COMPENSATION
$17.00 - $19.00 per depending on education/experience
Average Employee works 3-8 hours per week
Must be available to work Friday and/or Sunday Mornings
BENEFITS
- Earn 1 hour of sick pay for every 30 hours worked
- Staff members children may attend programming free of charge
- Continued learning opportunities paid for by employer:
- Earn CPR/First Aid Certification
- Conscious Discipline Training
- Punctuality Perks - earn a VISA gift card bonus for consistent punctuality
START DATE: Immediately
OUR NEED
Since 1946 SBPC has had a thriving Children’s Ministries program to support all it’s ministries, allowing parents to actively engage in worship and our life together while their children are lovingly cared for in a safe, fun, nurturing environment.
We need you to help welcome and care for young children on both Sunday mornings during our lively KIDSunday Programming for children Birth-2nd Grade and/or on Friday mornings during our thriving MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) program which serves over 90 moms in San Diego County, as well as during other occasional church gatherings, meetings, and programs.
The average Early Childhood Class Lead works 3-8 hours per week (depending on employee availability and programmatic needs). If you are someone who is community-oriented, highly responsible, and able to welcome and create fun and safe spaces for young children to thrive and get to know Jesus, this may be the perfect position for you!
YOUR OPPORTUNITY
As an Early Childhood Class Lead, you are the important link between parents, volunteers and the children in your care. You are the linchpin of the program, helping create community amongst those groups, while simultaneously being responsible for the inner workings of the classroom, helping to ensure programming flows smoothly. As a leader, you have the opportunity to:
- help partner with parents, welcoming them and helping them to feel comfortable as they leave their children in our care
- empower volunteers as they work with and care for the children, cultivating a team with a higher calling and sense of purpose
- ensure children feel safe, known, and loved as they play and learn, meeting their basic needs, implementing age-appropriate activities, and helping them to know and experience God’s love.
You will be a successful member of the team if you enjoy working collaboratively with others to create fun, safe, welcoming, and engaging environments primarily for children Birth-Kindergarten (and sometimes up through 6th Grade) and the volunteers serving in those spaces. This role requires you to have strong listening and communication skills, a desire to cultivate community, an ability to multitask, a warm, welcoming demeanor, and an ability to engage children in age-appropriate ways. Paramount to your success is your ability to:
- truly see each individual child, parent, and volunteer,
- ask questions and retain information to help them feel seen, known, and loved,
- create connection and belonging with and amongst the children, as well as with the volunteers,
- and ultimately to help them to experience and know the love of Jesus.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
As a member of the childcare staff, you will report to the Director of Early Childhood Ministries. Your core responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Welcoming and electronically checking in and out children and families
- Keeping children safe (physically, emotionally, & spiritually) and meeting their basic needs while they are in your care
- Equipping and empowering volunteer leaders
- Providing age-appropriate activities and classroom structure
- Maintaining Early Childhood classrooms
- Communicating appropriately with children, parents, volunteers, coworkers, and your supervisor
YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL IF...
Education & Experience
- For the right person this is an opportunity for you to build on your learning and receive training in the field in a supportive and nurturing environment!
- Previous Early Childhood, childcare, and/or ministry/church-related experience (paid or volunteer) and ECE units (completed or in-progress) are not required, but are a huge plus!
- You are eligible to work legally in the United States without employer sponsorship.
Personal Attributes
- You are a Christian and profess an active faith in Jesus.
- You have a positive attitude and a cheerful disposition. You are diplomatic, thoughtful, and respectful of others, which is seen in the way you treat, relate to, and communicate with children, parents, volunteers, coworkers, and your supervisor.
- You are reliable and punctual, keeping commitments to shifts and completing required tasks in a timely manner.
- You are good with and enjoy the company of young children, with an ability to relate to and communicate with them on their level.
- You are a servant leader who is caring and nurturing, with a deep sense of empathy and compassion, and a desire to meet others’ needs.
