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Staff Search

Apply Now! Lead Pastor in Homewood, IL

Woodlands Church is seeking a Lead Pastor to provide spiritual guidance, teach, and lead with a focus on fostering spiritual growth and community engagement.

Woodlands Church

Woodlands Community Church is looking for a Lead Pastor to help a warm, multi-ethnic congregation just south of Chicago step into its next chapter of healing, growth, and outreach.

 

The Job

Woodlands is on the hunt for a Lead Pastor who's part shepherd, part teacher, and part encourager-in-chief. You'll preach, cast vision, and work hand-in-hand with the Elder Board to guide the church through a season of restructuring small groups, building out a discipleship pathway, and developing leaders. This isn't a "walk in and blow it up" kind of role;  it's a "come in, love people well, and build something lasting" kind of role.

 

The Location

Homewood, Illinois is a south suburb of Chicago with real small-town charm and big-city access. Think historic downtown streets, independent coffee shops, a farmers market, murals everywhere you look, and an outdoor preserve for the hikers among us. It's a genuinely diverse community, the kind of place where your neighbors don't all look, vote, or worship the same way, and that's part of what makes it feel alive. If you thrive around difference, love a good local festival, and want your kids in strong schools, Homewood might just spoil you.

 

The Church

Woodlands has been around since the 1950s and has weathered real change including some staff and elder transitions in the last couple years. But 80% of members are optimistic about what's ahead, and an interim pastor has already helped steady the ship. Worship is contemporary and heartfelt, sermons are expository and relevant, and the church genuinely wants to reach its next generation and its diverse neighborhood for Christ.

 

Apply Now

If you're a grounded, relational leader who loves people well and wants to help a healing church become an outward-focused one, we'd love to talk.

 
 

P.S. If this job isn't exactly what you're looking for, feel free to check the job board of open positions.

Andrew Ford

Andrew Ford

Andrew has been in pastoral ministry for thirty years serving as an associate, senior, and co-pastor in two different churches. He presently serves as the Director of Church Strengthening for Michigan and Indiana for Converge MidAmerica and leverages what he as learned over the years to help pastors and churches move toward greater health and impact. From 2007 to 2024 he served in a unique pastoral model as a co-pastor with two other pastors – sharing leadership and the pulpit together. He is married to Jill (a fourth-grade teacher), and they have three adult children and one Golden Doodle. On Andrew’s days off, you will find him on his motorcycle, searching for roads that twist and turn.

Latest Resources

Apply Now! Lead Pastor in Homewood, IL

Apply Now! Lead Pastor in Homewood, IL

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