Pastor of Care

Valley Community Baptist Church in Avon, Connecticut, is seeking a Pastor of Care to lead a ministry of Christ-centered care, recovery, and support.

We envision this role as roughly balanced across three areas:

·       Pastoral care: providing wise, compassionate shepherding through seasons of crisis, grief, suffering, and spiritual struggle.

·       Care systems and team leadership: developing staff and volunteers and strengthening the pathways through which people receive appropriate care, referrals, and follow-up.

·       Recovery and support ministries: overseeing ministries such as Celebrate Recovery, GriefShare, and DivorceCare, equipping their leaders, and strengthening healthy, sustainable groups.

We are looking for someone who finds purpose in all three—caring personally for people while equipping others and organizing ministries that extend the church’s care.

Candidates must be Evangelical and Baptistic in convictions and aligned with Valley’s theology and ministry philosophy.

We especially welcome candidates currently serving in New England or the broader Northeast, as well as those with meaningful regional ties through prior ministry, upbringing, education, or other sustained connections. We value an understanding of the region and a thoughtful commitment to long-term ministry in Connecticut. Candidates from elsewhere who demonstrate that understanding and commitment are also welcome.

Valley Community Baptist Church Job Description 

Pastor of Care

Ministry Division: Valley Care

Purpose:       The Pastor of Care provides pastoral leadership, vision, oversight, and organizational direction for Valley’s congregational care ministry. This role helps ensure that individuals experience Christ-centered care through authentic relationships, pastoral guidance, recovery ministries, and coordinated support systems during seasons of crisis, suffering, grief, transition, and spiritual struggle. The Pastor of Care works collaboratively with Adult Discipleship and broader ministry leadership to strengthen a churchwide culture of relational care while equipping volunteers, leaders, and groups to participate in the shepherding life of the church.

Candidate Attributes and Qualifications

To be effective in this role, a successful candidate will be a growing, committed disciple of Jesus Christ. Candidates must be Evangelical and Baptistic in convictions and possesses many of the following core gifts, passions, and qualifications:

Spiritual and Theological

·       Strong biblical theology of care, discipleship, suffering, and restoration

·       Alignment with Valley’s theological convictions and ministry philosophy

·       Personal spiritual maturity and healthy devotional life

·       Wise and discerning pastoral instincts

Pastoral and Relational

·       Compassionate and emotionally mature shepherd

·       Able to navigate complex pastoral situations with wisdom and steadiness

·       Skilled listener with strong relational intelligence

·       Healthy personal boundaries and emotional resilience

 Leadership and Organizational

·       Systems thinker capable of building sustainable care structures

·       Able to recruit, equip, supervise, develop, and mobilize staff and volunteer leaders

·       Collaborative leader who works well across ministries

·       Strong organizational leadership and administrative instincts

·       Able to create clarity, accountability, and follow-through

Care, Safety, and Referral Practice

 ·       Understands the distinction between pastoral care, biblical counsel, clinical treatment, and crisis intervention

·       Demonstrates appropriate confidentiality, documentation, safeguarding, and mandated-reporting practices

·       Exercises wise judgment in making referrals to qualified providers and maintaining healthy pastoral boundaries

Preferred Experience

·       Seminary degree or equivalent theological training

·       Ordained or ordainable

·       Five or more years of pastoral or care ministry leadership experience

·       Experience with congregational care, recovery ministries, counseling referral systems, or discipleship ministries

Ministry Responsibilities

Vision and Leadership

 ·       Clarify and champion Valley's philosophy of congregational care

·       Provide strategic leadership for the Care Ministry

·       Develop systems that strengthen sustainable congregational care

Care Systems and Oversight

·       Oversee intake, triage, care planning, follow-up, and appropriate documentation practices

·       Coordinate Care pathways and referrals

·       Supervise and develop Care ministry staff and volunteers

·       Maintain clear boundaries between pastoral care, counseling, clinical treatment, and crisis intervention 

Recovery and Support Ministries

·       Oversee recovery and support ministries including Celebrate Recovery, GriefShare, DivorceCare, and similar ministries

·       Ensure theological, pastoral, safety, and leadership alignment across care environments

·       Develop and support healthy leaders and sustainable structures for recovery and support ministries

Congregational Pastoral Support

·       Provide pastoral leadership in complex care situations, crises, funerals, grief support, and pastoral response as needed

·       Support congregational shepherding and pastoral presence within the broader staff team

·       Participate in shared pastoral crisis response, including reasonable availability beyond regular office hours for urgent care needs, coordinated with the Executive Pastor and pastoral staff team

Discipleship Integration

·       Partner with Adult Discipleship to strengthen care within small groups and discipleship communities

·       Help equip leaders to provide relational care within the body

Key Working Relationships and Authority

·       Reports directly to the Executive Pastor

·       Works closely with Adult Discipleship to strengthen care through small groups, discipleship communities, and leader development

·       Leads, supervises, and develops the Associate Director of Pastoral Care, Care Ministry Administrator, and other assigned Care staff

·       Leads and supports volunteer care leaders and teams, including deacons, visitation teams, prayer teams, care groups, and recovery/support-ministry leaders

·       Exercises leadership of Care Ministry planning, staffing, budget stewardship, and program evaluation; recommends when ministries should be strengthened, redesigned, paused, or concluded.

·       Builds and maintains appropriate relationships with Christian counselors, therapists, care agencies, and other qualified community providers.

 Other Details and Important Information

 Exempt:   Yes.

Status:  Full-time (40 hours per week)

Date:  November 11, 2026

Posted by: Executive Pastor

Employment At-Will

 All employees of Valley are at-will, and as such, are free to resign any time without reason. Valley, likewise, retains the right to terminate an employee’s employment at any time with or without reason or notice. Nothing contained in this job description or any other document provided to the employee is intended to be, nor should it be, construed as a guarantee that employment or any benefit will continue for any period of time.

How to Apply

Interested individuals should forward a cover letter, resumé, written testimony, and call to ministry to:

Pastor of Care Search

Valley Community Baptist Church

590 West Avon Rd.

Avon, CT 06001

OR

Email the four documents to: search@valleycommunity.cc

No phone calls, please