Care Response Pastor

The Care Response Pastor owns Princeton Alliance Church's response when the congregation faces illness, hospitalization, loss, family crisis, or another major life event. This role makes sure someone shows up, follow-up happens, and support continues after the first week. Most of that care reaches people through others: on-call pastors, ministry pastors, Stephen Ministers, and trained care volunteers. This role receives the need, decides the response, mobilizes the right people, and stays with it until the person is supported. It also provides pastoral oversight to Stephen Ministry and serves as pastor to congregants who aren't connected to a specific ministry. It reports to the Outreach & Care Team Leader.

PRIMARILY SERVES

PAC Congregation | Individuals & Families in Crisis | Stephen Ministers | Care Volunteers

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Every significant care need gets a timely, pastoral response and a named person following up.
• Pastors handle hospital visits, and a mobilized team of pastors, Stephen Ministers, and trained volunteers handles check-ins and practical needs, not just this role alone.
• Families who lose someone feel carried by the church from the first call, through the funeral service, and the weeks that follow.
• Congregants who need a Stephen Minister are matched with one, and Stephen Ministers are supported and serving from a healthy place.
• Prayer requests are reviewed every week, urgent ones get a pastoral response, and staff receive the week's requests promptly.
• The Pastoral On-Call Rotation is always covered, with backup in place when the on-call pastor can't respond.
• Care records are confidential, current, and complete enough that follow-up never depends on one person's memory.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own PAC's care response. Review incoming needs, including weekly prayer requests and calls to the care line, screen each one to determine the response it needs, and reach out personally to congregants facing illness, hospitalization, loss, family crises, or other major life events.
• Mobilize care rather than doing it alone. Coordinate hospital visits through PAC's pastors, and care visits, pastoral check-ins, and practical help through pastors, Stephen Ministers, and trained care volunteers, matching each need to the right person.
• Provide pastoral oversight and direction for Stephen Ministry. Support and equip Stephen Leaders, lead biweekly Stephen Minister meetings and monthly meetings with lay leaders, and identify congregants who would benefit from a Stephen Minister.
• Recruit and develop a care team of volunteers who help with practical needs.
• Provide emergency pastoral care, prayer, and spiritual encouragement, and follow up after significant life events so support continues once the immediate crisis passes.
• Serve as pastor to congregants not connected to a specific ministry, receive their care needs, and see each one through.
• Coordinate pastoral support for families experiencing a death. Assist with funeral and memorial service planning, officiate when appropriate, and coordinate with other pastors as funeral and wedding needs arise.
• Oversee PAC's prayer request process by receiving, reviewing, and responding to congregational requests, following up on urgent or significant needs, and distributing the week's requests to staff.
• Maintain the pastoral care on-call rotation and serve as backup when the on-call pastor, the primary responder, is unavailable.
• Maintain a confidential system for tracking care needs and follow-up in Planning Center Online.
• Contribute to PAC's care response framework and processes as they're designed, bringing what this role sees in the work, and put them into practice.
• Train PAC staff to recognize and communicate pastoral care needs, so needs reach the right person quickly, and offer the same training once a year to prayer team members and Community Group leaders.
• Keep the Outreach & Care Team Leader informed about care trends, significant situations, and needs the team can't cover.

PASSIONATE ABOUT

• Sitting with someone in a hospital room without needing to fix anything.
• Making the follow-up call weeks after the emergency needs have been met.
• Equipping ordinary church members to care well, and trusting them to do it.
• Helping a grieving family plan a service that honors the person they lost.
• Praying with people in crisis and coming back to see how they're doing.
• Keeping a confidence, even when sharing it would be easier.

REQUIREMENTS

• Licensed with the C&MA, or able to complete C&MA licensing within 90 days of hire.
• Personal, growing Christian faith and full alignment with PAC's mission, beliefs, and C&MA doctrinal commitments.
• 3+ years of experience in pastoral care, crisis response, chaplaincy, or comparable care ministry, whether vocational or substantial volunteer leadership.
• Experience building, training, and coaching volunteer teams.
• Composure and sound pastoral judgment in crisis, including situations with no precedent, and clarity about what to carry personally and what to refer.
• Ability to keep accurate, confidential care records and protect them.
• Successful completion of a background check and PAC's child safety training prior to start.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• A degree in ministry, theology, or pastoral care, or equivalent years of relevant experience.
• Trained Stephen Leader, or willingness to complete Stephen Leader training within a year of hire.
• Experience planning and officiating weddings, funerals, and memorial services, and making hospital visits.

LEADERSHIP EXPECTATIONS

• Growing Christian faith and character.
• Commitment to the mission of the church.
• Call to ministry within a diverse congregation.
• Lifestyle congruent with the biblical requirements for leaders (1 Tim. 3:1-13; 2 Tim. 2; Titus 1:5-9).
• Member of PAC within 6 months of start date.
• Commitment to give faithfully to the Local and Global Ministry Funds.
• Participation in a Community Group.
• One-on-one discipleship.

TIME COMMITMENT

This position includes weekend services as well as office hours. Staff is expected to attend weekend services and church-wide events as assigned, and to promptly communicate schedule changes to other staff and direct reports.

This role requires attendance at all Sunday services, Good Friday, all Easter services, all Christmas Eve services, and the Sunday between Christmas and New Year's. It also includes weekly and biweekly department and staff meetings, as well as the annual Metro District Conference. Evenings and weekends are required as ministry needs arise, including after-hours care response. Planned retreats, workshops, and training outside standard business hours are also a part of normal ministry rhythms.

This role maintains the pastoral on-call rotation and serves as backup to the on-call pastor, providing coverage for funerals, weddings, hospital and emergency visits, and other pastoral care needs that arise outside scheduled hours.

WORK ARRANGEMENT & FLEXIBILITY

This role is hybrid. Sundays are on-site all day, and hospital visits, home visits, Stephen Ministry meetings, and family meetings ahead of a funeral require in-person availability.

Up to two days per week may be worked remotely, scheduled with the Outreach & Care Team Leader. Care needs don't keep office hours, so remote days are subject to responsiveness expectations and will sometimes be interrupted.