World Gospel Church is an evangelical, inter-denominational congregation of 350 people with a broad mix of ages. We are led by elder and deacon councils. The hallmark of our founding was world missions and this remains a strong component of our church. We strongly desire to see the next generation discipled and equipped to be future leaders. The Sunday School curriculum, AWANA program and youth groups are all purposely designed to assist families in reaching that goal. Sunday worship services are augmented by Life groups and various Bible studies available during the week. World Gospel supports several local ministries both with volunteers and finances.
The church is located in Terre Haute, Indiana, a community of about 60,000 people with an area draw of about 250,000 people. Terre Haute is the county seat of Vigo County and attracts people from surrounding counties for retail shopping, restaurants, and recreation. Multiple golf courses, a children’s museum, and many city and county parks are available. Four universities are located in Terre Haute: Indiana State University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, St. Mary of the Woods College and Ivy Tech Community College. As a result, there are multiple sporting events, speaker series and music/drama events to choose from. Vigo County has a large school corporation with dedicated teachers and a new superintendent who makes faith a priority in his own life and is seeking faith based organizational input, like KidsHope USA, in which World Gospel is a participating church.
We desire a senior pastor whose passion for Jesus Christ is evident in his reverence for scripture and who prioritizes expository and exegetical teaching of God’s Word. In addition, we are looking for him to be a servant leader who has a Gospel centered focus in all aspects of ministry with a desire to see the people of World Gospel Church discipled and equipped to love the Lord, live out their faith and share that faith boldly.
World Gospel Church is prayerfully seeking an evangelical senior pastor with a least 5 years lead experience preferred, who will shepherd World Gospel Church through biblical teaching, maintaining and strengthening the focus on global missions and modeling prayer within the church and our 40+ global outreach partners.
World Gospel Church Fact Sheet
World Gospel Church - 900 Gardendale Rd. Terre Haute, IN 47803
Church Founded: 1956
Church Membership: 223
Average Sunday Attendance: 350
Terre Haute, Indiana Residents: 60,000
Vigo County Residents: 107,000
Ministries:
Sunday Services: 8:30am & 11:00am
Sunday School/Life Groups: 10:00am
Sunday Evening: Youth Group 6:30pm (approx. 60, 6-12 grade students)
Wednesday: AWANA Clubs (approx. 70, pre-K - 5th graders)
Various nights of week: Life Groups meet in homes or at church
Paid Staff Employee Benefits
Senior Pastor Health Insurance
Youth Pastor Retirement Contribution
Facilities Manager Paid Vacation
Custodian
Children’s Director (part-time)
Office Manager (part-time)
Office Assistant (part-time)
Financial Secretary (part-time)
Nursery Director (part-time)
Kids Hope Director (part-time)
Worship Leader (part-time)
Financials: Assets:
Average Monthly General Fund Income: $51,000 Mortgage Free Facility
Annual Global Outreach Budget: Approx. $250,000 Parsonage
(General Fund and Global Outreach Fund are separate) Global Outreach Endowment
WGC Philosophy of Ministry
(As amended on February 18, 2019)
Teaching/Preaching – We prioritize expository and exegetical teaching from the pulpit. While we encourage our other teachers to teach from Scripture in an expository manner, we allow them freedom in their method. However, all teaching must be based upon the Scripture in accordance with our Articles of Faith.
The Gospel – We emphasize the proclamation of the gospel in our teaching to all age groups, knowing that it is not only the means by which we are saved, but that it is also vital to the life of every believer and their sanctification.
Doctrinal Agreement – We prioritize unity on essential doctrines, liberty on non-essential doctrines and love in all circumstances. Our essential doctrines are defined by our Articles of Faith.
Work of Ministry – Pastors and teachers exist to equip the members of WGC for ministry, not to do all ministry work themselves. We are committed to encouraging our members to understand they have been gifted by the Holy Spirit for ministry, to discover what their gift(s) may be, and to serve the Lord with their gift(s).
Partnership with other Churches – While WGC is a non-denominational community church, we will not exist in isolation, nor will we treat other congregations as competition. We value partnering with like-minded churches, both locally and globally, to fulfill the Great Commission and Great Commandment. We encourage our members to have brotherly/sisterly relationships with believers from other congregations and participate in the ministry of other churches as they see fit and vice versa.
Worship – We view worship as the act of glorifying God with our voices and hearts. Worship should be an integral part of the daily life of every believer. An important specific form of worship occurs when believers assemble together for the express purpose of glorifying God in his presence corporately. In this setting, we believe it is imperative that the congregation be not passive spectators but rather active participants in the worship service. This is accomplished by congregational singing using a variety of musical styles as well as congregational participation in corporate prayer, scripture reading, communion, and the offering of our tithes and gifts. Additionally, we recognize that God has uniquely gifted some individuals in the areas of music, drama, dance and other creative arts. We encourage the use of these gifts with excellence within our corporate worship services for the purpose of drawing the congregation into deeper worship of God.
Conflict Management – We are committed to helping our members to love one another well even in the midst of interpersonal conflict according to the precepts of Matthew 18. This requires discussing issues with one another with gentleness and respect as soon as possible. While we understand that resolution and reconciliation are not always possible, this is always our aim.
Stewardship – We are committed to stewarding the gifts and resources that the Lord has given us. We prioritize being good and faithful stewards of our finances, our facilities, our ministry opportunities and our time, both corporately and individually.
Global Outreach – We prioritize fulfilling the Great Commission, proclaiming to the world that salvation can be found in Jesus Christ alone. We prioritize the promotion of the ministries of our global workers, developing relationships with them, and supporting them both financially and through constant prayer. We prioritize informing the congregation of what the Lord is doing all over the world. We prioritize encouraging the congregation to participate in global outreach and supporting them in those endeavors. WGC is a sending church.
Fellowship – We emphasize groups as a means of building authentic community, understanding that life-on-life fellowship with other believers is vital to following the Lord faithfully.
Leadership – We value having a plurality in leadership, understanding the wisdom and blessing that comes from having a multitude of counselors. Maturity of godly character and a grounding in the word of God are the primary criteria for leadership.
Local Outreach/Serving Our Community – We are committed to serving our local community, coming alongside other local ministries with financial, prayer, and hands on support. We recognize that the Church is called to love the least of these as a means of meeting both temporal and spiritual needs.
Discipleship - Discipling is a purposeful and intentional process to bring believers to maturity in Christ. Every believer is on a discipleship journey. As such, we pursue effective education, mentoring, accountability, and practice of Christian principles and disciplines, nurturing our abilities to follow Christ and serve the living God. We accomplish this in both formal settings and personal relationships.
Member Care – We seek opportunities to do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. As such, we are committed to caring for one another through every season and situation of life, seeking ways in which we can bear one another’s burdens.
For more information regarding the church, or to listen to past sermon audios, please access our website at: www.worldgospelchurch.org
To apply for the Senior Pastor position at World Gospel Church, please submit your resume (in PDF format if possible) to: pastorsearch@worldgospelchurch.org
In addition to the resume, the Search Committee is requesting candidates to include a Cover Letter expressing interest in the position and specifically addressing the following questions:
- Describe your call to pastoral ministry and why you feel God is leading you to apply for the Senior Pastor position at World Gospel Church.
- How do you believe that your leadership style and previous ministry experience equip you to serve as a Senior Pastor?
- How does your personal and family life reflect your commitment to Christ and your approach to pastoral ministry?
Our goal is to begin collecting and evaluating resumes by December, 2019. Our hope is to have a new pastor selected at least by early summer 2020, allowing him to begin his new ministry by late summer or early fall 2020.