Executive Minister

EXECUTIVE MINISTER JOB DESCRIPTION

Location: The Riverside Church in the City of New York (New York, NY)           

Reports to: Senior Minister, Rev. Adriene Thorne

Department: Worship and the Arts

Schedule: Full-Time, Exempt: Sunday through Thursday. Availability for Sundays and holidays as required.

Salary Range: $175,000 to $195,000

Start Date: At earliest convenience

Job Summary

The Executive Minister leads the strategy, management, and evaluation of The Riverside Church’s programs, has primary responsibility for the supervision, coaching, and development of the clergy program team, and leads in shaping worship. As a member of the leadership team, the Executive Minister plays a key leadership role in guiding Riverside’s mission and organizational success. This position oversees programs, clergy capacity building, and the worship and music of the church.

Essential Job Responsibilities:

• • Oversees Clergy and Program Staff on behalf of Senior Minister.
  • Participates as a member of the leadership team with the Senior Minister and COO. Plays a key role in the overall development, strategic planning, service delivery, and management of the church across multiple areas.
  • Participates in and provides leadership for church-wide learning, development, and culture-building activities.
  • Interacts with the Church Council as a thought partner and liaison to Commissions.

• WORSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT 

  • Oversees and coordinates all Riverside worship services in partnership with Senior Minister and Director of Music, and collaborates to ensure that meaningful worship is a regular marker of life at The Riverside Church.
  • Oversees all administrative responsibilities related to worship including the coordination of music programming for worship and other occasions. 
  • Oversees requests for all technical aspects of worship including sound, lighting, visuals, and other technology used during worship in partnership with Communications, Media, Technical Services, Building Services, IT, and others as appropriate. 
  • Oversees the management of the liturgical calendar so that prayers, rituals, music, art, etc. support the focus for worship.
  • Encourages experimentation among clergy and liturgical leaders with traditional and/or innovative forms of worship, which are diverse, embodied, and inclusive. 
  • Oversees the recruiting and scheduling of guest preachers, worship leaders, and others.
  • Supervises worship team inclusive of administrative assistant and worship coordinator. 
  • Leads weekly worship meetings and attends monthly worship commission meetings.
  • Prepares and administers worship budget.
  • Works with clergy and worship commission to establish methods for evaluating worship outcomes to continually improve the worship experience.
  • Fosters collaboration and cohesion among the worship team and worship commission.

• PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT

  • Leads programmatic development and implementation for the church, aligned with strategic priorities and ensures equity throughout.
  • Establishes measurable, achievable program area goals and objectives on an annual basis and monitors progress.
  • Oversees the coordination, integration, and delivery of programs and related activities.
  • Oversees the creation of templates, best practices, and standard operating procedures.
  • Promotes collaborative relationships between program areas and ensures that the expectations of members, partners, funders, and other stakeholders are consistently met.
  • Develops and fosters a high-performance, collaborative and accountable culture throughout program teams, aligned with core values and church commitments to equity and inclusion.
  • Works with clergy and teams to establish methods for evaluating program outcomes and leverages internal and/or external resources to inform program results.
  • Stays abreast of developments in the external environment of the nonprofit / religious sector and ecosystem; develops new program ideas and pilot projects that incorporates input from the community.
  • Collaborates with the COO and Finance Director to budget and monitor programmatic operations to ensure sound fiscal and systems management and provides guidance and oversight on budgets and financial monitoring to clergy.
  • Deploys resources efficiently and effectively toward church goals, working with teams to balance workload and activities.
  • Serves as thought partner and advisor to colleagues ensuring programmatic strategy and operations in close collaboration with areas such as finance, development, IT and data systems, and communications.

• STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT

  • Directly supervises clergy to build their supervisory and managerial leadership skills to engage, encourage, empower, and motivate program staff.
  • Provides strategic guidance and coaching to clergy in program planning, management and implementation for increased effectiveness and accountability.
  • Sets expectations for program teams and monitors performance and progress
  • Leads effort in establishing staff goals and objectives and measures results against program impact, effectiveness, and other predetermined accountability parameters.
  • Provides leadership, and support to program teams to enhance their ability to collaborate effectively, leverage internal partnerships, and foster greater cohesion.
  • Collaborates with senior leadership to develop organizational policies, procedures, and protocols related to programs.
  • Cultivates relationships and establishes partnerships between different program areas, encouraging knowledge sharing, resource utilization, and collaborative problem-solving.
  • Determines staffing requirements to achieve program goals and objectives and participates in hiring decisions for new program staff.
  • Other duties as assigned by the Senior Minister. 

Education and Experience Requirements:

• Master of Divinity degree required. 
• Membership and ordination in a member denomination of the National Council of Churches.
• 7+ years of experience in management or leadership roles, preferably in program leadership, development, or evaluation in the nonprofit / religious sector.
• 4+ years of experience successfully supervising and managing staff and teams. Experience in a multi-cultural setting preferred.
• 5+ years of experience coordinating worship. 
• Ability to listen and effectively communicate with peers, staff, council, funders, and partners while managing relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Consistency and goal orientation, problem-solving aptitude, flexibility, creativity, and discretion.
• Leadership capacity at team and organizational levels and in leading through change.
• Proven track-record of building and managing projects from conception to completion.
• Strategic, cross-functional thinker with a strong desire to move towards implementation and action.
• Commitment to the church’s mission, vision, and values.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion while fostering a culture of belonging.
• Commitment to collaboration and continuous learning at all levels of the organization.