Team Vicar, Oxted Team Ministry in the Diocese of Southwark

Overview

This post of Team Vicar for St John the Evangelist, Hurst Green and St George’s, Crowhurst provides an exciting opportunity to work within a team, yet most of your time will be spent working with the one church, St John the Evangelist in Hurst Green.  It is one of the biggest parishes in the Tandridge Deanery and St John’s has a vision to be a church without walls at the heart of the community; this is a great chance to be part of a pioneering mission initiative.

The other two churches in the team of four are St Mary’s Oxted and St Peter’s, Tandridge and while the churches operate separately and independently from each other, we are evolving as a team and coming together more and more, sharing resources where possible.

Introduction

Hurst Green (population 7,000) and Crowhurst (population 350) are in a semi-rural area of East Surrey, south of Junction 6 of the M25.  Regular train services connect with Croydon and London.

In Hurst Green, there is a broad range of housing, from large, detached properties to several large council estates.  It is a parish of contrasts with some stockbroker housing but also some pockets of real deprivation. There are a few local shops and two pubs and extensive sports fields with a tennis club and a social club.  Nearby Oxted has more shops, library, cinema, leisure centre, restaurants, doctors etc.

There are two residential care homes in Hurst Green which provide both nursing and specialist dementia care.  There are three schools in the parish – Hurst Green Infant School (3 – 7), Holland Junior School (7 – 11) and Moor House School and College (8 upwards), a boarding school for children with speech difficulties to which pupils come from all over the country. There is no church school.  St John’s has strong links with both the care homes and the schools.

Residents in both parishes are a mix of retirees and commuters as well as some locally based workers. New homes have been built in Hurst Green and Crowhurst in recent years which have attracted younger families.

Crowhurst is more rural and sparsely populated with no school or shops but does have a well-used village hall that is used for church and village events.  The housing ranges from small, terraced cottages to large, detached houses, including several listed buildings.

Main Responsibilities

Our areas of focus as described in our recently updated Mission Action Plan are:

• Eco church – adopt more environmentally sustainable practices and energy provision, achieve the A Rocha Eco Church Silver award and be an established community hub in sharing information on and facilitating environmentally sustainable practices.
• Community initiatives – to be at the heart of the local infrastructure and to be visible, accessible and inclusive to all and, in particular to further develop the existing Community Fridge and Hub.
• Accessibility – to redevelop the physical layout in the church to allow better use by the local community.
• Inclusion – to become a consciously inclusive church.
• Children and youth – to help our children and young people to feel comfortable and confident in church and with their Christian faith in the wider community.
• Digital ministry – to move from digital advertising to digital ministry.
• Fresh expressions – to develop café church to become a fertile ground for the development of lay people and young people to exercise and develop their gifts in leadership, music, the arts, preaching and teaching for the glory of God.

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for a Vicar who is inclusive and welcoming of all people, who wants to join our church family, lead us in worship and develop God’s work in our community.  They should have:

• A good sense of strategy, and experience in leading and managing change, setting clear vision and direction.Someone who can prioritise and delegate with a pioneering spirit who doesn’t mind experimenting, even when experimentation fails.

• A heart for sharing Jesus not just in our church buildings but also in our local areas so that we can be part of our local communities and alongside those in need. Knowledge of what it means to be a church embedded in the community and welcoming those from non-church backgrounds to discover the love and blessings of a faith community without proselytising.

• The skills to draw together young and old, families and singles, those with traditional models of family as well as those with non-traditional ones.We look for an inclusive approach to church including (but not limited to) women in leadership and acceptance of the diverse LGBT+ communities.

• A desire to build on the work that has been done to engage with children and youth.Someone who has imaginative ways of involving them in our services and church life.

About us

St John the Evangelist is an inclusive place of worship with strong connections with the local community. The worship style is middle of the road / central Anglican and includes two Eucharist services on a Sunday, café church monthly and a weekday Eucharist also monthly.  Around 50 – 60 people attend the main Sunday service which is also streamed.  Church music is a mix of traditional and contemporary. Attendance has fallen since the pandemic and we would like help to address this. The congregation includes young families and many retired people and all shades in between.  It’s an inclusive congregation but not that ethnically diverse which is a reflection of the local community.

St John’s church and attached rooms, as well as a separate hall about half a mile away, are used by the church to run local community groups including a Community Hub, Community Fridge, a group for babies through to pre-school children, and an art group.  Other organisations such as a local choral society, the WI and a club for the visually impaired rent the rooms on a regular basis.

There is a need to significantly modify St John’s church building to make it sustainable, flexible and accessible to allow more community events to take place as there is a shortage of such space within Hurst Green.  A project has started to make this happen and this is an exciting, albeit scary time.  There is a strong team leading this project but we need a vicar with vision, energy and commitment to help us make this happen.

There is a Youth Group co-ordinated by a part time paid Youth Worker and Sunday School takes place twice a month along with “Munch” once a month which is a guided discussion group for teenagers.  There is a desire to engage children and youth more fully in worship.

St George’s Church hold a Eucharist service once a fortnight with an average attendance of 15 – 20 mostly mature adults.  They also host special agricultural festivals such as Plough Sunday, Rogation and Harvest. An ancient church in a rural population with a small population brings challenges, particularly increasing church attendance.  But there is a stable, faithful congregation and the non-churchgoers look out for “their” church and look forward to welcoming their new Team Vicar.

St John’s has several part time paid positions including Director of Music, Parish Administrator, Communications Officer, Room and Hall Booking Secretary, Hurst Green News Editor, Oxted Team Youth Worker, Bid Project Manager, Gardener and St Agatha’s Hall caretaker.

Our team ministry consists of a Team Rector, three non-stipendiary priests, a Southwark Pastoral Auxiliary and two readers.

We have a policy in Southwark Diocese that to be appointed to an incumbent status post, a priest must have served a title post in an Anglican church in the British Isles. We aim to be a diverse and truly representative Diocese, and particularly welcome applications from women and people of UKME heritage.

This post is subject to DBS enhanced disclosure.

For an informal conversation with the Venerable Moira Astin, Archdeacon of Reigate, please contact Kathleen.bailey@southwark.anglican.org

You may also contact the Team Rector Designate, Rev James Ashton, by email james.p.ashton75@gmail.com or telephone 07948 248030 (please do not contact until after 22 August 2023).

Closing Date: Tuesday 12 September 2023 (midnight)

Parish Visit: Monday 25 September 2023 (morning)

Interviews: Monday 25 September 2023 (afternoon)