, and in a culture marked by unity, encouragement, and the fruit of the Spirit.

Do you long to serve in a church where your voice will genuinely shape strategy; not just execute someone else's? This could be where God is calling you in this next season for His church.

Why Central Queensland

Rockhampton sits on the banks of the Fitzroy River, under the Tropic of Capricorn, in the heart of what's proudly known as the Beef Capital of Australia. It's a city that has quietly reinvented itself; heritage streetscapes and a restored riverfront precinct now sit alongside genuinely good coffee, local breweries, and a regional art gallery ranked among the finest in the country. Mount Archer rises over the city with walking trails and sweeping views, and the Capricorn Caves, one of Queensland's oldest tourist attractions, are just up the road.

Thirty minutes east is the Capricorn Coast: the beaches of Yeppoon and Emu Park, the Keppel Bay Marina, and a ferry ride out to Great Keppel Island's seventeen beaches and the fringes of the Southern Great Barrier Reef. It's the kind of place where you can genuinely still find a beach to yourself, where the pace of life allows for a Sabbath rhythm, and where raising a family doesn't require sacrificing a backyard, an outdoor lifestyle, or your sanity to a daily commute.

If you've been longing for a place where ministry and life aren't in constant competition, Central Queensland might be exactly the change of scenery, and pace, you and your family need. Rockhampton is also a very affordable place to live.

We're seeking an experienced Associate Pastor - someone who has already led teams, preached faithfully, and walked with people through the real stuff of life and faith. Someone secure in their calling, theologically grounded, spiritually mature, and ready to partner with our Lead Pastor as a genuine co-leader rather than an assistant. You'll have three staff direct reports, need to be organised, be relationally warm, comfortable with both strategy and pastoral engagement, and willing to be as at home discipling a Life Group as you are representing our church in the wider community.

If that sounds like you, if you can picture your family building a life on the Fitzroy River, your ministry shaping a church still discovering who's becoming, and your Sundays spent both preaching the Word and praying with people in the foyer, we'd love to hear from you.

Rockhampton Baptist Church - Discipleship & Outward-Facing Ministry Full time, including Sundays | Central Queensland, Australia