Are you our next Pastor?
Why Are you Called to Join Highland Presbyterian Church?
Highland Presbyterian Church is located in Maryville, Tennessee between Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We are proximate to Maryville College, Blount Memorial Hospital, and the Justice Center. Our congregation comes from Maryville and surrounding communities to worship and have fellowship, and to equip ourselves for individual and corporate Christian witness. We have tried to live out our mission statement, and to remember and respond to our banner statement “Enter to Worship, Depart to Serve”.
As a smaller congregation we find our areas of need and emphasis changing as members and times come and go. We know each other more as individuals than as members of a group within the church, although there certainly are organized groups both permanent and ad hoc. We have an active committee structure, but informal communication and decision-making are common. We always strive to serve our members, to serve and support our community both locally and globally, and to grow our church family by welcoming new members and friends.
We have been especially blessed recently by the presence of several younger families with children. They and their parents have infused worship, fellowship, and service with new energy, and we are committed to “being the church” for these folks and others who may join. Our congregation has in fact identified this as our highest priority. In concrete terms we look to renew emphasis on programming and support for children and youth, with leadership by our new pastor. We are very happy to have an active children’s choir, a fairly recent development. We need more consistency in Sunday school, Bible study, and youth fellowship activities. We hope to find a pastor with a strong commitment to Christian youth education, development, and would love to call a pastor with experience either as youth pastor or youth leader, or otherwise with a demonstrated passion for young people.
Our community outreach efforts are many and varied. In fact, we wonder at times if we should try to focus our efforts more narrowly and deeply. We have helped create and continue to support local mission efforts such as The Gateway to Independence (for young adults with special needs), Community Food Connection (we have a garden), Family Promise (homeless families), and Good Neighbors (support for the poor). We have worked with Bridge Refugee Services to help a family from The Democratic Republic of the Congo start a new life here; they are currently worshipping with us. For many years we have held an Alternative Christmas Market in November. In the past we have supported several Presbytery projects in rural Tennessee. We hope to have a pastor willing to learn about our community, join our efforts, and help us identify priorities.
We participate in the regular PCUSA special offerings, and in the Souper Bowl of Caring. We have an ongoing relationship with a Presbyterian congregation in Cuba dating back to 2009. Between 1997 and 2004 we supported four trips to Nicaragua for work and mission. The congregation is committed to both local and global missions and will be looking to continue these relationships and/or search for new opportunities.
We have regular fellowship after church and share meals together several times a year. Our older adult ministry, Happy Highlanders, meets monthly for a program and sometimes an outing. Our adult choir is small but faithful and is an important part of worship. We do not have “contemporary worship” but do incorporate contemporary music into our more traditional worship style. We love to pass the peace of Christ!
We maintain the Burchfield House, an 1880’s Second Empire Victorian home repurposed as part of our physical facility. The interior is being renovated currently. We have recently added an ADA compliant front entrance and restroom to the sanctuary addition. A modern accessible playground was added five years ago.
We have a significant relationship with Maryville College going back decades. The church was founded by a group of professors in the 1950’s. Several members are current or retired professors, and others are alumni. A small number of MC Church and College Scholars associate themselves with us every year to help lead worship, teach Sunday School, and to have a church home. Currently three Maryville College students are taking active roles in leading Worship and Sunday School. We believe the college students are a wonderful part of ensuring our youth programs are supported and vibrant.
We seek diversity in all its forms and understand the richness it brings to our lives. We welcome everyone as a child of God.
We are unified as a congregation, but inevitably not everyone in the congregation supports every mission, outreach, or emphasis equally. We hope a new pastor will be willing and able to help us support each other as various groups and individuals pursue their callings.
