Relational Care Pastor

This Role

The Pastor of Relational Care provides pastoral leadership and spiritual support to individuals and families within the church, with particular care for adults 60+ and those needing general care as well as those facing seasons of crisis—relational, emotional, physical, financial, or health-related. This role oversees key care ministries, including prayer, benevolence, grief support and crisis response. Central to this position is equipping staff, leaders, and volunteers to offer compassionate, sustainable care that meets real needs within both the congregation and the surrounding community.

Relational & Pastoral Care

• Provide pastoral care meetings for staff, individuals, couples, and families, whether basic care needs up to crisis requests.
• Offer spiritual support and relational care for congregants 60+ through visitation, phone calls, events, and intentional connection. Constantly reminding these individuals they are seen as Oaks in this house and they still have much to contribute for the kingdom.
• Coordinate follow-up for those facing illness, grief, or crisis in collaboration with staff and volunteers.
• Offer prayer, Scripture, and pastoral presence to individuals and families during illness, surgery, or end-of-life care as well as coordinate follow-up care and referrals as appropriate.
• Ensure individuals and families are connected to appropriate pastoral, relational, and care resources within the church
• Maintain strict confidentiality and ethical boundaries in all care-related interactions.

Officiating Weddings and Overseeing/Officiating Funerals and Memorial Services

• Occasionally officiate wedding ceremonies, offering pastoral guidance and spiritual leadership.
• Support couples through preparation, ceremony planning, and post-wedding follow-up when appropriate, working with the Marriage Ministry.
• Walk with families through seasons of grief with pastoral care and counseling.
• Plan and officiate funerals and memorial services in collaboration with families and staff.
• Coordinate logistics with worship, facilities, and administrative teams.
• Provide ongoing grief support and connect individuals to care ministries such as grief groups or counseling resources.
• Oversee the church’s prayer in-take requests to provide prayer, connect with necessary pastoral oversight based on the request, and follow-up to those in need, in this house.
• Work with the prayer team/captains to help carry this load.
• Continue to build systems as well as streamline existing ones in order for sustainability, especially as it relates to prayer needs.
• Lead the administration and distribution of benevolence resources in alignment with church policies, ensuring compassionate and responsible assistance.
• Work to connect those that are a part of our church family that submit benevolence requests into further veins of discipleship.

Training & Equipping

• Raise up a care staff and volunteer team to assist in the increased number of requests that come in. This will help lessen the burden that you as the Care Pastor carry for our people.
• Develop and lead training sessions for staff and care volunteers to provide basic pastoral care and referral skills.
• Equip lay leaders to support relational health through small groups, mentoring, and support networks.
• Implement scalable care models (e.g., care teams, workshops, support groups) to serve more people sustainably.

Sustainable Care Structures

• Partner with the Discipleship Team to help design and teach classes to groups with experiences focused on marriage enrichment, grief recovery, caregiving, mandatory reporting, 911 situations, and related topics.
• Create and curate resources (e.g., books, devotionals, articles) to empower congregants in self-led spiritual and relational growth.
• Build pathways for congregants to receive care that do not depend solely on pastoral availability (e.g., peer support, coaching models, mentoring).

Wins and Measurables

Relational Care Wins When:

Care is Consistent and Scalable

• Congregants in crisis receive timely, compassionate support without bottlenecking at the pastoral level.
• Response time to care requests (e.g. 24–48 hours for initial contact).
• Susta…