St. Mark’s seeks a Teaching Fellow
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church is a progressive church in Washington, DC, committed to inclusiveness, radical hospitality, and social justice. Our church offers three in-person services with live streaming of one service each Sunday. Last year, our annual Sunday attendance was approximately 260 people with 305 pledging families.
The St. Mark’s Teaching Fellowship is a one-year part-time position designed to inspire children and the adults who lead them to share their intrinsic wonder, creativity and joy in the story of God through Sunday School.
Fellowship Goals:
- Bring people with a passion for theological reflection into our community to walk alongside inquisitive, active and engaged children in their spiritual formation.
- Build a Montessori-based approach to Sunday School that fosters deep engagement among our children by thoughtfully adapting Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Godly Play, and related curriculums.
- Develop a collaborative team of spiritual formation leaders, including volunteer and paid teachers, clergy and staff, to share knowledge and experience that nurtures future generations of Christians.
Position Summary:
St. Mark’s is seeking a Sunday School teacher from 9:15am to 11:15am for 32 Sunday mornings (not including long weekends adjacent to federal holidays) during the traditional school year. All classes follow the same structure of greeting, story-telling, discussion, student response and closing. Teachers are provided a lesson plan (based on Catechesis of the Good Shepherd or Godly Play) as a jumping off point – though they are welcome to innovate in collaboration with the Children, Youth and Family Ministry director. They meet monthly with the director prior to class to plan and reflect on their practice.
Children attend Sunday School from 10:00am to 10:50am. Teaching expectations include preparing the environment, greeting children, delivering a Sunday School lesson story, facilitating discussion, supervising students’ artistic or play response and sending a lesson summary to parents. Teachers follow a student-led Montessori-based approach that emphasizes open-ended wonder over single answers or teacher-mandated responses.
In addition to the Sunday School hours, teachers chose two of our many (two hour) family fellowship events to attend per year. They will also work with the director to find two times each year when they can participate in training as a full teaching department to collaborate and share best practices (usually 2.5-3 hours). The total commitment is a maximum of 75 hours per school year.
St. Mark’s Sunday School teachers serve as advisors, mentors, and role models, responsible for creating a positive learning environment and supporting our students' well-being. They are asked to commit for at least one year of teaching with the option to extend that commitment.
Qualifications and Experience:
- A Bachelor's degree or higher in any discipline or qualifying life experience.
- Experience teaching in some capacity.
- Dedication to student-led discussion and exploration.
- Commitment to continued learning and a growth mindset.
- Demonstrated sensitivity, knowledge, and understanding of the diverse backgrounds of community members with a continuous focus on healthy relationship building.
- Capacity to serve as a model of openness, generosity, and acceptance.
- Willingness to complete required Safe Church training and background checks before working with children.
- Eagerness for questions and conversation about faith, and commitment to encouraging young people to be spiritually curious, socially engaged, and unapologetically themselves.
Compensation:
The salary for this position is $3,200 per school year to be paid in monthly installments from September to June each year.
Application Details:
To apply for the position, please email Youthdirector@stmarks.net the following:
- Resume
- Instead of a cover letter, please answer the following question in a response of up to 500 words: What skills or experience would you bring to this position that would help spark children's curiosity while deepening the knowledge that they are loved by God and the church community?
After a phone call interview with our Children, Youth and Family Ministries director, you will be asked to share the names of two references and to come in for a second interview with a larger hiring team.