Our new called pastor needs to be flexible, inspiring, energetic, visionary, welcoming. We are of course expecting a human being with flaws as well as superlatives. We hope that in time you will develop and share a vision for our church’s place in the world and will creatively implement programming to help us develop a “Highland identity”. Our current and near-future top priorities for our new pastor are to help lead children and youth programming, provide good preaching and teaching, and to communicate well with Highland members and others in the community. In these difficult times we need to leave worship spiritually nourished for the week, and with hope for the future. As a PCUSA congregation we tend to be attuned to social justice issues. We need to be equipped, empowered, and enabled for Christian witness in the world as we conduct our daily lives.
Our church is not large, and the pastor will need to be a generalist, but should not have to “do” for us. We have a committee structure that works, albeit with folks often wearing more than one hat. You will be responsible to plan and lead worship, to develop next generation faith formation, visit the sick and elderly, and facilitate conflict resolution when it arises. The congregation will help with all this as we are able, and will keep the music going, the finances in order, building and grounds intact, and mission activities active.
Please prayerfully consider whether Highland is to be your next (or first) call!
Peace Be With You,
Highland Presbyterian Pastor Nominating Committee
Living in Maryville
Maryville is a beautiful mid-size, college town in East Tennessee. Located in Blount County, it is often featured as one of the best places to live in the country because of the low cost of living, excellent schools and no state income tax. blountpartnership.com.
**Beautiful mountain vistas and 9 sparkling lakes offer wonderful options for relaxation and recreation. nps.gov/grsm
**Located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Blount County covers an area of 584 square miles. The county has approximately 126,339 residents. McGhee Tyson Airport is conveniently located in Blount County and Knoxville is only minutes away. A web of highways and interstates connecting commerce are also quickly accessible.
**Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville. Known for offering its students a rigorous and highly personal experience, Maryville College is a nationally ranked institution of higher learning that successfully joins the liberal arts and professional preparation in partnership with others. Founded in 1819, Maryville is the 12th oldest college in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Total enrollment for the Fall 2019 semester is 1,148.
**Sports enthusiasts will enjoy cheering on the minor league baseball Tennessee Smokies, the Knoxville Ice Bears professional hockey team and the much-hyped SEC-affiliated University of Tennessee.
Why Are you Called to Join Highland Presbyterian Church?
Highland Presbyterian Church is located in Maryville, Tennessee between Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We are proximate to Maryville College, Blount Memorial Hospital, and the Justice Center. Our congregation comes from Maryville and surrounding communities to worship and have fellowship, and to equip ourselves for individual and corporate Christian witness. We have tried to live out our mission statement, and to remember and respond to our banner statement “Enter to Worship, Depart to Serve”.
As a smaller congregation we find our areas of need and emphasis changing as members and times come and go. We know each other more as individuals than as members of a group within the church, although there certainly are organized groups both permanent and ad hoc. We have an active committee structure, but informal communication and decision-making are common. We always strive to serve our members, to serve and support our community both locally and globally, and to grow our church family by welcoming new members and friends.
We have been especially blessed recently by the presence of several younger families with children. They and their parents have infused worship, fellowship, and service with new energy, and we are committed to “being the church” for these folks and others who may join. Our congregation has in fact identified this as our highest priority. In concrete terms we look to renew emphasis on programming and support for children and youth, with leadership by our new pastor. We are very happy to have an active children’s choir, a fairly recent development. We need more consistency in Sunday school, Bible study, and youth fellowship activities. We hope to find a pastor with a strong commitment to Christian youth education, development, and would love to call a pastor with experience either as youth pastor or youth leader, or otherwise with a demonstrated passion for young people.
Our community outreach efforts are many and varied. In fact, we wonder at times if we should try to focus our efforts more narrowly and deeply. We have helped create and continue to support local mission efforts such as The Gateway to Independence (for young adults with special needs), Community Food Connection (we have a garden), Family Promise (homeless families), and Good Neighbors (support for the poor). We have worked with Bridge Refugee Services to help a family from The Democratic Republic of the Congo start a new life here; they are currently worshipping with us. For many years we have held an Alternative Christmas Market in November. In the past we have supported several Presbytery projects in rural Tennessee. We hope to have a pastor willing to learn about our community, join our efforts, and help us identify priorities.
