Pastor - Head of Staff - Central Presbyterian Church (New York, NY)

CPC’s next Pastor will be responsible for leading CPC as it serves as God’s light in our community and brings the Good News to our City during, what we hope and pray will be, an exciting and challenging time of church growth and renewal.

The Pastor will be responsible for preaching, teaching and discipling within CPC, for the spiritual development of the congregation, and for developing an appropriate outward focus to those who do not have faith in Christ. As CPC attracts new members, the Pastor will be responsible for ensuring that the message of Christ, expressed in Scripture, is preached and expressed in a faithful and relevant way from the pulpit, consistent with Reformed theological principles and traditions, and also in other settings within CPC and through its programs.

The Pastor will direct the training and development of leaders within the church, so they become active disciples of Christ (2 Tim 2:2–4). Similarly, as faith without deeds is dead (Jas 2:26), the Pastor, together with church officers, will help mobilize CPC’s community service and outreach activities, as we demonstrate our commitment to Christ by investing in, helping and loving others.

The Pastor will have a key role in bringing reconciliation within CPC and in fostering, together with church officers, a warm, healthy and vigorous church community, so that the needs are met, both spiritually and practically, of all members, older and newer, families, single adults and children.

A candidate’s character should be shaped by a genuine personal relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and guided by the Word, in accordance with the Reformed traditions of the Christian Faith.

On this foundation, the characteristics of CPC’s next Pastor should center on four core gifts/skills: Preaching, Spiritual Development/Discipleship, Teaching and Evangelism. The Pastor should thus be well grounded in the Scripture, as the central authority for our church ministry (2 Ti 3:16), and be skilled in presenting, explaining and applying the Gospel, with an ability to introduce non-believers to a living relationship with God (Mt 28:19–20) based on His grace through Christ by faith (Ro 3:24–25), consistent with Reformed theology, and to encourage and help existing believers to grow in their walk with Him.

A number of other skills will also be important to the health and growth of CPC. These skills, listed below, are needed to resolve conflict and reconcile differences within the congregation, to guide CPC through change and growth, to nurture and develop the congregation through ministry to both families and single adults, to develop church leaders, ordained and non-ordained, and to engage with and serve the community. To the extent that CPC is successful in these areas, it will correspondingly succeed in its calling to its congregation and the City.

We pray for a Pastor with the requisite gifts and skills for CPC’s ministry.

Gifts, Skills and Experiences the congregation possesses to fulfill its mission:

Despite CPC’s relatively small size, there is a substantial range of experience and skills among its members, many of whom work and serve in the arts, media, music and theatre; education and school administration; investment banking; hedge fund, private equity and other money management functions; law, consulting and accounting; and medicine. Significantly, certain members work full time in Christian areas, including music ministry, Christian education, seminary study and CPC-sponsored community outreach, as well as in local and regional para-church ministries sponsored by independent Christian organizations.

CPC uses the gifts of its members in its worship and music programs, including its choir, and in its service activities: feeding the homeless, sponsoring programs for children, elderly and disabled, and administering fundraisers for people in need. Members have recently initiated a women’s Bible study group, a children’s Sunday school, a joint family ministry program with another church, and a weekly adult Bible study.

Our members also invest significant time and resources outside normal business work in Christian and service activities within and outside CPC, in order to serve God and community. These activities include: leading and attending adult Bible studies; participating in Presbytery functions; writing, academic research and public speaking; and arranging outreach events for business men and women and for married couples and single persons in the city.

Key theological issues of the church and society that are reflected in the ministry of the congregation/organization:

The Task Force indicated that certain theological differences exist within CPC, with a new member group desiring a more evangelical-conservative church, but that most members interviewed wanted the pastor search to proceed, some hoping for a “dynamic evangelical-conservative pastor” to satisfy new members and produce a flourishing church, and others hoping for “a strong and dynamic Reformed pastor” to stabilize worship and reconcile groups.

As to broader theological issues in our City, separation from God and others presents a key challenge. New York is an achievement center demanding and rewarding performance, from Wall Street to the Arts. While excellence pursued in the right spirit is honoring to God, pursuit of success for self to the exclusion of God fails to deliver peace and leads to isolation and loneliness.

A relationship with Christ, however, restores community with God and each other, for “if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7). The alienating effects of sin are healed through an encounter with Christ. This ministry of reconciliation (2 Co 5:17) is mediated by his body, the Church.

CPC seeks to be a part of this ministry in NYC, deepening our connection with God and one another, through studying and preaching the Word, and by discipling and serving others, through ministry and outreach, being ambassadors of Christ to a City in need.

Church contact information:
James Johnson and Tala Debs, PNC co-chairs: CPCPNC@gmail.com
Church: (212) 838-0808, centralpc@earthlink.net, http://www.centralonpark.org/

The complete CIF is available on clc.pcusa.org's Opportunity Search

This church IS a More Light church
This position is full-time
This position DOES include Board of Pensions benefits
This position MAY OR MAY NOT be open to non-ordained LGBT candidates (check back for updates)