High School Pastor

VANDERBLOEMEN; Greeley (CO); On-site; USD 50,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

VANDERBLOEMEN is seeking a High School Pastor to create a genuine family environment for students and volunteers. This role involves leading strategic ministries for student faith development and creating meaningful relationships. The ideal candidate will have at least a bachelor's degree and 5 or more years of experience in church settings. Responsibilities include recruiting and developing volunteers, creating safe environments, and ensuring student engagement. It's essential to have strong theological communication skills and a deep understanding of diverse local demographics in Greeley, Colorado.

Qualifications

• 5 or more years of relevant experience in a church setting.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic ministries that guide students toward authentic faith in Jesus.
• Provide relevant biblical teaching and model spiritual disciplines.
• Create safe, relational environments where students are known and can grow.
• Empower Student Leadership by equipping high schoolers to actively lead.
• Maintain a missional presence outside of weekly programming.
• Recruit, develop, equip, and mobilize volunteers.

Skills

Theological Communication

Contextual Teaching Design

Cross-Cultural Ministry Knowledge

Experiential Ministry Facilitation

Project Management

Strategic Calendar Planning

Community Networking

Theological Facilitation

Organizational Pathway Design

Integration of Church Vision

Research & Strategy Application

Feedback Integration

Balancing Ministry Elements

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Job description

The High School Pastor at Christ Community Church is a deeply relational, emotionally healthy leader called to create a genuine sense of family for students and volunteers alike. Rather than simply running programs and events, this pastor is expected to actively pursue teenagers in their everyday environments, ensuring that every student feels seen, known, and valued regardless of their background or spiritual starting point. At its core, this role is about guiding students toward an authentic faith in Jesus through meaningful personal connections, compassionate theological curiosity, and hands‑on missional experiences. By pouring into a collaborative team of volunteer leaders and honoring diverse perspectives, the High School Pastor builds a safe, inclusive community where students are not just spectators, but are empowered to grow spiritually, wrestle with deep questions, and become active leaders within the broader church.

The High School Pastor’s responsibilities include:

High School Ministry Leadership

• Lead strategic ministries that guide students toward authentic faith in Jesus.
• Provide relevant biblical teaching and model spiritual disciplines, discerning what students need to hear in each season.
• Create safe, relational environments where students are known and can grow.
• Create missional experiences that move students’ hearts toward others.
• Empower Student Leadership: Move high schoolers from the sidelines to the front lines by equipping them to actively lead and serve in the overall life of the church.
• Actively Pursue Students: Maintain a missional presence outside of weekly programming by intentionally pursuing students in their everyday environments, treating personal time with them as an essential priority.
• Recruit, develop, equip, pastor, and mobilize volunteers for connectional ministry, group leadership, worship experiences, and missional opportunities.
• Build healthy volunteer teams with clear expectations and care, cultivating a strong sense of family among the leadership team while honoring diverse perspectives.

Leader Development

• Create and foster a transformational context for emerging leaders.
• Intentionally develop leaders who understand the big picture and can move ministry forward.

Ministry Health, Safety & Administration

• Provide for the overall health and continuity of the high school ministry.
• Ensure child/youth safety practices and training are implemented.
• Develop scalable systems & manage administration: Build effective systems for discipleship and volunteer training, and efficiently manage administrative tasks so that operational work never hinders the pastoral priority of being with students.
• Partner collaboratively and comfortably alongside the other staff members of the NextGen Team including the 5-8th Grade Pastor.
• Participate in all-staff meetings and collaborative planning.

What you bring

The following describes many of the characteristics of the ideal candidate for the High School Pastor:

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree preferred.
• 5 or more years of relevant experience in a church setting.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Theological Communication: Skill in translating deep, in-depth biblical knowledge into engaging, accessible language for teenagers.
• Contextual Teaching Design: The ability to assess the specific spiritual and cultural needs of a student body in real-time to craft custom teachings and messages.
• Cross-Cultural Ministry Knowledge: An understanding of diverse local demographics, specifically knowing how to effectively engage and disciple students from a large variety of diverse backgrounds in the Greeley area.
• Experiential Ministry Facilitation: Skill in designing creative spiritual encounters that utilize worship, symbols, and sanctified imagination to foster spiritual formation alongside traditional teaching.
• Project Management: Strong logistical and project management skills to handle the multifaceted expectations of a large‑scale ministry, ensuring details of programs and events are executed with excellence.
• Strategic Calendar Planning: The ability to comprehensively plan and leverage the entire annual calendar for intentional ministry impact.
• Community Networking: The ability to forge external connections within the local school systems, such as building relationships with teachers and administrators to facilitate on‑campus outreach like the food truck lunches.
• Theological Facilitation: The ability to guide discussions on complex faith topics using a curiosity‑based approach, helping students wrestle with difficult questions while holding space for theological mystery.
• Organizational Pathway Design: The ability to conceptualize, create, and implement structured, intentional pathways that move high schoolers from simply attending into active serving and leadership roles within the student ministry and overall church.
• Integration of Church Vision: Skill in taking the overarching vision, distinctives, and core values of the broader church and effectively translating them into a tailored, age‑appropriate student ministry culture.
• Research & Strategy Application: Knowledge of current youth ministry strategies and the ability to utilize research‑informed practices to build the ministry, rather than relying solely on instinct.
• Feedback Integration: The skill to constructively process feedback or concerns from parents, staff, and volunteers, utilizing that information to make actionable, objective improvements to the ministry.
• Balancing Ministry Elements: The ability to strategically design programming that strikes an intentional balance between high‑energy, attractive fun and the serious, dedicated practice of spiritual habits and disciplines.

Personal Characteristics

• Highly Authentic: Comfortable being exactly who they are without adopting a polished persona. They do not force relevance or slang if it isn’t genuine to them, as students will immediately spot the inauthenticity.
• Humble & Unentitled: Entirely free of a rock star complex. They view themselves as equal partners with volunteer leaders and do not demand the spotlight, special treatment, or constant praise.
• Playful & Lighthearted: Brings a fun, light presence to the room. They embrace the goofy nature of teenagers and do not take themselves too seriously.
• Securely Grounded: Leads from a foundation of emotional health and a secure personal identity. Rather than looking to the ministry for their own validation, they are able to fully support and care for teenagers from a place of steady, internal wholeness.
• Naturally Curious: Possesses a natural inquisitiveness. They are perfectly comfortable saying “I don’t know” and can hold space for theological mystery, rather than feeling an anxious need to provide neatly packaged answers.
• Entrepreneurial & Tenacious: A self‑starting dreamer who is inherently high capacity. They naturally want to build things from the ground up and have the internal grit to grind through the work required to make ideas a reality.
• Empathetic to the Fringes: Naturally drawn to marginalized or easily forgotten students. They are completely unafraid of the messy, difficult realities of teenagers dealing with hard life circumstances, and they lean in toward them.
• Fluid & Adaptable: Thrives in a culture that allows for a bit of looseness. They prefer organic, relaxed relational connections over rigid, forceful, or overly intense organizational structure.
• Approachable & Warm: Exudes a welcoming, disarming energy that makes both outgoing and socially anxious students immediately feel safe to engage and be themselves.
• Naturally Encouraging: Has an inherent disposition of gratitude. They look for ways to affirm, celebrate, and breathe life into volunteer leaders and students alike.
• Patient: Understands that spiritual formation is a slow process. They maintain a steady commitment even when the students are chaotic or the work isn’t immediately rewarding.