We participate in the regular PCUSA special offerings, and in the Souper Bowl of Caring. We have an ongoing relationship with a Presbyterian congregation in Cuba dating back to 2009. Between 1997 and 2004 we supported four trips to Nicaragua for work and mission. The congregation is committed to both local and global missions and will be looking to continue these relationships and/or search for new opportunities.
We have regular fellowship after church and share meals together several times a year. Our older adult ministry, Happy Highlanders, meets monthly for a program and sometimes an outing. Our adult choir is small but faithful and is an important part of worship. We do not have “contemporary worship” but do incorporate contemporary music into our more traditional worship style. We love to pass the peace of Christ!
We maintain the Burchfield House, an 1880’s Second Empire Victorian home repurposed as part of our physical facility. The interior is being renovated currently. We have recently added an ADA compliant front entrance and restroom to the sanctuary addition. A modern accessible playground was added five years ago.
We have a significant relationship with Maryville College going back decades. The church was founded by a group of professors in the 1950’s. Several members are current or retired professors, and others are alumni. A small number of MC Church and College Scholars associate themselves with us every year to help lead worship, teach Sunday School, and to have a church home. Currently three Maryville College students are taking active roles in leading Worship and Sunday School. We believe the college students are a wonderful part of ensuring our youth programs are supported and vibrant.
We seek diversity in all its forms and understand the richness it brings to our lives. We welcome everyone as a child of God.
We are unified as a congregation, but inevitably not everyone in the congregation supports every mission, outreach, or emphasis equally. We hope a new pastor will be willing and able to help us support each other as various groups and individuals pursue their callings.
Our new called pastor needs to be flexible, inspiring, energetic, visionary, welcoming. We are of course expecting a human being with flaws as well as superlatives. We hope that in time you will develop and share a vision for our church’s place in the world and will creatively implement programming to help us develop a “Highland identity”. Our current and near-future top priorities for our new pastor are to help lead children and youth programming, provide good preaching and teaching, and to communicate well with Highland members and others in the community. In these difficult times we need to leave worship spiritually nourished for the week, and with hope for the future. As a PCUSA congregation we tend to be attuned to social justice issues. We need to be equipped, empowered, and enabled for Christian witness in the world as we conduct our daily lives.
Our church is not large, and the pastor will need to be a generalist, but should not have to “do” for us. We have a committee structure that works, albeit with folks often wearing more than one hat. You will be responsible to plan and lead worship, to develop next generation faith formation, visit the sick and elderly, and facilitate conflict resolution when it arises. The congregation will help with all this as we are able, and will keep the music going, the finances in order, building and grounds intact, and mission activities active.
Please prayerfully consider whether Highland is to be your next (or first) call!
Peace Be With You,
Highland Presbyterian Pastor Nominating Committee
Living in Maryville
Maryville is a beautiful mid-size, college town in East Tennessee. Located in Blount County, it is often featured as one of the best places to live in the country because of the low cost of living, excellent schools and no state income tax. blountpartnership.com.
**Beautiful mountain vistas and 9 sparkling lakes offer wonderful options for relaxation and recreation. nps.gov/grsm
**Located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Blount County covers an area of 584 square miles. The county has approximately 126,339 residents. McGhee Tyson Airport is conveniently located in Blount County and Knoxville is only minutes away. A web of highways and interstates connecting commerce are also quickly accessible.
**Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville. Known for offering its students a rigorous and highly personal experience, Maryville College is a nationally ranked institution of higher learning that successfully joins the liberal arts and professional preparation in partnership with others. Founded in 1819, Maryville is the 12th oldest college in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Total enrollment for the Fall 2019 semester is 1,148.
**Sports enthusiasts will enjoy cheering on the minor league baseball Tennessee Smokies, the Knoxville Ice Bears professional hockey team and the much-hyped SEC-affiliated University of Tennessee.
