Executive Director

REDEEMER DOWNTOWN

New York, New York

THEIR STORY

In early 1989 a group of 15 people began meeting weekly in an Upper East Side apartment. Their purpose was to pray about starting a new church in the heart of Manhattan for professional New Yorkers. One of their concerns was that new believers were finding it difficult to locate a church they could attend, a church that was open to people who were seeking answers regarding their faith, and where they felt secure in bringing their friends who were skeptical about matters of faith. Pastor Tim Keller began meeting with the small prayer group, as he investigated the needs of New York City residents with the Mission to North America Committee of the Presbyterian Church in America. A church plant developed, and the movement soon grew over the course of 1989.

By Christmas that year, attendance at the church numbered approximately 250; by its first anniversary Redeemer had added three staff members to work in administration, small groups and Christian education. In 1992 Redeemer founded Hope for New York, an outward-facing mercy ministry focused on addressing the practical needs of the city’s population.

Redeemer grew steadily in Sunday attendance to ~3000 per week by 1996. Sunday services were held three times a Sunday at Hunter College auditorium and eventually services were added on the West Side of Central Park and many ministries were developed to address human needs in the city.

The addition of a West Side service marked when Redeemer decided to become a multi-site church rather than continue growing in one location into a “mega-church.” This model was formed around the idea of setting up worship service sites for four (later, three) distinct congregations around Central Park instead of one large congregation meeting at Hunter College.

In the autumn of 1997, Redeemer concluded its first Capital Campaign and used the funds to initiate the development of the multi-site model and to found the Redeemer Church Planting Center. From 1993 to 2006 Redeemer planted daughter churches throughout the New York Metro area. The first two were in Greenwich Village (The Village Church) and Rye, New York (Trinity Presbyterian). In partnership with others, New Song Fellowship in Harlem and North Shore Presbyterian in Oyster Bay, Long Island were established. In March of 2007 Redeemer grew from four to five worship services (offering an additional West Side evening service) and Sunday worship attendance increased to approximately 4800.

Redeemer began the process of transitioning from one centrally staffed church into three congregations—each with its own lead Pastor and local staff—with the launch of the East Side congregation in October of 2011. In October of 2012 the Downtown congregation was launched and averaged over 1000 people in worship attendance.

By the end of 2012, Redeemer had multiplied into three generative congregations around the city. With one centrally-governed church body, the dynamic of the church became more engaged in neighborhoods located east, west and south of Central Park. As three "sister" congregations united by its preaching, under Dr. Keller’s senior leadership, each congregation served its neighborhood more distinctively and on a deeper, more transforming level. Redeemer's churches looked forward with a movement mindset to plant more gospel centered churches as God provided the opportunities. Tim Keller stepped down as Senior Pastor of Redeemer in 2016 but continues to work with Redeemer City to City training future pastors and church planters.

As venues and leaders became available, Redeemer churches continued to work toward adding more local worship sites in new neighborhoods. Redeemer Downtown became its own particular church in 2017. John Lin was its pastor and was working under Tim Keller as the senior pastor. Today, Redeemer Downtown averages 400 attendees on Sunday morning, with an equal number of viewers online.

Since those early days, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (Redeemer) has sought to be a church for the city by catalyzing a movement of the gospel in New York, through individual repentance, personal discipleship, rich gospel community, and city-wide renewal.

With the recent call of its new Senior Pastor, Rev. Pete Nicholas, RDT is at an exciting point in its journey as it seeks to reimagine Redeemer’s gospel vision for the present and future.

Learn more about their vision in 2022 HERE, entitled ROOTED.

WHAT THEY DO

When Redeemer was started in 1989, the most common refrain was:

“We don’t want to have a church for ourselves, but for people who don’t like church.”

More than 30 years later, that is still the motivation behind everything they do; skeptics are always welcome here. Rather than creating an insular community of believers, they focus their service outward to the larger community in New York City. They serve those in need first and foremost, considering the needs of the larger Body than of their own “tribe.” While they utilize orthodox, Presbyterian guides for worship, the vision lies in connecting with even the most skeptical neighbor.

“The gospel of Jesus Christ is a big enough idea to try to get your mind around; we don’t want to add the additional burden of insider language, tasteless music or impenetrable rituals for our congregation.”

