Team Vicar (Pioneering) in the Warlingham Team & Parish Ministry Development Officer, Croydon Episcopal Area

Overview

Team Vicar Warlingham with Chelsham and Farleigh Team Ministry

We are seeking a half-time, visionary and pioneering minister to join the Team with a focus on mission and growth from the base of St Christopher’s, Warlingham as well as supporting the ministry of the wider Team on a Sunday. We are seeking a warm, friendly and energetic person to help grow our congregation in faith, in spirituality and in numbers. This half-stipend post is held concurrently with the post of Parish Ministry Development Officer in the Croydon Episcopal Area of the Diocese of Southwark.

The Team Vicar’s role is an important opportunity to explore new possibilities in mission and ministry. St Christopher’s Warlingham was built for mission, and it is for that purpose that it needs renewing, serving its local area and inspiring the future of the Team. The linking of this post with the Croydon Area’s officer for parish ministry development indicates that the postholder needs to be capable both of leading growth in their own context, and of enabling others to do so in very different contexts. If you are the person to fulfil this post, you will need to be comfortable with the label of ‘reflective practitioner’, and able to reflect theologically on your own practice, and on how others might also explore new possibilities within their own theological tradition and specific context.

Parish Ministry Development Officer in the Croydon Episcopal Area

The Ministry Parish Ministry Development Officer role is an important opportunity to explore new possibilities in mission and ministry. St Christopher’s Warlingham was built for mission, and it is for that purpose that it needs renewing, serving its local area and inspiring the future of the Team. The linking of this post with the Croydon Area’s officer for parish ministry development indicates that the postholder needs to be capable both of leading growth in their own context, and of enabling others to do so in very different contexts. If you are the person to fulfil this post, you will need to be comfortable with the label of ‘reflective practitioner’, and able to reflect theologically on your own practice, and on how others might also explore new possibilities within their own theological tradition and specific context.

Introduction

Team Vicar

St Christopher’s began one hundred and fifteen years ago as a place of worship in the east end of Warlingham - a large village - as a response to the population increasing (now approx. 9,000 people). St Christopher’s has flexible worship space in an unusual white painted wooden clad building (little house on the prairie-esq) and a small but well-equipped hall.

In the early days it was staffed by the Church Army and has always been notable for having a heart for mission which continues to this day particularly with Messy Church and lunches for the elderly. It is a small church with a big heart. Its tradition has been Eucharistic on a Sunday but have always been creative and up for anything! The ambience for worship is relaxed and friendly. Notably, as an example, they annually go to a local farmer’s barn for the Harvest Festival celebration.

The Team is made up of the four parishes of All Saints’, Warlingham; St Christopher’s, Warlingham; St Leonard’s, Chelsham; and St Mary’s, Farleigh; which are situated on the boundary between suburban and rural areas in North East Surrey and just beyond the outskirts of Croydon, in the Croydon Episcopal Area of the Diocese of Southwark, the Archdeaconry of Reigate and Deanery of Tandridge.

Warlingham has a great community feel and several organised community events throughout the year. The population is static and growing, being situated just south of the London Borough of Croydon. New housing is featured in the Tandridge Plan. There are two state primary schools, a small independent school and a large secondary school within the parishes.

The Team Vicar’s Accommodation, which was purpose built about twenty years ago, is situated at the heart of Warlingham Village. Address: 35 Dane Road, Warlingham, CR6 9NP.

It is close to local shops and amenities, such as GP surgery and Dentist and there is easy access to public transport routes to Croydon, Redhill and London. There is a frequent bus service which links with British Rail.

Parish Ministry Development Officer

Across a varied diocese, that vision will be worked out in different ways in different places. The Croydon Episcopal Area comprises seven deaneries and about a hundred parishes stretching from Norbury in the north to the edges of Gatwick Airport in the south. The area covers the London Boroughs of Croydon and Sutton, three parishes in Bromley and a significant part of Surrey: Tandridge, the majority of Reigate & Banstead and a few parishes in Mole Valley. The Croydon Episcopal Area Office is located in Croydon. It includes some of the most, and least deprived areas in the country, with many in the middle ground of suburbia.

Main Responsibilities

Team Vicar

We are looking for an ordained Minister who will:

• Reach out into the local community to serve and show God’s love to all through pioneering new ministries and fresh expressions of Church
• Create an invitational culture where all are welcome
• Bring leadership and direction to create opportunities for mission
• Empower lay members of the congregation
• Help the congregation to grow in faith, in spirituality and in numbers
• Work with the ministry Team, in supporting our ministry to families and young people and older people
• Demonstrate a heart for community outreach and social justice
• Pray with us to see what God is calling us to do
• Love, support and develop us.

Parish Ministry Development Officer

This post is a crucial part of the delivery in the Croydon Area of the diocese’s mission and strategy. If the churches of the Area are to grow and flourish they will need to reflect on their life and mission, and learn the skills of managing change and developing new ways of worshipping God and serving God’s world. Parish ministry development in this context, and across the wide variety of social and economic settings of the Area, will be an exercise in discernment and prayer as much as strategy and planning.

