Director for Evangelical Mission, Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod

Description

About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 3 million members in more than 8,600 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of “God’s work. Our hands.,” the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA’s roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.

The Lutheran Center (national office) is located in Chicago, Illinois. A staff of approximately 400, under the leadership of the Presiding Bishop, serve as administrators, advisors, conveners, partners, and resource people for the ELCA and its ministries. Staff lead the work of national, domestic, and global ministries and programs including Lutheran Disaster Response, ELCA World Hunger, Service & Justice, Christian Community and Leadership, and Innovation. We are also home to five of our separately incorporated ministries: The Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA, Women of the ELCA, Lutheran Men in Mission, the ELCA Foundation and the ELCA Federal Credit Union.

About the position

Grounded in our purpose and priorities, the Christian Community and Leadership Unit (CCL) helps the ELCA reach and engage new, younger and more diverse people, welcoming them into the Christian faith. To this end, we will energize and engage our core membership and work with the whole of the ELCA to recruit, develop and deploy the leadership, both lay and rostered, that the church needs to fulfill its purpose of spreading the gospel and building the church. 

The Director for Evangelical Mission (DEM) represents the ELCA through the Christian Community and Leadership Unit (CCL) in the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod and is responsible for the development of tools to support congregational vitality, which we define as, “Communities of Jesus that nurture new life-changing relationships with God, one another and the world.” The position also reflects the purposes, principles and commitments of the synod, CCL and the ELCA as a whole. 

The (DEM) will collaborate and coordinate with Churchwide, synod and congregational leaders to develop strategies designed to help congregations engage their communities so that more people know the way of Jesus and discover community, justice and love. 

The person in this position is expected to fully participate in the life and ministry of the synod on the synod staff with synod initiatives and is responsible for implementing and building upon ELCA commitments to ministries among diverse cultures and communities, people with disabilities, and the young-adult population, as well as people and communities experiencing poverty. The DEM participates in resourcing the synod mission strategy with an emphasis on congregational vitality, evangelism, and leadership. 

About the synod

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod has 143 congregations in ten counties around the city of Pittsburgh. The famed “Three Rivers” that converge in Pittsburgh (Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio) are a reflection of the experience of this region, shaping both rural and urban communities for many hundreds of years. As industries dependent on the rivers grew over the last two centuries, small and large towns grew up around those industries.

The synod is one of the few that is completely included in what the U.S. government has defined as Appalachia. Although most residents would not even realize that they are identified as Appalachian or use that term in self-description, Appalachian values are a part of the “DNA” of the culture. Among them are strong ties to place, distrust of outside management, eager patriotism, sports team loyalties and a preference for tradition over innovation.  

There are ELCA congregations in many of these towns.  Together with their communities, these congregations have experienced the effect of the changes of the last 60 years in the Pittsburgh area as the steel industry has waned from being the driving force of employment. However, in the last 20 years, Pittsburgh has reinvented itself as a center for medical and technology innovation, and a younger and more diverse population has moved in. This has created a whole new mix of mission opportunities as synod congregations wrestle with how to reach out into their neighborhoods with renewed vision and vigor, especially since many of our congregations’ leaders are seniors with long-time roots in the area and traditional Lutheran approaches to evangelical outreach. More about the synod work can be found at www.swpasynod.org 

This position will be cotermi