Redeemer Downtown currently offers two Sunday services, both with virtual options,

· Classical/eclectic service at 10 AM. (Includes children’s ministry through 5th grade)

· Contemporary/eclectic service at 5 PM.

Learn more about their services and ministries HERE.

Current Ministry Offerings at Redeemer Downtown

· Center for Faith and Work*

· Formation Conferences*

· Gotham Fellowship*

· Grace and Race Ministry

· Inter-arts Fellowship

· Intro to Redeemer classes

· Leadership Community Gathering (LCG)

· Monthly Conversations Series on Race

· Parenting Classes

· Premarital Classes

· Premarital Counseling

· Vacation Bible School (VBS)

Sacrificial Service

· COVID Relief Fund

· Diaconate

· Hope for New York*

· Meals Delivery Ministry*

Intimate Fellowship

· Affinity Groups - Blessedly Brown, Living Latino

· Children’s Ministry

· Churchwide Socials

· Coffee Hour

· Community Groups

· CG Leadership Retreats

· Divorce Support

· LGBTQ Support Group*

· Men’s Discipleship Groups

· Marriage Works Over 40s*

· Owls - Older Wiser Loving Servants*

· Parents and Family Brunches

· Town Hall Meetings

· Vocational Ministry*

· Women’s Discipleship Groups

· Youth Ministry

· Youth Retreats (Young Life)*

Joyous Worship

· Audio/Video Engineering Team

· Communion Service Team

· Midweek Prayer + Praise

· Music Band

· Pre-Service Prayer Team

· Weekly Scripture Meditation

· Welcome Table

Relentless Evangelism

· Church Planting Center*

· City to City*

· RUF College Ministry*

· His Toy Store*

· Questioning Christianity*

· Rise Campaign*

*Ministry opportunities available through the Redeemer network of churches

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Title: Executive Director

Classification: Full time/exempt, 40 hours per week, works on Sundays

Reports to: Senior Pastor

Travel: N/A

Location: New York City, NY

Summary:

Reporting to the Senior Pastor, the Executive Director has the responsibility to implement the vision of the church. To that end, the role includes overseeing the staff so that they can in turn equip and release the church family’s gifts in the pursuit of this vision and directing all internal operations to ensure organizational alignment. We believe that only a complex (diverse in demographics and gifting) and united staff and leadership team can ‘solve’ the complex problems facing a global city like NY. Therefore, the ED will need to be adept at working in a diverse team and fostering unity and collaboration in the pursuit of shared goals.

The ED will also work closely with the Senior Pastor in facilitating a dynamic and life-giving gospel culture in the staff team and wider church, and will direct and oversee strategic planning, managing workflows, and day-to-day operations.

RDT is a collaborative organization, with a focus on leadership development and empowerment. Relationally, they value authenticity and a gospel centered approach, where they have high expectations of professionalism for people in their roles, but also high support and care.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Overseeing the Staff Team and Facilitating A Healthy Staff Culture

● Work with the Senior Pastor to recruit and develop godly, gifted and gospel hearted staff team members who are passionate about the vision of the church.

● Establish appropriate structure and content of the various staff meetings, including leading the Senior Staff Team meeting.

● Work with the Senior Pastor in establishing clear organizational values, and a healthy and dynamic staff culture in which diverse voices are drawn out and contribute towards the united vision.

● Ensure excellent staff alignment with strategic goals and vision: clear staff structure and reporting lines, regular 1-1s, excellent personnel development.

● Maintain emphasis on staff ‘equipping the church for works of ministry’ (Eph 4:12) to release the gifts in the wider church and not just ‘doing ministry’ for the church.

Positions that report directly to the executive director:

● The leadership team: Assistant pastor for discipleship, assistant pastor for mission, the director of Family ministry (yet to be recruited), director of operations.

Implementing Vision, Strategy and Budget

● Work with the Senior Pastor, Senior Staff Team, and Session to form a strategy marked by ‘godly ambition’ in pursuit of the overall vision and facilitate a shift in emphasis to the church becoming more ‘movemental’ (every church member bought into and active in generating a movement of the gospel in Downtown NY).

