Children, Youth and Family Ministry (CYFM) Director - Immanuel PC, Tacoma
Seattle Presbytery
Children, Youth and Family Ministry (CYFM) Director
Immanuel Presbyterian Church – Tacoma, WA
Job Description
Immanuel Presbyterian Church (IPC) is an inclusive, thoughtful, creative, and involved Christian community in the heart of the North End of Tacoma, Washington. Black lives matter to us. Those who identify as queer, trans, or gender non-conforming are welcome and many “queer” identifying people worship with us and serve in leadership.
Our community is socially, politically, and theologically liberal for the most part while still having a wide variety of perspectives. While our tradition is Christian, we also understand and acknowledge the divine’s presence in other spiritual and religious traditions. Our membership includes those who understand what it means to be Christian differently, including those who identify as agnostic or who are seekers.
We engage our spirituality and the world with our heads and our hearts, with intellect and compassion. We welcome questions, debate, and wrestling as a part of the spiritual journey. We create a safe, welcoming, and affirming place for everyone regardless of where they are at on their spiritual journey. We can get a little rowdy. We love to sing, dance, and laugh. There is a great deal of joy in this place.
IPC understands that as a Christian community it is our calling to work for justice and equity in our community and world. We are deeply committed to that work, and that manifests as partnership and direct engagement with issues including immigration, affordable housing, racial equity, LGBTQ advocacy, hunger, homelessness, and a general overall commitment to the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized in any way.
At IPC we use inclusive and non-gender bound language when speaking about God. We take the scriptures seriously, but not literally. We are inspired by other forms of witness and testimony that are not biblical. We are liturgical, but casual and creative in our liturgical forms. Our community is inspired by Celtic spirituality, liberation theology, queer and feminist perspectives, and many other spiritual influences. We love poetry, the spoken word, story, and art. Good preaching is extremely valued.
Our community loves music of all kinds. We have a vocal choir and multiple marimba groups. Our music could be described as diverse within more traditional types of sacred music and then ranging into genres that include “world” music, jazz, blues, folk, and somewhat contemporary, but stopping short of contemporary Christian or “praise” music.
Our congregation is predominantly white, highly educated, and over the age of 40. We have a strong contingency of active and not-so-active older adults and a strong contingency of active folks between 40 and 60 years or age. We have roughly 25-30 children and youth at any given time. While the number of people in their 30’s or younger is smaller those folks are still quite active. We hope to sustain our existing membership and grow our membership significantly with families and younger adults.
Our community loves our city. We are very “Tacoma-centric” but also well-traveled. We are deeply committed to our neighborhood and our city, and our reach and presence and even our membership extends beyond the traditional walls of the church. Our witness and our impact takes place through concerts and arts events in our space, in bars and coffee shops, holding vigil at the detention center, building a Habitat house, and through our members’ involvement at all levels of our community.
We seek a Director of Youth and Family Ministry who in collaboration with others, will lead, strengthen, grow, sustain, and manage all aspects of our ministry to youth, children and their families, and young adults.