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Associate Vicar (0.5) Girlington, Heaton and Manningham
Vacancy Reference cofe/TP/4482/9538
Introduction
Our vision as the Diocese is about confident clergy equipping confident Christians to live and tell the good news of Jesus Christ. For all of our appointments we are seeking clergy who have a joyful and confident faith which has inspired a track record of church growth.
This parish is looking at new ways to evolve our mission and ministry. It is a relatively new “Superparish” that is the 7th largest in the country - a united Anglican parish of Girlington, Heaton and Manningham with a ministry team which serves and leads the parish. The agreed stipendiary staffing for the proposed new parish comprises three posts: a full-time Vicar, a part-time Associate Vicar, and an Urban Pioneer Minister.
The Bradford Episcopal Area has some flagship examples of ministry in the inner city where those of the Muslim faith are in the majority. This particular post sits in the context of developing appropriate forms of worship, evangelism, mission and church for deprived “presence and engagement” areas. As such it requires a priest with a pioneering mindset and a heart for this type of community.
Formed from the historic parishes of St Philip’s Girlington, St Paul’s Manningham, St Barnabas Heaton and St Martin’s Heaton, this very large parish of over 52,296 people contains some of the most deprived areas in the country. It is in the top 2.5% most deprived in the country. Housing includes poor-quality private-rented homes, a large council estate, large family homes and semi-rural properties. Over two-thirds of the population is Muslim, mainly from Bangladesh and the Mirpur area of Pakistan. 76% are of Asian origin and 16% white (of whom significant numbers are from Eastern Europe). There are large numbers of young people in the parish (over half the population is under the age of 30 and one third under 18), while only one in eight people are over 60. Hence there are many schools – including two Church of England primary schools, numerous private Islamic Schools, Bradford Grammar School and Bradford Girls Grammar School. Considerable effort has gone into developing ministry in many of these schools.
In 2022, the PCC accepted the Bishop’s invitation to become one of six Resourcing Parishes in the Episcopal Area. This has brought Strategic Development Funding (SDF) from 2023 to 2027 to add resource to the parish and new investment in some areas of ministry.
For an informal conversation about the post please contact the Rector Chris Chorlton on 07840 312202 or Archdeacon Andy Jolley on 07973 458403.
Closing date for applications is midnight on 6th Jan 2026 with interviews planed for 22nd Jan 2026