Senior Minister Profile

This profile is created to help guide the SPRC, District Superintendent and Bishop in identifying potential candidates for the Senior Pastor position at Germantown United Methodist Church (GUMC).  The Senior Minister for Germantown should be someone with at least a reasonable expectation of serving 8 to 10 years in the position.

The Position:

The Senior Minister of Germantown United Methodist Church is expected to serve in the following ways:
•  To be an engaging preacher and spiritual leader of the congregation,
•  To be a compassionate shepherd for the congregation,
•  To provide effective leadership to clergy and church staff,
•  To be a wise, caring leader of congregation of more than 4,000 people, and
•  To be a community pastor who is actively engaged in the concerns of the larger community of Germantown, Memphis, Shelby County and beyond. 

Qualifications/Experience

•  Has an excellent pulpit presence, delivery and demonstrated quality sermon.
•  A United Methodist minister in good standing with his or her Annual Conference.
•  Should have been senior minister in a church of at least 1500 members or the lead associate in a church of 2500 or more.
•  Must have excellent written and oral communications skills and understand the most effective means of communicating information to the congregation at large.
•  Must have understanding of organization and function of a large, diversified urban congregation.
•  Must have demonstrated ability to serve as spiritual leader through personal contacts, teaching, preaching and by example.
•  Must have an openness to and a desire to seek diversity of all kinds, racial, economic, and theological within the community of faith.
•  Must have demonstrated the skill of not only being the catalyst to start major initiatives, but is one who keeps the church focused to see them through to completion.

Leadership/Vision

•  Have demonstrated ability to engage lay leaders in setting and refining church vision to assure timely growth and outreach.
•  Understands functions/roles of key staff members and delegates authority to them.
•  Creates and promotes a “team” environment where each person (clergy, staff and lay leaders) understands their role and value of their contribution.
•  Has successfully directed professional staff in meeting annual and long-range objectives of the church in all areas of congregational life.
•  Able to “think out of the box” to stimulate discussion/decisions to challenge the congregation to get out of their comfort zone and move the church into new areas of ministry and missions.
•  Motivates staff, lay leaders and members at large to become more involved in the life of the church through their gifts and their personal contributions.
•  Assesses and understands problems and effectively and efficiently involves others as necessary to assure sound decisions are made in a timely manner.
•  Uses a prayerful, yet logical, systematic approach to decision making, involves others as appropriate, and understands the long-range consequences/benefits of available options.
•  Understands and assists others to identify and utilize appropriate resources (to include equipment and materials, facilities, finances and human resources) to meet both short-term and long-term objectives.

Personal

•  Must maintain high moral and ethical standards in his/her ministry and personal life, and respect confidentiality.
•  Must have an interest in outreach, missions and congregational care and effectively engage other clergy and lay committees into forming and implementing plans of action to expand the church’s ministry in those areas.
•  Must be able to demonstrate concern and compassion for all people in and beyond the congregation.
•  Must have personal charisma and be able to quickly earn the respect and trust of the congregation.
•  Must be able to be a calming presence in the midst of conflict, controversy and the ongoing challenges of ministry and leadership.
•  Must be able to function as an extrovert with excellent personal relationship skills in one-on-one, small group and large group situations.
•  Must be accessible and have strong listening skills.
•  Must place a high value on the quality of marriage and family life.
•  Must have demonstrated a desire and ability to become a personal force in community leadership through ministerial organizations, government, civic organizations, Chamber of Commerce, etc.
•  Must be a person who follows a disciplined plan of self-care (spiritual, emotional, relational and physical).