You will be responsible for working with clergy and parishes to encourage effective mission and the management of change. This will involve helping parishes to turn around and grow in new ways, giving encouragement and support where risks are being taken. This may include promoting and establishing ministry teams, aiding in Mission Action Planning and enabling clergy and lay people to work collaboratively in ministry and mission.

You will contribute to our aim of re-shaping deaneries for mission, working with and developing Deanery Leadership Teams, encouraging a shift to the formation of learning and missional communities across and within deaneries.

The Ideal Candidate

Team Vicar

We are looking for an ordained Minister who will be:

• Enthusiastic in their love of God and people
• Visionary and pioneering, excited by challenge and prepared to be risk-taking and experimental
• Innovative, authentic, relevant, creative, inclusive, flexible, adaptable, resilient and energetic
• Family-friendly and aware of the challenges faced by families and older people in this area
• An evangelist and teacher
• A prayerful person of faith
• Someone who understands the importance of communication and will engage with a broad range of communication channels
• welcome to contribute to supporting mission in other ways where there are opportunities within the Team Ministry, for example, at the weekly summer Teas at St Mary’s Farleigh, (if they resume post- coronavirus pandemic) or leading an enquirer course.
• Due to the nature of the Team organisation it will be necessary for the Team Vicar (Pioneering) to assist in leading traditional worship within the benefice on a Sunday, as each church has a weekly service. The Team Vicar will need to be sympathetic to the traditional language preferred at St Leonard’s, Chelsham and St Mary the Virgin, Farleigh.

Parish Ministry Development Officer

The person appointed Parish Ministry Development Officer will:

• be an ordained member of the Church of England with significant experience of parochial ministry in the Church of England;
• be confident in their own spiritual and ecclesiastical tradition, and be committed to the flourishing of parish life in the Diocese of Southwark in parishes of vastly diverse theological, social, ethnic and cultural perspective;
• demonstrate a theology of evangelism, mission and lay ministry involving the development of the whole people of God in ministry together;
• be committed to the development of new lay ministries in the church;
• be highly motivated, self-aware and confident of the mission of the Church of England;
• demonstrate ability to encourage people from ethnic minorities into ministry in accordance with diocesan strategy;
• be an excellent team player;
• be hardworking and flexible, working with colleagues responsible for other aspects of mission in the diocese;
• demonstrate understanding of different learning styles, and the capacity to communicate clearly to people of very different backgrounds and traditions;
• demonstrate understanding of change management and methods of strategic planning.

About us

St Christopher’s, Warlingham

Vision Statement St Christopher’s Church Family are: to welcome all; to share God’s love, and to grow in faith together.

St Christopher’s has a small but elderly congregation who appreciate eucharistic worship but who are also open to new ideas. For many years St Christopher’s had a Sunday School and attracted families, but currently there are no young families coming on a Sunday morning, although the bi-monthly Messy Church on a Saturday attracts many local families.

St Christopher’s worship is augmented by both modern and traditional hymns which are accompanied on the organ or keyboard and an occasional guitar. On the second Sunday of every month we have held an All Together Service - an interactive service encouraging the involvement of everyone. They have also held services to mark special times within the year, such as Harvest Festival held on a local farm in a barn, a Passover supper during Lent, a Pet service, services outside in the summer and two Christingle Services on Christmas Eve (which attract over 200 adults and children).

Chelsham Road Community Hall, which is owned by the church, is situated next to the church. It is well used for groups such as Coffee and Chat, the Tuesday Afternoon Group for over 60s and the Brownies and Guides. It is hired out to a variety of regular users, such as dog handlers, martial arts, parent and toddler group, Alcoholics Anonymous and is also available for private hire. It is a valuable source of income to the church as well as being a community resource. The church has used it for Community Lunches for older people and offered it as a place to host the East Surrey Winter Night Shelter one night a week (used for four years and only stopped as the Shelter became more permanently centred in Redhill).  We might be small but we have a big heart.

Diocese of Southwark

The Diocesan Vision sets out our shared vision for a future in which we will see:

• growing churches, new worshipping communities and new Christians
• deepening discipleship: engaged, prayerful and informed Christians
• growth in vocations to existing and new ministries
• generous giving and prayer supporting all we do
• justice and peace built up, and violence challenged, in our local and global community
• a shared commitment to the integrity of creation
• a church for all which reflects our diverse community in membership and leadership.

Across a varied diocese, that vision will be worked out in different ways in different places. The Croydon Episcopal Area comprises seven deaneries and about a hundred parishes stretching from Norbury in the north to the edges of Gatwick Airport in the south. The area covers the London Boroughs of Croydon and Sutton, three parishes in Bromley and a significant part of Surrey: Tandridge, the majority of Reigate & Banstead and a few parishes in Mole Valley. The Croydon Episcopal Area Office is located in Croydon. It includes some of the most, and least deprived areas in the country, with many in the middle ground of suburbia.

If you would like an informal discussion with the archdeacon, please contact Kathleen Bailey, PA to the Archdeacon of Reigate at Kathleen.bailey@southwark.anglican.org or 020 8256 9633 to arrange a time for a phone conversation.

Closing date: Sunday 14 February 2021 at 9pm

Interview date: Thursday 11 March 2021