Student & Young Adults Worker

Overview

This is an exciting opportunity for a Student & Young Adults Worker to play a key role in implementing “A Fruitful Future: Strategic growth and cultural change in the large, diverse Diocese of Southwark”.  Specific projects have been identified in places across the Diocese of Southwark where there is a clear opportunity for growth and funding has been obtained from the Church of England’s Strategic Development Funding to support these projects. 

One of these places is Summerstown, a diverse parish in south west London undergoing  significant regeneration.  St Mary’s currently has a small but growing number of young adults in their 20s and 30s as well as a number of young families and a few students.  We have an increasing number of this demographic in our local area and we would like to reach out to them and make St Mary’s welcoming, attractive and supportive to students and young-adults alike.  This role would lead this area of ministry, with support and oversight from the Vicar and the Diocese.

Introduction

St Mary’s Church is a local parish church which reflects the diversity of the local area in age, ethnicity and background.  We are a small, friendly, multi-cultural, evangelical congregation seeking to reach the local area with the good news of Jesus Christ.  St Mary’s has a heart to reach out to students and young adults in the local area and this role is to establish and support ministry among these groups in Summerstown.

We want to appoint a Lay Worker for Students & Young Adults to join the church staff.  Alongside the Incumbent and a parish worker (who has successfully focused on children) you will work intentionally with the Christian Union at St George’s University (part of the University of London) as well as outreach to the new developments to grow new ministries and possibly a new congregation aimed at students and young adults.  As a member of the team at St Mary’s, you would get involved in various aspect of our lives together as God’s family, but this role would specifically focus on outreach and discipleship among students and young adults.

The role can be summarised under the following two areas of responsibility:

1. Outreach: Aiming to reach non-Christian students and young adults for Christ, including by:

• Leading enquirers courses e.g. Christianity Explored
• Engaging with the St George’s Hospital Christian Union and Chaplaincy
• Helping Sunday Services to be attractive and useful to people who wouldn’t call themselves Christians
• Organising and leading outreach events in the local area.

2. Discipleship: building up students and young adults in their faith, for example:

• Leading Bible study groups
• Personal work, pastoral support and 1-1 discipleship
• Leading relevant events for students, 20s & 30s
• Encouraging students and young adults to serve at church and preparing them for serving Christ in their future.

Main Responsibilities

Key responsibilities:

The role is likely to be varied and will involve a mixture of:

• Leading student and young adults work and different aspects of Word ministry
• Personal pastoral work e.g., 1-1 Bible reading, pastoral visits
• Evangelism among this group e.g. leading Christianity Explored, 1-1 bible studies, organising outreach events
• Working in partnership with St George’s Hospital Chaplaincy and Christian Union, supporting outreach and discipleship among medical students
• Staff meetings and prayer meetings
• Leading Bible studies, being a member of a Bible study group
• Sunday Services: being involved in the services e.g. praying, welcoming, practicalities
• Attending church events/background staff work as needed and required by the Vicar
• Raising up and training young adults for areas of ministry in church e.g. children’s ministry, or Bible study leading

The normal pattern of work in the Parish includes the following:

• We don’t work office hours, which means both that evening work is as expected as daytime work, but also that we will sometimes do personal and private things during the day when necessary.
• We always take two calendar days off every week without fail, as much as possible on the same predictable days, with occasional necessary changes from the regular day.  
• You will have a weekly 1-1 meeting with the Vicar and regular meetings during the week or evenings.
• Sundays are our big day and are never a day off, unless they are part of a holiday period. Similarly, Easter and Christmas are normally working times.

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for someone who:

• loves Christ and is seeking to grow as His disciple
• has a passion to serve Christ’s church in a variety of ways
• is willing to learn and seeking to grow in their ministry gifts
• is able to demonstrate that they will be a collaborative team member and also comfortable working independently when needed
• is an example of growing in godliness in their life and ministry
• has a passion to see students and young adults won for Christ and built up in Him
• has some experience of student or young adults ministry (either paid or un-paid)
• loves the Bible and is experienced in teaching it e.g. in small groups and one-to-one
• has pastoral skills and practical insight into the pressures faced by students and young adults
• is a leader, who can inspire others, take initiative and support the Vicar to develop our ministry among students and young adults
• is emotionally intelligence and able to build good partnerships and working relationships with others e.g. with the Chaplaincy at St George’s hospital
• has good organisational abilities
• is prayerful and committed to their personal relationship with God
• has some formal or informal training in ministry and Bible teaching
• will be a committed member of the wider church family at St Mary’s
• shares the conservative evangelical theology of the church.

About us

he Diocese of Southwark, founded in 1905, forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England and is part of the wider Church of England, in turn part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Diocese covers primarily the area of Greater London which is South of the Thames, together with the Eastern part of the county of Surrey. It is one of the largest dioceses in terms of population and parishes as well as one of the most diverse.

As a Diocese, we celebrate churches, worshipping communities and fresh expressions of Church, across the full spectrum of traditions, that speak well of each other and support each other as together we seek to deliver a our key objectives.  This diversity and range of contexts within our Diocese means there needs to be more than one approach to missional growth – and this role will be a key feature of our journey towards delivering this growth.

In 2016, the Diocese was awarded a major grant to develop fresh expressions of Church throughout the Diocese and to grow the Church in new development areas, in particular the Nine Elms development on the South Bank in the Vauxhall /Battersea area.

In 2019 the Diocese was awarded a second major grant this time for six specific projects in places identified across the Diocese where there is a clear opportunity for growth and where lessons learned can be replicated to good effect across the Diocese and the wider church.  This post at Summerstown is one of these projects