DIRECTOR OF KIDS MINISTRY ROLE DESCRIPTION
at GRACE CHURCH LAKE HIGHLANDS
Our Vision
We believe the church is not primarily a place but a people called to share the hope of Jesus with our neighbors. Located in the heart of Lake Highlands at the intersection of Walnut Hill and Ferndale, we love our neighborhood and long to see it flourish in all the ways God intends. We aspire to be a church for both the convinced and the unconvinced, where all can discover and rediscover the intellectually compelling and personally satisfying grace of Jesus Christ. You can read more about our Vision and the values that shape how we pursue it by visiting the “Who We Are” page on our website (www.gracelh.church).
Lake Highlands — Dallas, TX
As a neighborhood-focused church, more than half of our members live in Lake Highlands and nearly 75% within 10 minutes of the church. The Lake Highlands neighborhood is home to roughly 90,000 people and is made unique by its small feel while still being located in the city of Dallas. With rolling hills and close proximity to White Rock Lake, it’s one of the more naturally beautiful areas in the city. Zoned for Richardson ISD, it’s a sought-after neighborhood for those raising school-aged children, with 11 elementary schools feeding into 2 middle schools and 1 high school. While a community with affluence and many single-family homes, Lake Highlands also has pockets of poverty evidenced by 57% of its public-school students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. It is also an ethnically diverse community with hundreds of bilingual students, who speak at least 70 different languages and dialects.
Family of Churches and Our Denomination
In our shared love for Jesus, we are pursuing the flourishing of our city alongside Highland Park Presbyterian Church, our planting congregation; Peak Street Church in Old East Dallas; Good Shepherd Oak Cliff; All Nations, a fellowship for African immigrants; and the Mandarin Chinese Church. While our congregation functions with a great deal of autonomy and financial self-sufficiency, we are grateful to continue to operate under the oversight of Highland Park Presbyterian until we independently charter (before September 2025). On a broader scale, Grace Church Lake Highlands is affiliated with a Presbyterian denomination called ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, and the beliefs of our church leadership are grounded in the ECO Essential Tenets.
Our Story
In January of 2020, Highland Park Presbyterian announced its intention to start a new neighborhood church in Lake Highlands, led by its then Teaching Pastor, Dr. Charlie Dunn. A launch team of about 50 people left Highland Park Presbyterian to become the original nucleus of the church. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our launch team spent the fall of 2020 meeting in backyards of homes and honing our vision. Then, in January of 2021, we began worshipping weekly on Sunday mornings in a rented space in Northwest Lake Highlands.
In January 2022, we moved to our current location at 10101 Walnut Hill Lane, the former home of a Lutheran church. Because of the kingdom-mindedness of the former congregation and the generosity of our members and supportive friends, we were able to purchase this property, debt-free, and have completed campus-wide renovations. You can read more about this on our website. We’re amazed by God’s provision to allow us to plant our roots deeply in Lake Highlands!
Since moving to this more central and visible location, our congregation has continued to grow as a multi-generational church family. Here are a few numbers, which reflect the current makeup and engagement within our church family.
- 240 average Sunday worship attendance, including an average of 60 children under age 10
- 230 adult covenant partners with 120 children. Two thirds of these members were not previously affiliated with Highland Park Presbyterian.
- 227 adults engaged in 14 community groups
- 184 adults serving across 12 volunteer teams
- $800k budget with fully-funded reserves from a very generous congregation
- 5 staff positions – 4 full time, 1 part time
God has also provided an opportunity for us to partner closely with the pre-school which meets on our campus. This school has operated for 38 years and provides part-time early childhood education to 150+ children ages 18 months to 5 years. Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, the school operates under the new name of “Grace Day School” and is governed by a Board made up of Grace Church Lake Highlands members.
Our Next (and First!) Kids Ministry Director
This is a full-time position, which reports to our Discipleship Pastor. We can competitively compensate with salary and benefits (range based upon experience and available on request).
To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to clawson@slingshotgroup.org
Person in This Role
We are looking for a friendly, detail-oriented, self-starter, who is highly organized and excels at communication with kids, their parents, and volunteer leaders. This person must:
- operate out of a mature, Scripture-infused love for Jesus
- have a passion for creating a safe, fun, and Jesus-centered environment for kids
- proactively and effectively be able to recruit, train, and deploy volunteers
- be able to partner well with parents in the discipleship of their kids
- be energized by new endeavors (in a quickly growing church setting)
Purpose of This Role
The Kids Ministry Director will support the Discipleship Pastor in ensuring the effective, age-appropriate spiritual formation of kids from birth through 5th grade. He or she will also provide resources for parents, execute and oversee the Sunday morning classes, oversee and periodically teach the Wednesday night program, and plan/execute major events (e.g. VBS), aided by the many volunteers in this ministry.
