First Presbyterian Church of Evanston is a diverse faith community located in a progressive city-suburb on Lake Michigan, housing Northwestern University. The church exists to know Jesus Christ and grow in Him while serving and making disciples in Evanston, the Chicago area, and the world. Historically, the church building’s size and prime location have been major assets in serving a population that includes local professors and a rising senior population.
Serving children from birth through 5th grade, this ministry has strong potential for congregational and community growth. Sunday programming features a dedicated nursery for ages 0–3, Pre-K through 5th grade Sunday School, Children's Worship for Pre-K through 2nd grade, and the interactive ECHO worship experience for 3rd through 5th grade students. Midweek and seasonal offerings include Vacation Bible School, a monthly 'Half-Day Hooray' outreach program for local K–5 students, an annual Christmas Pageant, Popsicles in the Park, and seasonal church celebrations. Additionally, the role leads family faith formation through monthly Family Small Groups and summer Family Camp, collaborating closely with the Director of Youth and Young Adults to create a cohesive support system for children, youth, and families.
The ideal candidate is a relational, experienced leader with a mature Christian faith rooted in the Reformed tradition and a genuine passion for ministering to children from birth through 5th grade and to their families. They excel at recruiting and equipping volunteers, partnering with parents as primary faith-formers, and walking with families through milestone moments — baptism and dedication, First Communion, and the transition into youth ministry. They bring vision, organization, creativity, and a teachable spirit to a ministry with real room to grow.
Evanston offers a rare mix of lakeside living, intellectual energy, and real community. Just north of Chicago, it brings together the vibrancy of a college town and the comfort of a family-friendly neighborhood. Northwestern University plays a central role in shaping that culture.
You can start your day walking along Lake Michigan, spend the afternoon in local cafés or at community events, and end the day connected to a place that values both tradition and progress. The schools are strong. The population is engaged and highly educated. There is also a wide range of faith communities.
For a long time, most ministry leaders have assumed they had to choose. There's been this choice between disruptive innovation or sustainable systems. Today, smart churches are realizing that their survival depends on not choosing, but embracing both creativity and structure as partners in the same dance. Our group is made up of a peculiar collection of radically practical visionaries, intensely committed to help you build healthy systems that create space for deliberate, often disruptive, innovation.
Ministry Architects has partnered with over 1,000 churches from 24 different denominations, as well as faith-based organizations and institutions of high learning all across the country. Whether big or small, Ministry Architects can guide your community through strategic planning, conduct staff searches, build sustainable ministries, and reach all generations.
Thriving, sustainable ministries can never be built on a parade of young, enthusiastic leaders try to piece together a disjointed collection of ideas from popular models, books, and seminars.
At Ministry Architects, we believe there is a better way than one-size-fits-all training events and quick-fix searches for superstar staffers. It all starts with building intentionally. So like architects, we don't tell churches or organizations what they want to build. We start by listening and create a blueprint of exactly how they can move from where they are to where they want to be. And then, we walk alongside them to make sure that they can build the kind of infrastructure they'll need to support the ministries they believe God is calling them to lead.
