Church and Community Engagement Lead- Limited Term-2025338

Are you a person of compassion? An advocate for justice? Someone who stands up for the rights of the vulnerable and speaks out for the marginalized, the exploited and the forgotten? Do you believe in our calling as Christians to welcome the least of these and love our neighbor?

If you answered ‘yes’, to any of the above, World Relief, and millions of people around the world need you.

At this pivotal moment in time, we are rapidly expanding and growing our team to meet the increasing needs of our world. We are looking for people who want to use their gifts and talents to make a real and tangible difference in our world and the lives of the suffering.

If you’re looking for a purpose-driven career in which you can grow your talents, while also standing up for the rights of the vulnerable, we want you to join us today.

ORGANIZATION SUMMARY

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization whose mission is to boldly engage the world’s greatest crises in partnership with the church. The organization was founded in the aftermath of World War II to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of war-torn Europe. Since then, for 80 years, across 100 countries, World Relief has partnered with local churches and communities to build a world where families thrive and communities flourish.

Today, organizational programming focuses on humanitarian and disaster response, community strengthening and resilience, and refugee & immigrant services and advocacy.

This position is reliant upon funding and may be subject to modification or termination based on resource availability.

POSITION SUMMARY:

World Relief is a unique and invigorating place to work. We are looking for talented, ambitious and collaborative people to come alongside our mission, vision and values as we partner with churches to boldly engage the world’s greatest crises. We seek an experienced, well-organized, and strategic-minded staff member to mobilize local churches and the broader community to join our mission of serving refugees and immigrants in our communities. This pivotal position on the Church and Community Engagement Team functions to train local churches and other organizations to serve refugees and immigrants, with the goal of helping new neighbors flourish in every aspect of their lives. Building relationships with church leaders, this leader will develop strategic engagement for churches through programming, volunteer recruitment, resource development, finances, advocacy and prayer. This role serves as a strategic leader in the Austin World Relief office to champion our Church and Community Engagement efforts.

This is a limited-term position funded through a grant agreement until September 30, 2026 and contingent upon funding extension.

ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Build relationships with church leaders that facilitate opportunities to lead congregations toward biblical, welcoming views of immigrants.
• Coordinate gatherings and relationships among pastors to learn from and challenge one another, including connecting pastors of majority immigrant congregations with those of minority immigrant congregations.
• Equip churches and church leaders with Bible study curricula and other learning resources to examine immigration from a biblical perspective with their congregations.
• Design and facilitate strategic engagement opportunities for churches
• Assure church-based and other volunteers are well equipped and served by World Relief
• Represent World Relief as a speaker/presenter for church services and other events
• Ensure partnership commitments with churches are clear, robust, and implemented effectively
• Collaborate with Development Director to strategically raise funds from church partners that will serve to sustain and grow mobilization efforts
• Promote understanding of and church participation in advocacy efforts around issues of immigration, immigration reform and just treatment of vulnerable population
• Recruit church teams to engage in the Good Neighbor Team service opportunity Volunteer Coordination
• Work closely with the Volunteer Coordinator to implement a strategy for sustainable volunteer recruitment and involvement in the mission of WR
• Provide direct coaching, support, and supervision of the Volunteer Coordinator
• Schedule, plan, and participate in refugee simulations or other volunteer trainings as needed Donations Coordination
• Work closely with the Donations Coordinator to implement a strategy for meeting the material needs of World Relief program participants through church and community resource donations
• Provide direct coaching, support, and supervision of the Donations Coordinator
• Schedule, plan, and participate in donation drives or distributions as needed Communications / Fundraising
• Participate in planning, executing, and evaluating events, marketing campaigns, and fundraising initiatives, specifically those targeted to churches and volunteers in Austin
• Encourage, empower, and thank churches for materially contributing to the work of WR Other
• Represent World Relief at community events or speaking engagements
• Collaborate with the regional Church and Community Engagement team members when necessary and perform other tasks as assigned
• Collaborate with leadership on Austin vision, strategy, and decision-making
• Maintain accurate records of activity with local churches, including the on-going assessment and categorization of churches according to the level of involvement of each
• Participate in leadership, staff and other meetings as necessary
• Perform other duties as assigned

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

• Mature and personal Christian faith
• Committed to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief
• Desire to serve and empower the Church to impact vulnerable communities
• Able to affirm and/or acknowledge World Reliefs Core Beliefs

, Statement of Faith

, Christian Identity

and National Association of Evangelicals' For the Health of The Nation document

• Strong leadership skills to motivate and inspire a diverse group of people
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; familiarity with tailoring messaging to diverse stakeholder groups
• Outstanding organization, communication, public speaking and interpersonal skills
• Resourceful with the ability to solve problems in an efficient, calm manner
• Ability to multi-task and manage multiple deadlines with a limited degree of supervision
• Must have the ability to work under pressure with flexibility in a virtual or in-person team setting
• Knowledge of project management concepts, tools and activities, requirements analysis and facilitation helpful
• Excellent interpersonal, collaborative and communication skills; demonstrated ability to establish positive working relationships at all levels of the organization
• Able to perform well in spite of complex or ambiguous challenges
• Able to build positive inter-departmental relationships
• Be a self-starter
• Self-motivated and able to plan and achieve goals with minimal supervision
• Flexible schedule to include working evenings and weekends
• Cross-cultural experience and an ability to train and educate adult learners about cross-cultural relationships and dynamics
• A passion for engaging volunteers in service opportunities
• Demonstrated ability to mobilize, convene, motivate, coach, and facilitate individuals and teams toward a common purpose
• Excellent interpersonal and written/spoken communication skills
• Excellent problem solving and planning abilities, and a willingness to analyze and adapt processes to better achieve goals
• A self-starter with strong initiative, follow-through, and organizational skills; must be able to prioritize, multi-task, and be attentive to details
• Familiarity and ease of use in basic computer programs (Word, Excel, Publisher, Power Point, databases); other design/marketing skills a plus
• Willingness and ability to commit to the position for a minimum of two years
• Driver’s license and access to a vehicle required
• Periodic evening and weekend availability required

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree preferred and/or 3+ years of mobilizing or leading in local church spaces

World Relief offers a competitive benefits package and employee discount program for full-time and part-time employees.

World Relief is honored to be recognized with the Gold-level Cigna Healthy Workforce Designation for exceeding the core components of our well-being program including leadership and culture, program foundations and execution, and whole person health.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer M/F/D/V. We maintain a drug-free workplace and perform pre-employment substance abuse testing.

For World Relief staff, strong commitment to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief is essential, and Christian faith is a prerequisite for employment, based upon United States federal guidelines provided in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.