- You are an active listener, listening from a place of sensitivity, care, and curiosity to peoples’ questions, concerns, and needs.
- You are flexible and able to adapt to new or changing circumstances. You are open to new or different ways of doing things or approaching situations.
Skills & Competencies
- You have a basic working knowledge of young children’s needs and development (especially ages 0-5 years).
- You are able to follow, retain, and implement oral and written directions.
- You have the ability to problem solve, take initiative, and seek out solutions (while touching base with/keeping your supervisor in the loop when appropriate).
- You are able to lead children in group activities and implement curriculum, executing age-appropriate lessons, songs, games, crafts, and other activities (or empower others to do so) if you are working with children two years and older (note, we will provide training and materials; this is not required for Early Childhood Class Leads working in infant classes, but is definitely a huge plus).
- You have the ability to multitask with a strong sense of time management, tracking the needs of individual children while keeping the class at-large on schedule.
- You are comfortable leading a team of volunteers, delegating tasks and empowering volunteers to lead where appropriate.
- You are good with basic technology.
Bonus Points
- You speak Spanish, American Sign Language, or another language
- You are currently CPR/First Aid certified
- You have completed ECE Units
- You have prior Children’s Ministries experience
COVID/SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS
Your health and safety are important to us! As such, we have done upgrades to our HVAC system and increased sanitization is occurring facility-wide. Our beautiful, state of the art Children’s Ministries Building is kept locked and secure at all times with key card access.
All volunteers serving under you are required to be background checked (if they are 18 years or older) and fully vaccinated (if they are 12 years or older). Masks are currently required inside the Children’s Ministries Building for all paid staff, volunteers, parents, and children 2 years of age and older (regardless of vaccination status). To limit interactions and keep cohorts small, class sizes are currently kept smaller.
We are currently utilizing our outdoor spaces as much as possible (where masks are optional for children of all ages and fully vaccinated staff and volunteers). Currently all our KIDSunday programming takes place outdoors for children 2 years and older, and all other programming for children 2 years and older is outdoors at least 2/3rds of the morning. For the safety of infants and young toddlers, programming for children 0-23 months occurs primarily indoors.
We will continue to monitor numbers and any new forthcoming recommendations from the CDC, CDPH, AAP, and CalOSHA, and assess policies accordingly, seeking to create the safest work environment for you, our volunteers, and the children in attendance, while seeking to remove barriers and best allow for and facilitate community, connection, and the flourishing of relationships as we are able.
ABOUT US
Solana Beach Presbyterian Church is a growing community of fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. More specifically, we are a regional, intergenerational church that places an emphasis on community, spiritual formation, and service. We place a high value on outreach, justice, and support for our local community, hosting programs like:
- CASA de AMISTAD which provides tutoring and educational support to underserved children, teens, and their families
- Solana Beach Senior Center which provides programs, activities, and services for mature adults
- Pathways to Citizenship which provides legal and educational support for immigrants and undocumented workers
- Solana Beach MOPS which provides community and support for mothers with young children
- Foster Hope Ministry which serves foster youth and families in North County
- Border Ministries which serves families and seniors in Tijuana
- AND so much more!
We also host weekly Sermon Based Small Groups, monthly Wellness Nights that focus on mental health and wellbeing, a 6-week seminar called “What Does the Bible Say About Justice?,” and more! For more about our vision and mission, who we are, and what we do, go to solanabeach.church.
APPLY:
To apply, submit a resume to merryman@solanapres.org. Please note, to be considered for this position you must be able to work Friday morning and/or Sunday mornings.
In addition to attaching your resume, please include in your email:
- Anything else we should know about you including any relevant paid or unpaid ministry and early childhood/childcare experience that you may want to highlight (especially if it is not on your resume)
- Your availability during a typical work week (days/hours)
- The best days and times to schedule an in-person interview
- Your preferred mode of contact - email, text or phone call
SBPC is an equal opportunity employer.
We look forward to hearing from you!
