Overview:

Trinity Baptist Church is seeking to hire a Director of Small Groups and Women's Ministry assist us in our mission of sharing the life-changing message of the gospel in New Haven, CT and to the ends of the earth to the glory of God. We are a Gospel centered church that is gathered from diverse backgrounds primarily by the Gospel. We are a church transformed by the Gospel, believing that knowing the Gospel deeply produces life change. We are a church sent by the Gospel to be ambassadors for the Gospel wherever God has planted us in the short term to live for His glory. Trinity ministers in the vibrant city of New Haven, a diverse home of universities and urban poor, international students and refugees, world class culture and deep New England roots. We seek to be a crossroads for many diverse people to worship together, and a church that serves as a launching pad for those who come to New Haven for a season. Trinity is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, holds to a reformed position on doctrines of salvation, we are baptistic in our practice of the sacraments, and we are congregational in polity led by a male eldership while calling every member to be involved in the Gospel ministry.

Position summary: The role of Director of Women Discipleship and Small Group Ministry is to provide leadership and oversight to two key ministries at Trinity: (1) Women's Discipleship, which includes equipping the women of the church to love, serve, and minister the gospel and (2) Small Group ministry, which includes developing and expanding our small groups as Word-centered communities of care and growth. In each of these areas, we expect to see growth in our vision of being a gospel-centered church that is gathered, transformed, and sent forth by the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is a full time, ministerial staff position. It includes additional benefits (health insurance, retirement, etc.) as laid out in the employment agreement.

The target start date for this position is July 1, 2025 and no earlier than January 2, 2025.

The salary range for this position is $74,250 – $90,750 commensurate with experience. Women's Discipleship Summary: Overseeing Women's Discipleship involves helping us to care for the spiritual growth of our women through developing a discipleship program, mobilizing women for ministry and service, working with other godly women to provide wise counsel and support to the elders as they lead and shepherd in the church, and helping the elders to shepherd and care for our members, particularly with regard to the flourishing of the women in our church. 1. Oversee women's discipleship

• Assist the elders in creating a women's ministry/Titus 2 team to serve women's ministry goals
• Oversee discipleship program with women's ministry team
• Create organization/structure to connect women in discipleship relationships
• Recruit women as discipleship mentors
• Identify, curate, and select curriculum and coaching for women who disciple

2. Mobilize women for ministry and service

• Identify barriers to women serving and ministering at Trinity and develop strategies to recruit and connect women to ministry opportunities
• Identify resources and develop strategies to help women deepen their prayer lives
• Create a cadence of times for the women of Trinity to connect with one another with a particular view of integrating newer women and bringing together women from diverse life stages
• Develop strategy to promote women's ministry to the church.

3. Foster on-going communication between women at Trinity and the elders

• Connect to a diverse group of women in order to provide input about gospel ministry at our church for the staff team
• Create channels to communicate women's perspectives to the elders
• Meet with the elders regularly (3-4 times a year) to bring input and ideas for deepening our gospel-centered culture at Trinity.

4. Counsel and care for members of the church

• Provide care for members of the church, working alongside elders, deacons, and small group leaders.
• Help the elders with shepherding and counseling women in crisis/sensitive cases
• Bring attention to elders and deacons regarding members in need of spiritual counsel or practical care, particularly but not exclusively women

Small Group Ministry Summary: Overseeing small groups involves providing care and training of small group leaders, giving curriculum and logistical support, and helping develop new small groups along with others in the congregation. 1. Provide guidance and support for existing small group leaders

• Regularly touch base (2-3 times a year) with small group leaders/leadership teams
• Visit small groups throughout the year as appropriate
• Curate, identify, and share ministry resources (commentaries, bible study books, etc.) for small group leaders
• Oversee transitions of leadership in small groups
• Help struggling small groups to revitalize or end well
• Create clear pathways for small group leaders to communicate pastoral care issues to the eldership

2. Develop and administer training for small group leaders

• Train small group leaders in small group leading skills including but not limited to:
  • Teaching the bible
  • Organizing groups
  • Developing new leaders
  • Discussion management
  • Fostering meaningful times of prayer and sharing
  • Identifying and raising up new leaders
• Equip leaders with Bible study materials and other leadership materials as needed
• Meet as a group with all the small group leaders about 2x a year for ongoing training

