JOB DESCRIPTION FOR: Worship and Discipleship Enabler Location: Diocesan Offices with travelling across Coventry and , and occasionally nationally, as required. Responsible to: The Serving Christ Team Leader Salary: £32,314 (lay or ordained. No accommodation provided.) plus employer pension contribution of 8.5% Hours: 35 hours per week. Often evening and some weekend working required. This is a fixed term role for two years.

Diversity Statement

As an equal opportunities employer, we particularly welcome applications from UK Minority Ethnic/Global Majority Heritage (UKME/GMH) candidates who are currently underrepresented in our organisation. All appointments will be made on merit of skill and experience relative to the role.

If you have a disability or long term illness that otherwise prevents you from meeting any of the essential criteria, please contact us to discuss whether reasonable adjustments can be made.

Background to Role

The has a commitment to developing healthy growing churches in fulfilment of its Mission Purpose of Worshipping God, Making New Disciples and Transforming Communities. One of the ways we seek to achieve this is through the application of 8 ‘Essential Qualities’ (8EQs) of healthy churches based on research of Natural Church Development (NCD). Further details can be found at www.healthychurches.org.uk.

The Diocese was awarded a grant from the Church Commissioners’ Strategic Development Fund in June 2015 for our ‘Acceler8’ project. This was to enhance our existing capacity to mentor the integration of these 8EQs across the whole Diocese and additionally to apply these 8EQs strategically into the 20s-30s age range in churches across the Diocese by the appointment of paid 20s-30s Development Leaders.

In July 2017 we were awarded a second SDF grant for our ‘Serving Christ’ Project. This project develops our strategic approach by supporting churches in equipping and empowering Christian disciples in these key aspects of a church’s growth (the 8EQs): leadership; use of people’s gifts; spiritual passion; worship; small group development; serving the disadvantaged, evangelism and exploration of Christian faith courses; relationships; and structures which encourage health and growth. The Serving Christ Project delivers training, mentoring and support to churches in all of these areas through the work of the Project Team.

There are 5 Enablers on the Project Team, each leading training in a distinctive area of ministry whilst also working collaboratively. The roles of the 5 Enablers are as follows:

• Empowering Leadership and Gift-based Ministry. Helping develop processes within local churches for leadership development and identifying people’s gifts so that disciples can flourish. This includes training clergy to empower and train disciples.

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• Worship and Discipleship. Encouraging laity across the Diocese to develop and deepen their everyday faith and personal discipleship. Also to support lay leaders in churches to lead worship that is inspiring to everyone.

• Holistic Small Groups and Loving Relationships. Developing small group life, training small group leaders, and enabling churches to become welcoming and hospitable communities.

• Need-oriented Outreach/Evangelism. This post focuses on processes for invitation events, evangelism and exploration of Christian faith courses (e.g. training on Alpha, Christianity Explored, Emmaus, Pilgrim, START etc).

• Functional Structures. This post prioritises organising training in the structural aspects of church life and growth (e.g. helping PCCs think more strategically, training of Churchwardens and Parish Treasurers).

This post will focus on Worship and Discipleship.

With two successful SDF bids supporting the development of healthy, growing churches, we are now looking to implement the next phase of our Church Growth Strategy across the Diocese by applying for a third SDF project for Church Planting and New Worshipping Communities. Whilst this post is part of the Serving Christ Project it is also part the Diocesan Mission and Discipleship Team and therefore working with colleagues to implement the next stage of our Diocesan Strategy.

The post-holder will be an employee of Coventry Diocesan Board of Finance. This role requires personal experience and knowledge of Christian Spirituality and therefore an Occupational Requirement (Schedule 9 part 1 of the Equality Act 2010) of this post is to have a committed Christian faith.

This is a two-year fixed term post in line with the Serving Christ Project funding. Continuation of this post after the time-scale of the project (2017-mid 2023) is subject to the availability of finances and continuing alignment with the Diocesan strategy and priorities.

Role Profile:

The role of the Worship and Discipleship Enabler will be to encourage congregation members in churches across the Diocese to develop and deepen their personal faith. This involves providing laity with resources and training in all aspects of worship, prayer, Bible reading, leading retreats and other Spiritual disciplines.

Main Activities and Responsibilities:

• To encourage Christians throughout the Diocese of Coventry to become passionate in their personal faith, loving Christ and the Bible, and with greater expectation of God to work in their lives, churches and communities. Areas could include: • Helping churches to deliver courses, resources and processes which enable an increase in faith levels individually and collectively. • Signposting to and development of worship leading materials which will help lay-led worship be inspiring and a catalyst for church growth.

