2 Timothy 2:1-2
At Rock Hill, we want to declare, display, and delight in the gospel not only in our generation but also in the generations to come, so we have developed the pastoral residency program to equip aspiring pastors. Our mission is to raise up godly, gospel-centered pastors and church planters through a two-year paid pastoral position with mentorship and training.
Our staff and elder teams work hard, laugh a lot, and take God seriously but not ourselves. Pastoral residents work as members of our staff, participate in leadership meetings, and serve in a variety of areas in the church. Our staff meets weekly for ongoing ministry updates and monthly for long-term planning, and each of our elder teams meet monthly.
Paul instructed the Ephesian elders, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). To be a pastor is to be a shepherd, so pastoral residents gain experience in counseling individuals, married couples, and other members of the church who need someone to listen to them and offer them hope.
Learning how to communicate the Bible requires lots of opportunities to prepare, teach, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes. We offer pastoral residents the chance to teach and preach in a variety of contexts, from Sunday morning to special services to weddings to funerals to youth group. In all of these situations, we’ll offer tools to prepare these messages and feedback to reflect on how it went.
Residents work through Practically Trained Pastors, a year-long guide with Scripture readings, books, articles, podcasts, and videos from Practical Shepherding that are aimed at helping young pastors prepare for what ministry is really like. Our pastors walk through these resources alongside residents and add insights from their own experiences to apply the lessons.
Rock Hill is a member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, which has an excellent process for licensing and ordination. This process is meant to recognize and encourage one’s calling to vocational ministry, and we invite our residents to pursue these credentials as an aid in their development and as a way to connect to our broader denomination.