Team Rector of Harden, Wilsden, Cullingworth and Denholme

Introduction

This is a single benefice on the outskirts of Bingley and within the Bradford Episcopal Area of the Diocese of Leeds.  It is comprised of four churches which work together closely.  United in faith and service, they are seeking a new Team Rector who can lead them in mission and ministry, while others shoulder the burden of parochial administration.  

For the past six years a fruitful period of Interim Ministry has been in place.   After the benefice came into being eleven years ago, the constituent parishes continued to run with a great deal of independence.  Following the Interim Ministry, there is now a strong, shared and cohesive identity across the four churches (one of which is an encouraging local ecumenical partnership in Denholme with the Baptists and URC).  A Benefice Council has been fully established and the respective Church Council meetings are set up to minimise the load for the clergy.  A coherent, attractive and workable pattern of worship has been established across the four villages, including new forms of worship (particularly Messy Church and online services) to reach new people.  The clergy operate more flexibly across the whole benefice.  Confident lay leadership has been developed (making good use of the Diocese’s Personal Growth and Leadership Course) and the office holders in the four churches meet regularly to share good practice.  Financial viability has been enhanced.  Relationships with the schools in each village, and links with the various community, uniformed organisations are all good. 

We are now looking to make a permanent full-time appointment to the role of Team Rector.  (S)he 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 9th November with interviews planned for 27th November 2025