Family & Next Gen Pastor

About Wooddale Church
Wooddale Church is a multigenerational, Bible-teaching church in Minnesota with campuses in Eden Prairie, Edina and the University of Minnesota. With a mission to honor God by making more disciples for Jesus Christ, Wooddale has a rich history and a future of sharing the gospel locally and globally by planting churches, supporting global partners and serving its local community.

Overview
The Family & Next Gen Pastor is responsible for leading a unified, vision-driven strategy that equips children (birth – 4^th grade), students (grades 5 – 12), and their families to develop a lifelong, resilient faith in Jesus Christ. This role will champion a cohesive discipleship journey for Next Gen families, ensuring strong alignment across ministries and campuses, and equipping parents as the primary disciple-makers in their homes. This role will ensure that every child and student at Wooddale Church experiences an intentional, immersive discipleship journey that is rooted in God’s Word and reinforced in their homes, small groups, and corporate worship. The goal is to create an environment where the next generation is not only discipled but empowered to lead the church into a new season of spiritual revival

Responsibilities
Visionary Leadership:

• Develop and champion a church-wide vision for Family & Next Gen Ministry that ensures a seamless discipleship pathway from birth through graduation.
• Establish clear spiritual milestones (e.g., baby dedication, baptism, Bible engagement, membership, commissioning) that create a sense of movement and purpose across every phase of faith development.
• Ensure that every ministry under the Family & Next Gen umbrella is actively engaging in outreach, evangelism, and community impact, with a goal of increasing the number of kids and students introduced to Jesus through personal invitations.
• Work in partnership with the Senior and Executive Pastors to ensure alignment with Wooddale Church’s broader discipleship strategy.

Strategic Next Gen Discipleship:

• Develop an integrated discipleship strategy for students (5th–12th grade) that fosters a continuous, intentional spiritual formation journey.
• Lead the effort to create a comprehensive roadmap that helps parents understand and engage in their child’s spiritual development from birth through high school graduation.
• Ensure that transitions between ministries (e.g., preschool to elementary, elementary to junior high, junior high to senior high) are smooth and effective, helping to eliminate the worldly disconnect many students feel as they move through different stages of life.

Parent Equipping & Family Discipleship:

• Equip parents to be the primary disciple-makers of their children by providing resources, coaching, and training on faith development in the home.
• Build a content strategy that delivers biblical, practical, and relevant teaching for parents and families through digital and in-person formats.
• Foster strong family engagement through serving opportunities, mentorship programs, and parenting support networks.

 Leadership Development & Team Oversight:

• Lead and develop the Family & Next Gen ministry staff, ensuring a culture of collaboration, innovation, and alignment.
• Train and equip volunteers to be effective disciple-makers in their respective ministry areas.
• Oversee ministry budgets, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively to maximize impact.
• Establish and maintain high standards for ministry environments, including safety, security, and welcoming check-in/check-out processes.

Content Creation & Community Impact:

• Leverage Wooddale’s content creation resources to produce engaging, biblical, and culturally relevant materials for children, students, and families on a consistent basis.
• Ensure that content is designed not only for those within Wooddale Church but also as an outreach tool to engage families in the broader community.
• Develop a strategy for digital discipleship that reaches beyond Sunday services, ensuring a continual connection with families throughout the week.

Qualifications

• Masters degree in a related Family & Next Gen field is required.
• Proven experience in developing and leading children’s, student, or family ministries in a large church setting.
• Demonstrated ability to recruit, train, and empower volunteer leadership.
• Strategic leadership skills to build and implement a comprehensive discipleship approach for the next generation.
• Deep understanding of how children and students develop spiritually within the context of the local church.
• Ability to lead and mentor children’s and student ministry staff across multiple campuses with clarity and vision.
• Knowledge of multisite church ministry models and a capacity to lead across locations while maintaining Gospel-centered contextualization.
• Thorough understanding of safety, security, and legal requirements in Next Gen ministry environments.
• Commitment to Wooddale Church’s mission and values, including full affirmation of its beliefs and Affirmation Statement.
• Active participation in the worship and community life of Wooddale Church.

Relationships

• Reports to the Executive Pastor of Discipleship.
• Supervises Wooddale Family & Next Gen staff, ministries and programs at the Eden Prairie campus.
• Works collaboratively and in partnership with the Campus Pastors.

Benefits & Compensation
Wooddale Church offers a comprehensive benefits package for all 40 hour full-time employees, which includes opportunities to elect Medical (30 hour full-time), Dental, Life/AD&D, HSA, Flex, LTD, optional Vision, optional Life/AD&D, optional STD, a Health & Wellness Plan and a 403(b) retirement plan with company match and immediate vesting. Annual compensation range is $80,000-$105,000 depending upon qualifications and experience. 

Work Environment/Physical Demands

This job primarily operates in an office setting and will include using standard office equipment. The employee is regularly required to talk or hear and frequently required to stand, walk, use hands and reach with hands and arms. This job also requires the ability to lift up to 40 pounds, repetitive bending, stretching and stooping, climb up and down stairs, have mobility required to ensure the safety of children and students, work with children on the floor, work outdoors and perform light cleaning. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Other Duties

Please note that this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of the activities, duties, or responsibilities required. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time, with or without notice. 

We use E-verify to verify employment eligibility.