Find & Apply For Religious Leader / Professional Jobs in Carlinville, Illinois

One congregation, two traditions, seventy-eight years of shared life The Federated Church of Carlinville, Illinois, is a union of two historic congregations

• a Baptist church gathered in homes in 1817 and a Presbyterian church founded in 1834
• who voted in 1947 to try federation for a year and then, in 1948, made it permanent.

Nearly eight decades later, we are still one body: American Baptist, Presbyterian (PCUSA). We hold dual standing in the American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region and the Presbytery of Great Rivers (PC USA) . For us this is not a piece of administrative history. It is our vocation. In a town of thirteen churches, our particular witness is that Baptists and Presbyterians can be one church without either one disappearing. We are praying for a pastor who will love that witness and help us keep it strong. Who we are We are small

• fewer than 100 members, with about 57 in worship on a typical Sunday
• and we know each other well.

Our people tend to be college-educated, welcoming, mission-minded, and remarkably good at organizing things. We are a congregation that shares leadership with its pastor rather than handing everything to the pastor. Worship is participatory. Lay leaders lead. Children take part every week and help lead singing with percussion at the close of worship. Music includes familiar hymns and praise songs, led with guitars and keyboards. Communion is served by the minister together with church elders. Both infant and believer's baptism are practiced here, and our Worship Committee plans worship in close partnership with the pastor. Mission is who we are. We do not merely support missions; we start them, manage them, and then invite the rest of Carlinville in: Children's Christmas Spree (since 1983)

• began with eight children and $30 each; served 200 children in 2024, community-wide Lunch Bunch (since 2012)
• free summer meals, organized by our church, staffed by volunteers from eleven local congregations Saturday Snacks (since 2013)
• take-home food bags packed monthly for 80 primary school children Feeding Our Neighbors (since 2015)
• a free monthly community meal with a side order of fellowship; the 2025 Thanksgiving meal served more than 200 Peace by Piece
• dresses, quilts, and onesies sewn by volunteers from across the community Diaper Program , Food on the First, Salvation Army bell ringing, the Angel Tree, and emergency assistance through Good Samaritan Ministries In 2023 we served as fiscal agent for MCARE (Macoupin County Assisting Refugees), which resettled two Venezuelan families here.

Those families are established now, with jobs, schools, and friends

• and one of them has begun a Spanish-speaking worship service that meets at our church on Saturdays.

The denominational relationship we are asking our next pastor to nurture This is central to the call, so we want to name it plainly. The Federated Church has long been an active participant in the life of both of its parent bodies. Our members have served on the ABC Great Rivers Region Ministerial Board and Staff Relations Subcommittee and have attended regional gatherings; we have sent commissioners to Presbytery Assembly and Synod, and served on a Presbyter Search Committee. Our board members have received Elder Training through the Presbytery of Great Rivers, and our youth have gone to American Baptist camps. Until 2022 we alternated our called pastors between the two denominations. That year, recognizing the national shortage of available pastors in both bodies, the congregation voted to set the alternating requirement aside. We are therefore free to call either an American Baptist or a Presbyterian (PC USA) minister

• and we intend to remain fully and actively connected to both. We are asking our next pastor to: Honor and interpret our dual affiliation to the congregation and to the community Keep us in living relationship with both the ABC Great Rivers Region and the Presbytery of Great Rivers
• showing up, participating, and helping us stay accountable to the wider church Preside comfortably over the sacraments as both traditions understand them (see below) Represent us well in denominational settings and bring the wider church back home to us Take part in the local Clergy Fellowship, to which all Carlinville pastors are invited On baptism: we are open to calling either an American Baptist or a Presbyterian minister who is comfortable observing the key beliefs of both traditions.

Ideally, our pastor will administer baptism according to either viewpoint

• immersion upon profession of faith, or the baptism of infants and adults as sign and seal of the covenant.