● Work with the staff team to set appropriate and stretching organizational priorities and goals, including in each ministry and organizational area, for each ministry season.

● Monitor and evaluate performance against strategy and be effective at adapting staff and volunteer goals/structures as appropriate.

● With the Senior Pastor, work with the wider Redeemer Network to see a movement of the gospel in NY, and to do shared events and ministry initiatives where appropriate.

● Work with the Senior Pastor to cultivate generosity and a strong donor base to enable the realization of the vision.

● Active involvement with RDT Session, including attendance at Session meetings.

Finance, HR and Internal Operations

● Work with Senior Pastor, Senior Staff Team to form the annual budget in alignment with the relevant stage of the strategic season.

● Monitor, evaluate and control budget expenditures against goals and ensure effective, timely and accurate reporting.

● Oversee the effective operation of all the back/middle office tasks, and where appropriate interface with the Redeemer Network ‘services’ (HR, accounting, finance, IT).

● Ensure excellent HR policies and practices in staff team, and work with the Senior Pastor and Session to ensure the church has excellent pastoral care and grievance resolution processes that are biblical and trauma-informed.

● Oversee office-related decisions including the contract for the existing office, the Sunday church venue, and any mid-week venue.

Qualifications:

Character

● A person of demonstrably godly character fulfilling the characteristics for a deacon in 1 Tim 3:8-13.

● Spiritual resilience with deep foundations in prayer, recognizing the joys and challenges of leadership in the local church.

● Able to speak to concrete areas of personal change where a gospel dynamic is evident.

● Servant Leader --Low ego/high impact

Competence

● Excellent organizational effectiveness with a proficiency across the range of organizational processes (HR, finance, IT, staff meetings, marketing, communications, strategy, innovation, advancement).

● Strategic Team Developer, Operations

● Has experienced professional failure, and personal suffering, and is able to speak to how these experiences have shaped their personal formation and professional approach.

● A dynamic self-starter who also has the humility to understand the nuances of ‘leading from the second chair.’

● Proven track record as a leader of setting and delivering on ambitious goals.

● Proven track record of forming and overseeing teams, including skillful recruitment, onboarding, and offboarding staff members.

● Minimum of 10+ years of business and management experience.

● MBA or able to demonstrate MBA-level of experience and training.

● Personal experience of large urban centers and the opportunities and challenges of large city dynamics particularly: high staff and church member turn-over, gospel skepticism, transience, urban work culture.

● Excellent interpersonal skills, high emotional intelligence, and a track record of working well in diverse and complex teams.

● Able to facilitate a fun and dynamic culture in a staff team.

Chemistry with the Redeemer Culture

● Passionate about the broad ministry distinctives (values) of the Redeemer Network:

○ Gospel: The Biblical, Reformed, Gospel that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of all, and therefore the gospel has implications for every area of life including work, and social justice.

○ City: The Gospel needs to be carefully contextualized to the city, where there are unique opportunities and challenges for the church.

○ Movement: A commitment to generating a gospel movement of personal repentance and corporate renewal, that involves every member of the church, and seeks to collaborate with other churches and ministry partners for the renewal of the city.

Compensation Package:

A competitive annual salary will be awarded based upon experience and credentials. An expected range for this role would be $155,000 to $200,000 annually.

The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill set, experience and training, licensure, certifications, and ordination, and other organizational needs.

Benefits Package:

Complete benefits information available on request. Highlights include:

- 15 vacation days annually, accrued monthly. Employees who have accrued Five Years of Service or greater will receive 20 days of paid vacation annually, accrued monthly.

- Employees are also eligible for 5 days of pastoral study leave, if pre-approved by their direct supervisor and the Executive Pastor/Director.

- One (1) week of study leave each year (except for the year of the sabbatical leave, if the employee is eligible for sabbatical leave) after the employee has completed one (1) full year of service.

- Empire Blue EPO Medical Plan - fully paid by Redeemer
- Empire Blue PPO Medical Plan - shared cost by Redeemer / Employee
Vision included (paid by employer)
- Dental included (paid by employer),
- HSA, annual Redeemer contribution for employee only, - HRA, Redeemer funded
- 403(b) Core Annual Contribution by Redeemer