Overview
Located in Northwestern Ohio, Spencerville Church of the Nazarene is searching for pastoral candidates feeling called to serve as a senior leader/lead pastor/missionary presence within a small, rural community environment. All interested candidates please email Andy Monnin, District Superintendent for the Northwestern Ohio District Church of the Nazarene) at andy.monnin@nwoteam.church.
Understanding the Context:
Spencerville, Ohio, is a small and charming town that embodies a cozy, close-knit community spirit, nestled in Allen County’s rural heartland. While Spencerville immediate population is just over 2,000, over 50,000 people live within a 10-mile radius of the church.
Spencerville exudes the warmth and hospitality often found in Midwest small towns, where familiar faces greet each other at local shops and community events bring neighbors together. At the center of the town, you’ll find historic storefronts, local eateries, and family-owned businesses that thrive on friendly connections with regulars and newcomers alike. Spencerville is known for its impressive canal system—part of the Miami and Erie Canal—that served as an economic artery in the past and now adds to the town’s scenic charm.
The surrounding communities within a 10-mile radius mirror this warm, rural character. Delphos, about 8 miles north, is a slightly larger town with a similar small-town feel but with a few more amenities, including coffee shops, diners, and festivals that highlight local talent and history. To the east, the village of Elida provides a peaceful, countryside feel with farmland views stretching as far as the eye can see.
Living in the Spencerville requires leaders/pastors who can embrace a close-knit, relational mindset, but in an increasingly post-Christian faith environment. Pastoring a community means stepping in with a missionary mindset. It requires high relational capacity, generosity, hospitality, and keen capacity for contextual theology. One must be able to articulate the Gospel in a contextualized way, cognizant of cultural barriers and contextual resistance.
The Church:
Spencerville Church of the Nazarene has a weekend attendance of 60 on average with another 14 attending online each week.
They have had a rich history of faithful support of the mission of the Church of the Nazarene and a lineage of generosity and global missions.
They are a warm, hospitable, faithful congregation. Their members come predominantly from Spencerville and the surrounding smaller communities, including St Mary’s, Celina, and Delphos. They understand that the church will grow and become missionally effective as it seeks to reach the local neighborhoods many already know surrounding the church.
They are eager for a leader who will build on the previous nine years of pastoral leadership, helping them realize a significant missional impact in their community. Desiring to be a healthy, catalytic church in the Northwestern side of Ohio, the church understands the need to change, adapt, be stretched, and raise up and deploy the increasing number of teens and young adults who have recently called Spencerville and surrounding areas home.
The Call:
Spencerville Church of the Nazarene is seeking a pastor whose passion for the rural environment is matched with a passion for the least, the last, and the lost, a true missionary mindset, a willingness to lead the church into new territory, a shepherding heart, and the patience and longevity to settle in and call this Ohio community home. Spencerville is looking for a leader that has capacity to help them discern their unique mission and vision for this next season of ministry and the ability to develop and deploy a fresh expression of the church to the broader community. This leader should be:
– An ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene or seeking ordination.
– Committed to support the broader mission of the Northwestern Ohio District to develop interdependent, healthy, multiplying congregations.
– Culturally humble, recognizing that ministry in rural environments requires a learner’s heart and trust is given slowly and earned over time.
– Generous, hospitable, and socially engaged with people disconnected from the hope, message, and story of Jesus.
– Thrive in interconnected, settings where culturally things move at a more measured pace
– Be a starter. This leader operates from an “opportunity mindset” rather than a “scarcity mindset.” They must have the capacity to see what could be.
– Faithful and diligent with financial stewardship.
– Committed to architecting a culture of discipleship and leadership development, multiplying the number of people committed to the mission of Jesus.
– The capacity to use the Family Life Center in creative ways to connect with neighbors and the broader community.
If interested, please contact Andy Monnin at andy.monnin@nwoteam.church
Website: https://spencervillenaz.com/