If a pastor is not comfortable presiding at a baptism in the other tradition, we will invite a guest pastor to serve. We would rather have an honest pastor than a uniform one. What our congregation is asking of its next pastor We have identified three priorities, in this order: Preaching. Sermons with a biblical focus, prepared in partnership with our Worship Committee, that address evangelism, social issues, and stewardship, and that connect Scripture to how people actually live. Pastoral care. Empathetic presence with members and visitors through the routine joys, transitions, and crises of life

• visits, hospital calls, ministry to seniors and the homebound, and the informal conversations where most real pastoral work happens.

Ours is an aging congregation in an aging town; this work is not a side program here. Church growth. We have begun to see a few younger families join us, and we know our future depends on that continuing. We are asking for a pastor who can help us shape worship, programming, and education that welcome young families and young adults

• including students from Blackburn College, just up the street.

How we are organized The Federated Church is governed by the congregation, working through the Federated Board and its committees: Finance/Building & Grounds, Professional Relations, Worship Planning, and Mission Leadership & Evangelism, with subcommittees for each of our standing missions. Ideas and plans are developed by the responsible board or committee. Our congregation expects the pastor to share leadership rather than carry it alone, and the pastor can expect the active, working support of the members. The call is extended by vote of the congregation. Carlinville Carlinville is a small college town of about 5,400 in west-central Illinois

• the county seat of Macoupin County, roughly 45 miles south of Springfield and 65 miles northeast of St. Louis, with an Amtrak station in town offering direct service to both. It is the home of Blackburn College , a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1837 by the same Presbyterian minister, Rev. Gideon Blackburn, who helped found our Presbyterian congregation
• and the only federally designated work college in the country with a fully student-managed work program.

Carlinville Area Hospital, Prairie Farms Dairy, and Carlinville CUSD #1 anchor the local economy alongside the college. This is a community of modest means and deep roots. Median household income is well below the state figure, and the poverty rate is roughly twice the Illinois rate. People here stay. They will remember their pastor for a long time. Church Profile The full congregational profile, including our history, demographics, worship life, and budget, is available by clicking here: Federated Church of Carlinville Church Profile .

Qualifications and Requirements Preferred:

An ordained minister in good standing with either the American Baptist Churches USA or the Presbyterian Church (USA). Candidates from other denominational backgrounds will be given full consideration provided they meet each of the following: An earned Master of Divinity from a seminary or divinity school accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) A letter of ecclesiastical endorsement from their current denomination attesting that they are ordained and in good standing Willingness to submit to a pre-employment background screening Character and professional references, together with a detailed work history Willingness to sign and abide by the American Baptist Churches Code of Ethics for Ministerial Leaders A willingness to honor this congregation's dual affiliation and to nurture a continuing, healthy relationship with both the American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region and the Presbytery of Great Rivers (PC USA) Pre-employment background screening, references, and a detailed work history are required of all candidates regardless of denominational background. The expectation regarding our dual denominational affiliation and our regional and presbytery relationships applies to every candidate, whatever their background. Compensation and Benefits This is a half-time (25 hours per week) called position . We name that plainly and without apology: it is the shape of ministry this congregation can faithfully sustain, and it is a shape in which good ministry is being done all over this region. We welcome bi-vocational candidates, pastors serving alongside another calling, and those in a second career or retirement who are ready for meaningful part-time work in a congregation that will love them. Salary (negotiable) $20,000

• $26,250 Housing $8,500 Mileage $7,600 Professional expenses $500 Total package $36,600
• $42,850 A copy of the 2026 church budget is available on request. How to Apply Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, current resume or ministry profile, and a link to a recent sermon to: Rev. Dr. Rob Kirbach , Associate Executive Minister American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region 200 West 3rd Street, Suite 409, Alton, IL 62002 rob@abcgrr.org
• (217) 726-7366 x13 Dr.

Kirbach serves this search as regional consultant. All inquiries and materials should be directed to him; he will forward them to the Pastoral Search Committee, which conducts the search and makes its own discernment. The Federated Church of Carlinville is governed by its congregation, and the call is extended by congregational vote.