Lead Pastor Responsibilities

    1. Provide pastoral leadership for creating and maintaining a framework that inspires, nourishes, and informs the spiritual welfare of the congregation. 

    2. Be responsible for the worship experience at First United. The Lead Pastor will provide overall worship planning leadership and will preach approximately 35 times per year. Additionally, the Lead Pastor will be expected to participate in worship when he/she is not preaching, ensure that the sacraments are administered appropriately, and officiate at weddings and funerals as necessary. 

    3. With the staff and lay members of the church, help to educate and provide pastoral care for the congregation and for all who seek comfort and guidance through the church; foster a culture of care. 

    4. Be an active participant in the leadership of the adult education program.

    5. Speak with both wisdom and authenticity, offering sermons that inspire reflection and action while fostering a sense of belonging for everyone. Is attuned to the social issues and challenges people face, skillfully weaving faith with a call to justice, compassion, and inclusion. Focus on love, kindness, and understanding, and encourage congregants to engage thoughtfully with the world around them.

    1. Empower individuals to live out their faith through transformative action, nurturing both personal and communal development. 

    2. Be the head of staff supervising and encouraging a collegial, collaborative approach with the pastoral, program, and administrative staff; participate in annual and ongoing performance evaluations based on Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual 

    3. Mentor and promote the personal, spiritual and leadership growth of pastoral and lay leaders.

    4. Provide staff support and spiritual guidance to the following committees: Personnel, Finance, Stewardship, and other committees as assigned by Council. 

    5. Promote healthy behaviors in the congregation, Council, and staff, and identify and address unhealthy behaviors when observed. 

    6. In collaboration with the Council Moderator, provide leadership to the Church Council

    7. Promote and interpret the church’s mission. 

    8. Engage in professional development opportunities. 

    9. Maintain current standing in the UCC Chicago Metropolitan Association and the Presbytery of Chicago.

  • It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your Serve as a community representative of the church, supporting partnerships and relationships with community groups and other churches. 

    1. Actively represent the church in the community in social justice initiatives and envision new ways of being the hands of Christ in the community. 

    2. Oversee the church’s relationship with internal partners, such as the First United Nursery School, Beyond Hunger (Food Pantry), and other Mission Partners 

    3. Regularly engage in congregation-wide fellowship activities 

    4. Ensure a high level of community connection and representation with organizations like the Community of Congregations as well as develop and maintain strong relationships with other clergy within the community First United serves.

    1. Lead the congregation in being a welcoming community, growing its participation/membership and finances consistent with the programs and theological mission of the church. 

    2. Responsibly manage the church’s financial resources in cooperation with Council, the Finance Committee, and financial staff 

    3. Take a leadership role in efforts to achieve long-term financial goals of the church.

core competencies we imagine could be foundational in our next minister’s relationship with the church

Passionate and Nurturing Spiritual Leader

Imaginative Visionary

Organized and Empowering Administrator

Residential/Commuting Expectations for Our Next Minister:

First United Church expects its Lead Pastor to be physically present in the church building several days per week; to participate in evening and weekend meetings and social activities; to visit members in their homes and hospitals; and to engage with community groups, other local clergy, and regional church bodies. In order to meet these expectations, residence within a reasonable Chicago-area commuting distance is required.

Peer and Professional Support Available for Ministers in Our Association/Conference:

In the Illinois Conference of the UCC, Clergy Communities of Practice is the formal peer support mechanism. Associate Conference Ministers provide pastoral support to clergy as needed. All Authorized Ministers are required to participate in regular Healthy Clergy Ethics/Boundary training. There are also various informal support networks, available in person and online. In the Presbytery of Chicago, there is a new pastor consort, a support group designed to help with initial adjustment, along with required Boundary Training. The Presbytery’s regional liaison representative will contact the Lead Pastor regularly to serve as a sounding board and support.

WHO IS GOD CALLING TO MINISTER WITH US?

The Lead Pastor of First United Church will play a key role in guiding the church through a period of reimagination and transformation. In close collaboration with the Church Council and strong lay leaders, the Lead Pastor will help shape, clarify, and implement specific goals and plans aimed at fostering congregational engagement and growth.

Our FY2025 Ministry Outline highlights our church’s current initiatives. Below are the key initiatives that our next minister will help advance.

1) Develop a Church-Wide Culture of Growth to Share God’s Radically Inclusive Love

  • Learn and implement new outreach and growth practices to become an invitational church.

  • Implement the church’s branding plan to reach out to the community with a clearer identity.

  • Strengthen the Church’s relationships with First United Nursery School students and their families.

2) Cultivate Ways of Working Together to Support the Church’s Historical Ministries

  • Strengthen and support opportunities for vibrant, engaging, and faithful worship (in-person and live-streamed)

  • Increase the existing community of care within the congregation, focusing on expanding the role of Deacons’ Care Groups

  • Reinforce First United Church’s role as community faith leader and partner of choice for neighbors and others addressing issues of justice, housing, children, and hunger.

  • Reimagine children, youth, and young adult ministries.

  • Nurture intergenerational relationships.

How our vision of the minister we are now seeking will assist the congregation in making an impact beyond our walls:

The Lead Pastor is expected to embrace and extend First United Church’s longstanding commitment to spiritual, moral, and programmatic leadership in the broader community. The church provides space, money, and volunteers to many mission partners to address, among other things, homelessness, hunger, education and safety of children and youth, and many justice issues.

The church houses Beyond Hunger (food pantry), Kids Kloset (clothing provider), Learning Edge (tutoring), Scouting America, and community-admired (and NAEYC-accredited) First United Church Nursery School. The Lead Pastor will help connect people with opportunities to support existing programs and explore new opportunities to combat poverty and injustice in the local community and the world.