Pastoral Support

Job Description | Freshwater Community Church

Position Overview

The Pastoral Support & Ministry Coordinator provides relational, administrative, and ministry support to the pastoral team, helping create greater efficiency, organization, and intentionality in the way Freshwater cares for people and carries out its mission.

This role serves as a trusted partner to the pastors, helping coordinate ministry details, facilitate pastoral follow-up, strengthen communication, and develop systems that allow the pastoral team to focus more fully on shepherding people, leading the church, and advancing the mission of Freshwater Community Church.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, relationally mature, spiritually grounded, proactive, and able to bring both warmth and structure to a variety of ministry needs.

Reporting Structure

Reports to: Troy Gentz; Lead Pastor

Works closely with: All Freshwater pastors and ministry leaders

Position type: Part Time

Hours: 10 hrs per week

Location: Freshwater Community Church, Paw Paw, Michigan

Partners with the following ministries: FW 101, Partners, Baptism, Connect Fair, Community Group Leadership, Motivate, FW Celebrations, Parade, and Prayer Groups.

Technology Skills: Familiarity with Planning Center, Google Docs, and Google Sheets, or the ability and willingness to learn these systems. 

Primary Purpose

To support the pastoral team by helping ensure that people are cared for, ministry details are organized, communication is clear, and pastoral initiatives are carried out with excellence and intentionality.

This role is not simply administrative. It is a ministry-support position that combines shepherding, coordination, organization, follow-through, and relationship-building to help the pastoral team serve the church more effectively.

Core Responsibilities

1. Pastoral Team Support

• Provide day-to-day organizational and relational support to the pastoral team.

• Assist with scheduling, coordinating meetings, preparing agendas, and managing follow-up items.

• Help pastors stay organized with ministry commitments, important dates, and ongoing responsibilities.

• Anticipate needs of upcoming events and proactively assist with details that contribute to an effective pastoral ministry.

• Help coordinate communication and collaboration among pastors and ministry leaders.

• Serve as a trusted, dependable resource for the pastoral team.

2. Pastoral Care & Shepherding Support

• Assist the pastoral team in ensuring individuals and families receive thoughtful and timely follow-up.

• Help coordinate care-related communication, appointments, visits, and other pastoral needs as directed.

• Maintain appropriate records and follow-up systems to help ensure people, events, or ministries do not fall through the cracks.

• Help identify opportunities for connection, encouragement, and care within the church body.

• Provide relational support and encouragement to individuals when appropriate and within the scope of the role.

• Work with sensitivity and discretion when handling personal, family, or pastoral matters.

3. Ministry Coordination & Follow-Through

• Assist in coordinating pastoral initiatives, ministry gatherings, and church-wide opportunities.

• Help organize and execute ministry details from planning through completion.

• Support initiatives such as Partner Meetings, Freshwater 101, Connect Fair, Motivate, baptisms, community groups, pastoral gatherings, and other ministry events.

• Coordinate with staff and volunteers to ensure responsibilities, timelines, and communication are clear.

• Track action items and help ensure follow-through after meetings and ministry events.

• Identify opportunities to improve processes and create greater consistency across ministry efforts.

4. Organization, Systems & Efficiency

• Develop and maintain organizational systems that support the pastoral team and church as a whole.

• Help streamline workflows, communication, scheduling, and follow-up processes.

• Assist in creating tools, templates, checklists, and systems that improve ministry efficiency.

• Help pastors and ministry leaders organize information and prioritize next steps.

• Evaluate existing processes and recommend practical improvements.

• Bring initiative and problem-solving to the day-to-day needs of the pastoral team.

5. Communication & Collaboration

• Help facilitate clear, timely communication between pastors, staff, ministry leaders, and volunteers.

• Assist with drafting correspondence, follow-up messages, meeting notes, and ministry-related communication.

• Help ensure important information is communicated to the appropriate people.

• Collaborate with staff to support a unified and organized ministry environment.

• Represent the pastoral team with warmth, professionalism, and a servant's heart.

6.   Confidentiality & Professional Conduct

• Handle confidential pastoral, personal, and church-related information with wisdom and discretion.

• Maintain appropriate boundaries in all pastoral and relational interactions.

• Demonstrate integrity, dependability, humility, and professionalism.

• Follow Freshwater Community Church policies and leadership direction.

• Support the church’s mission, values, theology, and commitment to serving people well.

Qualifications & Competencies

Spiritual & Character Qualifications

• A committed follower of Jesus Christ with a growing, authentic faith.

• Demonstrates spiritual maturity, humility, integrity, and a servant’s heart.

• Aligns with the mission, values, and theological convictions of Freshwater Community Church.

• Exhibits wisdom, discretion, compassion, and emotional maturity.

• Has a genuine heart for people and a desire to help others feel cared for and connected.

Professional Qualifications

• Strong organizational and time-management skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication abilities.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining attention to detail.

• Proactive, self-motivated, and able to anticipate needs.

• Strong follow-through and a high level of dependability.

• Ability to work collaboratively with pastors, staff, volunteers, and church members.

• Comfortable handling sensitive information with confidentiality.

• Proficient in common office, scheduling, communication, and organizational tools.

• Previous experience in ministry, administration, pastoral care, project coordination, or a related field is preferred.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is someone who:

• Loves people and notices people.

• Can bring order and clarity to a busy ministry environment.

• Is comfortable both sitting with someone in a difficult season and organizing the details behind the scenes.

• Takes initiative rather than waiting to be told every next step.

• Is trustworthy, flexible, and able to handle changing priorities.

• Understands that administrative excellence can be an expression of care.

• Is able to work independently while remaining closely connected to the pastoral team.

• Has a heart to help pastors pastor more effectively.

Success in This Role Looks Like

Success in this position is reflected in:

• Pastors feeling supported, organized, and better equipped to focus on ministry.

• Individuals and families receiving timely and thoughtful pastoral follow-up.

• Ministry initiatives, groups, and programs being coordinated clearly and carried through effectively.

• Improved systems, communication, and efficiency across the pastoral team and church staff.

• Staff and ministry leaders experiencing greater clarity and collaboration.

• People at Freshwater feeling seen, cared for, connected, and valued.