3. Develop plan for creating new small groups

• Develop a strategy for creating new groups
• Identify opportunities:
  • Groups that have grown too large can birth a new group
  • Identify geographic areas or time slots where a new group would serve a number of people
• Identify possible new leaders to launch new groups
• Create ways to vet/align incoming members who have had small group leadership experience elsewhere
• Develop a training program/curriculum for new small group leaders
• Establish with the elders clear qualifications for small group leaders
• Particularly seek to identify women leaders who are equipped or who can be trained
• Seek new ways to address childcare for families within small groups

Requirements for the Director of Women's Discipleship and Small Group Ministry

• 3-5 years of ministry experience in discipleship, care of souls, and organizational leadership
• Ministry training required: (at least one of the below is acceptable)
  • Seminary degree
  • Church training program
  • Parachurch ministry training program
  • Experience or training in handling counseling situations
  • Experience leading small groups, able to teach in that setting
• Meets the qualifications of a deacon 1 Tim 3:8-13
• Become a member at Trinity
• In agreement with Trinity's doctrinal statement
• Willingness to submit to our constitution and staff handbook
• In agreement with our white paper concerning men and women in the church (white paper available upon request).

Characteristics

• Vibrant personal faith, practice of spiritual disciplines, involvement in spiritual community
• Team player, able to work with others
• Spiritual resilience with deep foundations in prayer
• Able to recognize the joys and challenges of leadership in the local church
• Ability to organize and recruit volunteers
• Ability to constructively manage conflict
• Able to help others to lead and assume responsibility
• Maturity to winsomely navigate the complexities of life for modern women
• Some familiarity with handling sensitive counseling cases (e.g. abuse) including initial care and referral when necessary

Working relationships:

• Accountable to the elders
• Work alongside staff team
• Oversee women's Titus 2 ministry team
• Oversee small group leaders

This person will report to a pastor for oversight About Trinity Baptist Church We strive to be a Gospel centered church by which we mean first that we are a diverse church gathered primarily by the Gospel and not by similarities in socioeconomic backgrounds, age, race, ethnicity, or educational backgrounds. We hope that people who walk into Trinity will see a group of people who would scarcely be in the same place together for any reason other than Jesus. Second, it means we are a church transformed by the Gospel, believing that it is knowing the Gospel deeply that produces life change, freedom from sin and freedom to serve and minister to others. Our preaching and teaching regularly connects knowing God and his work of salvation in Christ with the very real struggles of life and the call to follow Jesus daily through them. Finally, it means we are a church sent by the Gospel, understanding that as we leave our Sunday gathering, we are sent out to be ambassadors for the gospel wherever God has planted us in the short term, and to allow the Gospel mission to shape our life decisions and patterns. Trinity is located in the vibrant city of New Haven – a city with a rich tapestry of diversity. Our city is often described as a small city with a large city feel, given its arts and culture, museums, a great restaurant scene, a world class university in Yale and 6 other nearby colleges/universities. The city is also very international, being both the recipient of many foreign students who come to study at various universities and the home of a federal refugee resettlement city. We are blessed to have congregants from throughout the world. Sadly, New Haven also shares some of the challenges of large cities, including a high level of poverty, homelessness, food instability and a desperate need for more housing. Trinity is a crossroads church, and we want to build a congregation that values the diversity of the body of Christ and be a place where people can learn from others who are different from them. Our church is also a launching church – many come to New Haven for education, training, or initial landing place for internationals, and we aim to help them learn about being a healthy church member and a part of church ministry, so that as they move on we send them ready to be contributors to their future churches. Trinity is an anchor church – we aim build a church that will still be here in 100 years, faithfully preaching the Gospel of grace. Trinity is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, though you may find us culturally a little different being in CT! We hold to a reformed position on doctrines of salvation, we are baptistic in our practice of the sacraments, and we are congregational in polity led by a male eldership while calling every member to be involved in the Gospel ministry.