Revitalise Enabler: Mission & Ministry

Introduction

With its network of parishes covering the country, the Church of England plays an active role in national life, bringing an important Christian dimension to the nation, as well as strengthening community life.  The Church of England is arranged geographically into 41 Dioceses, each under the care of a Bishop, and covers every part of England. 

The Diocese of York takes in much of North and East Yorkshire, an area which includes the cities of York and Hull, as well as Middlesbrough and Selby, two National Parks, and the incomparable Yorkshire coast.  We are a family of 579 churches and 125 schools across 442 parishes.   We are led and guided in our faith and work by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.  York Minster is our principal church. 

As a diocesan family, we are renewing our commitment to our vision and goals.   We are putting fresh energy into Living Christ’s Story, and delivering strategic programmes focused on our aims: becoming more like Christ; reaching those we currently don’t; growing churches of missionary disciples; and transforming our finances and structures.

As part of implementing our vision – Living Christ’s Story – our Mission and Ministry team aims to enable Churches to engage in God’s mission to the whole of life and to ensure that the Diocese has the right kinds of lay and ordained ministries to enable churches to serve God’s mission.  Through national project funding, we are seeking to resource deaneries, parishes, chaplaincies and new worshipping communities.

The Revitalise programme of work has been generating exciting transformations over the last two years and we are delighted to have an exciting opportunity for a further team member to join our Growing Healthy Churches programme through a full-time, fixed term, funded opportunity. Two half-time appointments would be considered if appropriate. 

The Revitalise programme works, at the moment, with 40 benefices (split into five cohorts) which have been identified initially as those which for missional and financial reasons would benefit from an intensive process of accompaniment and intervention.

With an additional team member in place, the ambition is to work with another two cohorts (18 benefices in total). Together, the team is part of enabling significant culture change.  You will be working in a supportive and encouraging manner with parishes, benefices and individuals across the whole range of Church of England traditions. 

The appointment would be for a fixed term of three years whose primary, but not exclusive, work will focused on four areas:

• Enabling churches in the Diocese, especially in Revitalise, to grow into healthy, outward looking communities engaging in God’s mission.
• Measuring impacts and working with parishes to agree measures for growth.
• Deliver and further develop context-specific resources to Revitalise benefices.
• To work in partnership with other Diocesan staff including Lifelong Learning and the Lay and Start of Ordained Ministries Advisers. 

We are committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion and especially welcome applications from disabled candidates and those from UKME heritage as these groups are under-represented in our staff.  We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all, and an enhanced DBS check will be required.

Deadline for applications:             Sunday, 29 September 2024

Interviews:                                      Monday, 7 October in York