Introduction

Full-Time Incumbent of the Parish of St George’s, Stockport with St Gabriel’s, Adswood

Stockport is an historic and vibrant town in Greater Manchester, eight miles south-east of Manchester, with excellent transport links via bus, train and road networks.

The market charter was granted in 1260 and the town’s growth was mainly due to the hat making industry and cotton mills of the Industrial Revolution. It is home to the source of the River Mersey, Stockport County Football Club, an Edwardian Town Hall nicknamed ‘The Wedding Cake’ and the iconic railway viaduct - the largest brick built structure in Europe, built in 1840 – that now straddles the M60 as well as the river.

The bustling town centre includes a range of leisure and cultural attractions, including the War Memorial Art Gallery, Elizabethan Staircase House, Art Deco Plaza Theatre and Cinema, with Bramhall Hall and Park nearby at the edge of the parish.

With a population of 23,000, our large and diverse parish includes urban and suburban areas with areas of economic deprivation and of open, green space. All age groups are well represented and people work in a range of professional, executive and manual jobs.

As a prominent landmark on the A6, St George’s frequently welcomes people who are unemployed and people who are battling addiction. We count ourselves privileged to also welcome and support refugees and asylum seekers as they seek to integrate locally and are delighted that in recent years many have decided to make us their spiritual home. We are an eclectic congregation, with many travelling from a wide area across South Manchester to enjoy our worship and community life.

St Gabriel’s is a 1930s mission church in the Adswood area of the parish which is mainly used by another Christian denomination, but where we still currently hold 4 services a year. 

We seek to shine as a beacon for Christ and aim to:

• Welcome everyone.
• Support and care for each other.
• Grow in love.
• Serve our community.
• Worship together.
• Share our building.
• Offer our gifts.

We are praying for a vicar who will:

• Have an ambitious vision for leading a Major Church at the heart of a large, active and diverse parish.
• Be inspired to use and develop creative approaches to teaching and to nurturing our faith journey. 
• Inspire our congregations to live out our faith in our everyday lives.
• Help us to enlarge our welcome and to grow our experience of mission by reaching out across communities, developing our links with other faith groups, and by being active in the Deanery and across Stockport.
• Have experience of, and enthusiasm for, working with children and families and of encouraging younger adults to participate more fully in the life of our church.
• Proactively support the spiritual development of our school.
• Relish and support our strong choral tradition and encourage us as we seek to expand our music provision.
• Nurture our ambitions to improve our facilities and guide us as we seek to become a greener, more welcoming, accessible and inclusive church.
• Encourage us as we seek to enhance our outreach through social media.
• Have a demonstrable commitment to fostering a strong and effective safeguarding culture in the parish so that all can flourish and thrive.

Is God calling you to come and join us?

Accommodation is offered in an excellent vicarage less than a mile from St George’s:

17 Frewland Avenue, Davenport, Stockport, SK3 8TZ.

There are excellent local amenities, a wide range of schools locally and superb transport links into Greater Manchester, the Peak District and Cheshire countryside.

Please apply via the Diocese of Chester Website using the Diocesan application form:

Stockport St George, Diocesan advert

Closing date:          Tuesday 6th January 2026

Interviews:              Thursday 5th February 2026

The Diocese of Chester will not shortlist any candidate for posts if they cannot provide an assurance of a valid DBS and up to date safeguarding training.

If you would like to have an informal conversation, please contact:

Bishop of Stockport:

Rt Rev’d Sam Corley  

E:   bpstockport@chester.anglican.org

M:  07878 371 897

About us:

The Diocese of Chester is in the province of York in the Church of England, part of the global Anglican Communion. For more information about our life, ministry and work please visit our website www.chester.anglican.org  We are linked with the Anglican Church of Melanesia in the Solomon Islands and the Dioceses of Aru and Boga in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Diocese covers an area of 1025 square miles, approximately the old Victorian County of Chester, including parts which subsequently became absorbed into Merseyside and Greater Manchester. The Rivers Mersey and Tame approximately delineate the boundary with Liverpool and Manchester. There are areas of dense urban population, mainly in the north, stretching from Birkenhead to East Manchester. There are prosperous suburban regions of West and South Wirral, Chester and south of Manchester, with a mainly rural heartland, bounded by the Derbyshire Pennines and the Welsh Border. The overall population is around 1.6 million.

The Diocesan Bishop is Mark Tanner, Bishop of Birkenhead Julie Conalty and the Bishop of Stockport is Samuel Corley.

The Cathedral for the Diocese is in Chester.

The Diocese is divided into two archdeaconries: 

Chester covering the western half and Macclesfield the eastern, each with nine deaneries. There are 273 parishes, about 100 of which can be described as rural. Compared with many dioceses, there are few teams, and few multi-parish benefices. There are approximately 231 stipendiary clergy. The ministry of Readers and Pastoral Workers is important, with over 400 licensed. The role of self-supporting ministers is increasing, with over 80 in post at present.

Roughly speaking, the Archdeaconry of Macclesfield covers that part of the diocese to the east of the M6, plus the area around Crewe and Nantwich. The Archdeaconry of Chester covers the rest of the diocese to the west of the M6. Each archdeaconry has a broad mix of urban and rural parishes. The Archdeacon of Chester lives in Chester, and the Archdeacon of Macclesfield lives in Congleton. Both now work from Church House, Daresbury.