Bi-lingual Priest - (Spanish / English) - Associate Rector, Hispanic Mission, Southwark

Introduction

The appointment of the Associate Rector is an essential step in developing and realising our vision for the Hispanic Mission as part of an SDF-funded project, We are seeking someone who can lead in the implementation and delivery of mission and ministry, and who can contribute to longer term thinking and will be resourceful and imaginative in taking our vision forward within the context of a strong team.

Main Responsibilities

The Role

The key responsibilities of the Associate Rector will be:

• to initiate the Spanish Mission at Christ Church, Brixton and subsequently to prepare for the next Spanish-speaking church plant.
• Church Planting – the Associate Rector will also be responsible for church planting as the Mission expands and develops.  It will be necessary to work with churches which are identified as potential sites for a plant as well as to train and equip those who will form the heart of the plant.
• Resourcing other parishes – as part of the wider team, the Associate Rector will have a role in supporting and equipping other parishes keen to develop Spanish-speaking/bilingual ministry in their own context.

Alongside this, the Associate will be a leader within the wider team and will share responsibilities for:

• Sacramental Ministry, Preaching, and Teaching across the existing churches as well as finding new ways of bringing the sacraments and the gospel to those who are less likely to participate in traditional services
   
• Evangelisation – the Associate Rector will share responsibility for finding new ways of making the Christian gospel accessible to both ‘unchurched’ and ‘de-churched’ in our communities and delivering those activities.  This may include special events, courses, social activities, as well as new forms of worship. 
   
• Pastoral responsibility for those in our parishes and those seeking help and support from Agape and other services.  The Associate Rector will have a particular responsibility for developing a model of pastoral care in our growing communities which draws on the skills and potential of others and ensures that there is a seamless and coherent model of care available for all.  
   
• Catechesis and discipleship – the Associate Rector will share in the formation of those who have come to faith, in preparing them for the sacraments and in enabling them to grow and flourish in their Christian lives.   
   
• Leadership – the Associate Rector will assist in the leadership of the parishes and the Hispanic Mission participating in the development of our Vision and Strategy and in turning vision into reality.   The Associate Rector will also have lead responsibility for a number of projects as these are developed. 
   
• Programme and change management – realising our vision will require us to be capable of establishing new programmes for mission, social, and pastoral outreach as well as discipleship.   The Associate Rector will share in leading these programmes including budgeting, resources and training for all those involved.    It will also require continuous change and development in both our existing parishes and in future church plants.  The Associate Rector will share in responsibility for leading others through change.
   
• Enabling, training and equipping others – central to our model is a collaborative style of ministry and mission in which we identify and resource ‘leaders’ within our communities.  Many of these may go on to fully authorised lay ministries or ordained ministries but many others will exercise leadership within the Mission, Parishes or Agape.   
   
• As new staff and lay leader and volunteers join the team, there will be opportunities for line management and supervision.

• The Associate Rector works under the leadership of the Rector of St Matthew’s, Elephant and Castle and Priest-in-Charge Christ Church Brixton Fr Hugo Adan. 

The Ideal Candidate

This role provides an exceptional opportunity for someone to learn, grow and develop as well as to contribute to something which is already growing significantly.   We do not expect the Associate Rector to come with all the skills and attribute (s)he will need from day one but it is essential that the Associate Rector should be a woman or man who shares our passion and vision and is completely fluent in both Spanish and English – though ideally we are looking for a native Spanish-speaker who is fluent in English.  It is also essential that the Associate Rector should have deep experience of ministry in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England (or other churches in the Anglican Communion) and be a priest in good standing who can be licensed in the Church of England.

The following areas are also important in this role:

• Exceptional communication skills in both Spanish and English
• A passion for mission and evangelisation and ideally experience of church planting
• A demonstrable ability to lead change, to empower and develop others, and to turn vision into achievable programmes
• A person with deep pastoral skills and the ability to equip and train others in pastoral ministry
• A demonstrable ability to teach in a way which is imaginative and accessible to those of different language educational and cultural backgrounds
• A demonstrable ability to resource and lead programmes whether evangelistic, social action, pastoral or discipleship.
• A strong team player with the self-confidence and commitment to contribute to the formation of ideas and strategy but the ability to find ways of working well with those of different insights, ideas and skills.
• Someone with a clear sense of their strengths and weakness.
• A self-starter who is happy to take the lead and motivate and inspire others but who is also comfortable to work within a framework of authority and to take the ‘second chair’ in running the parishes and the Mission.

The Diocese will provide a certficiate of sponsorship to enable candidates to apply for a Minister of Religion (T2) visa, if they do not currently have the right to work in the UK.  This will require the candidate to pass the English language proficiency test (IELTS) required by the Home Office, or to have studied for a recognised degree taught in English.

The successful candidate will also need a clear, enhanced DBS check ,or equivalent from their current country of residence.

This is initially a fixed-term position, funded until June 2027.

About us

Our Churches

St Matthew’s is a growing church at the heart of the Elephant and Castle in South East London an area which has been transformed in the last ten years bringing together people of many different ethnicities and particularly large numbers of Spanish speakers. Since being appointed to St Matthew’s in 2017, Fr Hugo Adan has led the parish in becoming a pioneering resourcing church and the development of a Hispanic Mission embedded in what is now a bilingual parish.  Since 2022, the Mission has taken on direct responsibility for ministry at Christ Church, Brixton Road on the north edge of Brixton with a similarly large Spanish-speaking population as the next phase of developing a Hispanic Mission which can resource churches ministering to Spanish-speakers across the diocese and which we hope will become a model for bilingual ministry. 

Our Vision for Mission

Our vision is to see the gospel of Jesus Christ shared and many come to faith.  We thank God that many have already done so through the ministry of this mission.   We want to raise up and equip leaders from the diverse communities we minister to so that they in turn can share the gospel in ways which are authentic and accessible.  Living in a place of such diversity, it is also central to our vision that we proclaim the unity of the Body of Christ.  For this reason, our model is for Spanish ministry within a bilingual parish in which the English-speaking congregation is also growing and we take care to develop habits, practices and organisational opportunities for unity.  We believe that this is a true expression of the Spirit of Pentecost for London in the 21^st Century.

Having developed a model in St Matthew’s we are now supporting mission in another parish Christ Church, Brixton and our vision is that new church plants follow on from this.  However, alongside this we also want to offer resources for all those who seek to offer Spanish-speaking ministry in their own parishes and communities as well as contributing to the development of authentic ministry in any of the many languages widely spoken in our diocese.

Social Action
Social justice and social action is also central to our model of mission and alongside church planting, we have a passion to reach out to those in need and in particular in this area recognising the significant needs of the Latino Community in London.   In March 2020 we started a project called Agape. At the beginning this was a Food Bank helping the most vulnerable among the Latino community, especially those with no English at all.  Nowadays Agape has grown and offers a variety of services for those in need. 

 Please contact Fr Hugo Adan rector@stmatt.co.uk, or Archdeaon of Southwark, Jonthan Sedgwick, for an informal conversation, jonathan.sedgwick@southwark.anglican.org