Team Rector of Harden, Wilsden, Cullingworth and Denholme

Introduction

These four parishes form an important joint benefice within the Bradford Episcopal Area and the Diocese of Leeds, and include an encouraging local ecumenical partnership in Denholme.  After the benefice came into being eleven years ago, the constituent parishes continued to run with a great deal of independence.   For the past six years a fruitful period of Interim Ministry has been in place.  There is now a strong, shared and cohesive identity across the four churches.   The Benefice Council has been fully established and the respective Church Council meetings are set up to minimise the load for the clergy.  We are now looking to make a permanent full-time appointment to the role of Team Rector.

The Team Rector will be the senior Anglican priest in Harden, Wilsden, Cullingworth & Denholme with responsibility for overall leadership of a ministerial team which comprises a Team Vicar, retired clergy with PTO, one of whom served recently as a Self-Supporting Priest in the benefice and continues to hold pastoral responsibilities, and an LLM with Permission to Officiate, and retired clergy.  (S)he will also be the Training Incumbent for any curate deployed to the parish.

 The new post-holder will be able to build on the foundations laid during the past six years, offer good Church of England parish ministry, and continue to:

•  work with the congregations of the four churches to grow them, particularly through outreach and ministry among families, children and young people, and working a ‘mixed economy’ of new forms of church and worship alongside traditional ones;
• continue the good work in developing lay discipleship and lay leadership;
•  grow the financial health of the churches in the benefice to be able to meet the full costs of mission and ministry in the benefice and also make a contribution to the costs of mission and ministry in less economically advantaged parts of the Diocese;
• reinforce the shared identity of the churches in the benefice;
• help the congregations be even more at the heart of the community life of the villages.

For an informal chat about this role please contact Archdeacon Andy Jolley on 07973 458403

Closing date for applications is 1st September with interviews planned for 19th September 2025