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• Facilitating regular Diocesan-led retreat days and prayer sessions, especially during the key seasons of Lent, Easter, Advent and Christmas. This includes taking a lead role in organising Diocesan-wide participation in Thy Kingdom Come each year. • To play a key role in the delivery of the Serving Christ project outcomes as part of the wider team, specifically working towards these project targets: • A minimum of 120 churches and 5,000 disciples across the Diocese and Ebbsfleet parishes (Coventry and other dioceses), becoming more equipped, empowered and confident in Serving Christ in a growing church context and in their wider communities. • Replicable approaches, models and resources for discipleship development, across a wide range of traditions and contexts, shared with the wider . • Train and encourage churches in making their worship inspiring by providing practical support and advice in various aspects of corporate worship, including music and liturgical worship. This will involve working with lay leaders from churches of different traditions. • To identify further training needs across our churches in the areas of worship and discipleship and work in collaboration with our Mission Hub Churches and the Mission and Discipleship Team in meeting those needs and delivering training in those areas. All training and resources should be accessible by a variety of ages, including those in their 20s-30s, and by those with a variety of academic ability. Training will be delivered using the delivery methods of: • Leading regular training in worship and discipleship for lay leaders. • Developing and leading Learning Communities in the areas of worship and discipleship. • Networking and signposting to existing resources, including identifying high quality local and national resources. • Contributing material to our purpose-built digital learning platform, the Equip Hub. • Attend meetings of and work closely with the Whole Diocese Spirituality Group. This group meets several times a year and has representatives from parishes, chaplaincies, schools and the Cathedral. Through this there will also be opportunities for regular meetings with The Bishop of (who chairs the group) and the Diocesan Advisor for Spirituality. • Participate in regular Serving Christ Project meetings and ensure that accurate records and statistics are kept in order to monitor progress against the Serving Christ project targets. • The Worship and Discipleship Enabler will participate in reviews of progress every 6 months and an annual review.

Key Relationships:

• Line-managed by and accountable to the Serving Christ Team Leader, working as part of the wider Diocesan Mission and Discipleship Team • The Serving Christ Project Team and Project Steering Group. • The Diocesan Advisor for Spirituality, the Archdeacon Missioner, the Healthy Churches Development Mentor and the Director of Healthy Churches and New Worshipping Communities. • Individuals, groups and churches committed to improving the Spiritual health of disciples across the Diocese, including membership of the Whole Diocese Spirituality Group.

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Person Specification

This section details the attributes which are required in order to undertake the full remit of this post.

AF=Application Form; Int = Interview; Test=Written and Verbal Test

Attributes Essential Desirable Means of Assessment Qualifications

Educated to ‘A’ level standard or equivalent. √ AF

Experience

Experience of leading some form of worship in a growing √ AF/Int church context. Experience of leading events, groups and activities in a √ AF/Int growing church context, including retreat days, discipleship groups or similar. Experience of leading training courses and sessions, √ AF/Int especially in worship, personal discipleship and Spirituality. Experience and understanding of a wide variety of worship √ AF/Int styles across the broad range of traditions in the Church of England. Experience of making new disciples in a church plant or √ AF/Int new worshipping community.

Skills/Abilities

Passionate about helping Christians develop their personal √ AF/Int faith. Ability to disciple people and increase personal faith in √ AF/Int others. Ability to connect with, communicate with and relate to √ AF/Int people in a wide variety of churches. Excellent presentation skills and the use and development √ AF/Int of high-quality resources which enable training in worship and discipleship to happen effectively. Ability as a trainer and mentor to win the respect, trust and √ AF/Int good will of people from diverse backgrounds, including delivering training that is appropriate and relevant to those with little formal educational experience. Self-motivated and with the ability to work on own initiative √ AF/Int as well as part of the team. Good time management skills are required. Ability to create resources for Equip, our online learning √ AF/Int platform, including creating videos. Able to work towards project targets as part of a team and √ AF/Int provide regular updates on progress in all areas.

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Proficient use of IT. √ AF/Int

Personal Qualities

An attractive and committed Christian faith. √ AF/Int

Reliable, loyal, self-motivated and motivating and problem √ AF/Int solving. Supportive of the mission and ministry of the Church of √ AF/Int England and the Diocese of Coventry mission purpose statement and strategy.

If you have a disability or long term illness that otherwise prevents you from meeting any of these criteria, please contact us to discuss whether a reasonable adjustment can be made.

For more information, including job and person specification, and application form, please see www.dioceseofcoventry.org/vacancies/current_vacancies or contact the Serving Christ Project Manager, Kim Morgan-Jones on [email protected] (07943 314739) or the Project Champion, the Archdeacon Missioner, The Venerable , [email protected] (07487 578311)

Closing date for applications: Interviews on one of the following dates:

Please send completed application forms to: Email: [email protected] or Post: Simone King, Cathedral & Diocesan Offices, 1 Hill Top, Coventry CV1 5AB.

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