Interim Team Vicar of Halewood and Hunts Cross Team

Overview

Halewood and Hunts Cross are suburbs on the outskirts of Liverpool with a mixed demographic and a good range of housing. They have good transport links and schools, are well served with local shopping areas, and adjoin some beautiful parks and farmland.

The three churches see their future as being defined as one people with three buildings. A typical Sunday will see over 250 adults and children worshipping here. The churches include the oldest LEP in the country, and joint working with Methodist colleagues is a valued part of their make up. They have excellent community links, with many groups using the church halls and community centre, and work with local schools. The buildings are all in good repair, and finances are broadly stable overall.

As part of Liverpool South Deanery, the parishes are currently exploring joining more closely together as part of the diocesan ‘Fit For Mission’ programme, to better serve the wider community and the mission of the church. They are therefore seeking an Interim Team Vicar who will be committed to this vision and will help the parishes navigate these conversations and decisions. You will be well supported by colleagues, working with the Priest in Charge (the Rector of Speke) and the current ministry team – which includes a Team Vicar based in Hunts Cross; a non-stipendiary minister with PTO, four Readers, a Reader Emeritus, and a Methodist Children’s Worker.

This appointment for an Interim Team Vicar is for a fixed three year term, to help the parishes discern their future within this wider team and vision, to set mission priorities and to care pastorally for the congregations and wider communities in this time of change.

There is a 5 bedroom purpose-built Rectory behind St Nicholas Church.

Short Listing: Tuesday 18^th April 2023

Interviews: Wednesday 10^th May 2023

For more information on this vacancy please contact the acting Archdeacon of Liverpool the Revd. Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes on: miranda.threlfall-holmes@liverpool.anglican.org. 

Introduction

Like everyone entering a new role in the Diocese, you will accept the priority of these areas, and will measure your ministry by effectiveness in these areas. You will be supported and expected to be accountable (through the Ministerial Development Review as well as through regular meetings with your colleagues) for how they are being implemented within your area of responsibility.

In common with all clergy in the diocese, you will work together with others to:-

1. Establish a culture of invitation in evangelism within the local church.
2. Start new worshipping communities and maintain existing healthy worshipping communities that are accessible to all.
3. Establish a culture in the local church of expecting a deepening of discipleship and putting into practice the 6 disciplines of the Rule of Life. 
4. Develop prayerfully a strategy for mission and church growth and aligning it with the Diocesan strategy Fit for Mission.
5. Identify, train, release and support new Christian leaders and teams.
6. Encourage vocations by identifying the gifts of others and assisting people to seek God’s calling for their lives.
7. Develop the distinctive ministry of the local Church within the wider context of the Diocese, Deanery and local ecumenical setting by establishing and maintaining good collaborative working relationships with clergy and lay colleagues.
8. Lead your congregations both to pray for justice in the Church and the world and to recognize how, working with others, your congregations can work for more justice in the Church, your local communities, and the world.
9. Ensure that safeguarding, financial and other governance disciplines are followed.

Main Responsibilities

Some of the Main Responsibilities of this Role include:

• To look for creative ways to engage residents moving into new housing developments
• To help the parishes navigate the conversations and decisions in becoming Fit For Mission
• To nurture the new life being seen in the parish, and encourage it to multiply

The Ideal Candidate

•  Will provide excellent pastoral care and support to church members
•  Will encourage and promote regular Christian giving, so that the parish is financially secure
• Will work well with our ecumenical colleagues and develop and encourage lay leadership

About us

Being part of the Clergy Team in Liverpool Diocese.

For many years we have been working to achieve growth in our diocese. We have used different ways to express this but the aim and direction of travel has remained the same:

“We are asking God for a bigger church so we can make a bigger difference”; said another way: “We long to see more people knowing Jesus and more justice in the world.”

To achieve this vision we are rolling out a diocesan strategic transformation project called ‘Fit for Mission’ which is an ambitious, growth-orientated and locally delivered change programme to enable mission and ministry to flourish in the Diocese of Liverpool. All clergy in the Diocese are expected to align themselves fully with this vision and work to its fullest possible implementation.

We have 4 mission priorities which are foundational to this vision:

(i)  introducing people to Jesus;

(ii)  deepening discipleship;

(iii)  developing Christian leaders, and

(iv)  working for justice.

We are determined to make these priorities real in our life and ministry that includes:

• a commitment to working in teams rather than in isolation,
• a major investment in lay leadership,
• a radical re-structuring of our parishes and
• a releasing of clergy to enable them to focus much more fully on their gifts and vocational call.