The River is a church that is on a dynamic journey. We started 13 years ago in suburban Sunnyvale, CA, a relatively privileged community in Silicon Valley. In recent years, the Holy Spirit has led us to embrace more fully all the dimensions of Jesus' Kingdom. We meet at San Jose State University and have become more multi-ethnic and multi-class in our overall makeup. We are a "set up and teardown" church.We are in search of a new director for Kids' Community (our children's ministry) whose philosophy of ministry is similar to our current approach. Our ministry is spiritual formation-based and places importance on acknowledging the developmental stages of childhood. We believe that faith formation of children is deepened when they are full participants in the life of the church and that parents and guardians are the main faith influence.
Our curriculum for children 3-12 years old is Godly Play, a Montessori style method of Bible storytelling and child-directed discovery. Emphasis is placed on each child's own process of internalizing faith and core Christian beliefs rather than on external practices that have been traditional measures of belief (altar calls, scripture or fact memorization, prizes, etc.). A high value is placed on relationship-building and the power of modeling by adults in the community. The book Postmodern Children's Ministry by Ivy Beckwith has been significant in the development of our philosophy of ministry.
The director will: implement and oversee the children's ministry programs, continue to champion the integration of children into the overall church ministry, seek out opportunities for families to be supported in faith formation, and maintain the established Sunday ministry structure, in part by using the Godly Play curriculum for at least one full ministry year.
We desire a mature and emotionally healthy Christ-follower who is articulate about the spiritual formation of children and who has a deep love for and ability to function intuitively with children at any place on their spiritual journey. The candidate should have highly developed managerial skills, proven administrative skills, and be an experienced teacher and/or trainer of both adults and children in a multicultural context. We also value conflict resolution/peacemaking skills. Willingness to be trained in Godly Play, if not already certified, is required.
Please send resumes to jill@the-river.org. Also see our website for more information about the church and the position.
