Author Archives: Matthew Martin Nickoloff

About Matthew Martin Nickoloff

If there are a "chosen few" then I am not one of them, if an "elect" well then I have not been elected. I am one who is knocking at the door. I am one whose foot is on the bottom rung. But I know that Heaven's bottom rung is Heaven though the ladder is standing where I work by day and at night sleep with my head on a stone. -Wendell Berry No one ever told us we had to study our lives, make of our lives a study, as if learning natural history music, that we should begin with the simple exercises first and slowly go on trying the hard ones, practicing till strength and accuracy became one with the daring to leap into transcendence, take the chance of breaking down the wild arpeggio or faulting the full sentence of the fugue. And in fact we can’t live like that: we take on everything at once before we’ve even begun to read or mark time, we’re forced to begin in the midst of the hard movement, the one already sounding as we are born. Everything else seems beyond us, we aren’t ready for it, nothing that was said is true for us, caught naked in the argument, the counterpoint, trying to sightread what our fingers can’t keep up with, learn by heart what we can’t even read. And yet it is this we were born to. We aren’t virtuosi or child prodigies, there are no prodigies in this realm, only a half-blind, stubborn cleaving to the timbre, the tones of what we are, even when all the texts describe it differently. And we’re not performers, like Liszt, competing against the world for speed and brilliance (the 79-year-old pianist said, when I asked her What makes a virtuoso?—Competitiveness.) The longer I live the more I mistrust theatricality, the false glamour cast by performance, the more I know its poverty beside the truths we are salvaging from the splitting-open of our lives The woman who sits watching, listening, eyes moving in the darkness is reheasing in her body, hearing-out in her blood a score touched off in her perhaps by some words, a few chords, from the stage, a tale only she can tell. -Adrienne Rich

Job Opening: Part-Time Lay Missioner for Community Development

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1498980_783131551704055_2114587653_oJOB OPENING: Part-Time Lay Missioner of Community Development

SWM is hiring!   We’re seeking a lay person to serve the community part-time as a missioner of community development.  Initially, the missioner will help us focus on internal community organization, empowering leaders, and helping Pr. Matthew to strengthen and develop our relational and volunteer networks within the church and out into the neighborhood.  Longer-term, the Lay Missioner will lead efforts to both develop new relationships and outreach opportunities into the neighborhood and city, as well as help our neighbors with their own community organizing concerns.

Here’s the job description!  If you or someone you know fits the description and might be interested, please pass this along!  Thanks!

-the SWM Mission Table

+Job Description for Missioner of Community Development South Wedge Mission + 125 Caroline St + Rochester 14620
Start Date: Sunday November 29th, 2015 Starting Salary: Part-Time – $15,000 annual ($15/hr for 20 hrs/wk)
+Reporting Structure: Reports directly to SWM pastor, also to Mission Table

Description:
-create and cultivate connections and conversations in neighborhood context
-develop and empower community members for mission work
-partner with Pastor in non-sacramental role to minister to SWM members

Position Requirements:
12-14 hours/week – SWM Internal Organizing
6-8 hours/week – Neighborhood/Community Outreach
2-3 hrs/week SWM Upkeep

I.SWM Internal Organizing (12-14 hours/week)
-4-5 “1-1’s” with current or potential members per week
-identify, mentor and develop leaders within SWM community
-collaborate with Pastor in cultivating and leading deeper community engagement around faith formation, social justice, stewardship, etc
-encourage and develop volunteer work at SWM
-attend and lead public SWM events when called on – Sunday Liturgy, Weds PM Mindfulness, SWAP, Mission Table, concerts, etc
-one weekly staff meeting to set goals and direction for the week
-work with Pastor on basic theological training for preaching, pastoral care

II.Neighborhood Outreach (6-8 hours/week)
-develop and implement strategy of connecting with neighbors
-hold regular office hours in neighborhood locations
-cultivate and develop neighborhood outreach (theology on tap, etc)
-coordinate building use at SWM and explore additional partnerships

III.SWM Development (2-3 hours/week)
-actively seek out new funding streams (grants, partners, etc) for both SWM and to sustain Missioner position long-term
-coordinate community volunteers for building maintenance and upkeep
-work with pastor to maintain/nurture mission partner relationships

Professional Skill Requirements:
-a lived and demonstrable commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
-previous experience and demonstrated success in professional community organizing and/or neighborhood ministry
-a commitment to the mission and vision of SWM and its sponsoring denominations
-capacity to create own schedule, proactive in finding projects and people
-skill at group facilitation and 1-1 conversations
-demonstrated success at identifying and empowering grassroots leadership
-willingness to learn basic liturgical functions (pastoral care, preaching, etc)
-basic knowledge and skill in fund-raising/grant-writing
-volunteer organization, recruitment and empowerment
-ability to both receive trust from others and to keep that trust

Compensation:
In addition to a base annual salary of $15,000.00, South Wedge Mission will provide an additional $3,000.00 that can either be added to the base salary, or can be used in partnership with the Mission towards a retirement account.

Contact Info:
Please send a cover letter, resume, and two references to Pr Matthew Nickoloff. Application deadline is Friday November 6th. Expected start date for the position is Sunday November 29th, corresponding with the beginning of the church liturgical year.

Notice: This position is conceived for a lay person – i.e. a non-ordained person who is also not currently involved in an ordination process or seminary training. First consideration will be given to lay candidates.

Send to:
South Wedge Mission
c/o Rev Matthew Martin Nickoloff
125 Caroline St, Rochester, NY 14620
585-746-3048
mnickolo@gmail.com