Desired Impact of This Role
- Sunday classes are safe, fun, Christ-centered, and spiritually edifying for kids of all ages
- Kids demonstrate a grasp of “faith fundamentals” and are prepared for a lifetime of discipleship through key milestones
- Volunteer Teachers are trained, well-resourced, and on a sustainable, well-scheduled rotation
- Parents frequently affirm that the ministry is a positive experience for their kids
- Resources are regularly made available to parents for them to partner in discipling their kids
- Neighborhood and Grace Day School families are reached through well planned and executed major events (e.g. VBS, Family Advent Experience, etc.)
Responsibilities of This Role
Discipleship Strategy
- Work with the Discipleship Pastor to ensure that kids ministry curriculum is aligned with the theology of the church and well adapted for ages of kids
- Develop and teach “key milestone” classes
- Teach a 4-week class for 3rd graders on how to read the Bible on their own
- Teach a 6-week class for 5th graders on how to engage in corporate worship
- Develop and implement a plan for how elementary aged kids will be encouraged to learn faith fundamentals (e.g. Scripture verses, Lord’s Prayer, Apostle’s Creed, books of the Bible, catechism questions, etc.)
- Work with the Grace staff team to make sure that ministry to kids and their families is well integrated into the overall discipleship and calendar of the church
Sunday Classes
- Oversee Sunday kids classes, ensuring that the class for each of our 8 age groups (Infants, Toddlers, 3s, 4-5s, Kinder, 1st, 2nd-3rd, 4th-5th) provides a safe, loving, fun, and spiritually edifying experience
- Ensure that rooms are setup and check-in stations are operating
- Lead check-in process, especially welcoming new families
- Visit Sunday classes on rotating basis to observe potential areas for improvement or additional volunteer training
- Ensure that child safety policies and procedures are being followed
- Ensure that our volunteer “Clean Team” is cleaning up classes in a way that is consistent with shared use guidelines with the pre-school
- Prepare resources for Sunday mornings
- Email lesson plan for teachers in each class
- Print necessary lesson plans for teachers
- Ensure that classrooms have necessary supplies for craft, snacks, etc.
- Email lesson follow up to parents of kid so they will know what their kids are learning and so they can continue conversation with them after church
Volunteer Management
- Actively recruit and onboard new volunteers
- Schedule in Planning Center volunteers, who serve in our Sunday morning teaching rotation. Ideally scheduling will be done at least one month in advance with volunteers serving once per 6 weeks.
- Ensure that kids ministry volunteers have completed background check and Protect My Ministry safety training
- Train kids ministry volunteers as needed and through at least 2 annual trainings
Midweek Program
- Launch and regularly teach a 2x a month elementary aged Wednesday night Bible study including games, dinner, and a Bible lesson
- Recruit volunteers who can regularly assist with this program
Parent Equipping
- Celebrate key family milestones (birth and baptism) with gifts/notes
- Email to parents a Sunday lesson plan about what their children are learning on Sundays with suggested ways to engage with them.
- Plan and execute 2 parenting talks per year from experts on topics relevant to parents
Special Events
- Plan and execute a 3-day summer VBS experience
- Plan and execute Family Advent Experience
- Plan and execute annual Easter Egg Hunt and Breakfast
- Work with Grace Day School to collaborate on Fall Festival
Education, Experience, Skills/Abilities Requirements
- Education: A BA or BS degree from an accredited college/university
- Experience:
- Teaching kids with some expertise in child development
- Proven experience recruiting, developing and deploying volunteer teams in a ministry or non-profit context
- At least 3 years of relevant ministry experience with kids (preferred)
- Skills/Abilities
- Highly organized and able to create efficient systems
- Friendly, relational, and able to draw others in
- Clear communicator in speaking and writing
- Detail-oriented self-starter, who is able to work independently
- Team player with a collaborative spirit
Expectations
- Committed to making Grace your church home and faith community
- Embodies the mission of the church through a lifestyle of hospitality and evangelism
- Acts as an advocate of the culture and Vision of Grace Church Lake Highlands
- Christian faith aligned with the beliefs of Grace Church Lake Highlands and the ECO denomination
- Commits to and exhibits the values of Grace Church Lake Highlands
- Jesus-centered
- Mission-Driven
- Neighborhood-Focused
- Family-Connected
