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Chief Executive Candidate Pack November 2019

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Chief Executive Candidate Pack November 2019 Chief Executive Candidate pack November 2019 Welcome from Bishop Pete There is no denying it: these are challenging times in the Diocese of Sheffield. But by the same token, these are exciting times for us. No-one has any doubt that in 2029 the Church of England in South Yorkshire will look very different from the way it is now — but equally no-one is yet very clear about the shape it will take. Will the whole people of God be mobilised for the whole mission of God? What will morale be like, among key lay and ordained leaders? Will attendance figures be in decline or growing? Will there be more stipendiary incumbents or fewer? Will there be more congregations or fewer? We are looking to appoint a Chief Executive to the Board of Finance who will relish the responsibilities of the role. Obviously, there are certain gifts and skills that will be needed if the appointed candidate is to flourish in this vital role, and these are outlined in the job description and person specification. However, I would love to appoint a person with a strong sense of vocation to this task at this time; a person of faith and hope and love in God; a person who laughs easily and has a zest for life in Christ; a person with a sense of adventure, unafraid of failure and reliant on the grace of the Holy Spirit. If that might be you, we would love to explore with you the possibility that the Lord is calling you to this wonderful Diocese. The Diocese of Sheffield is, yes, former steel-making communities (not least in Sheffield and Rotherham) and former coal-mining communities (not least in the villages around Doncaster). But it is also far greener than people imagine, with Peak District communities (west and north of Sheffield) and farming communities (north and east of Doncaster). It boasts some of the finest hospitals in the country and an inspiring Advanced Manufacturing Park, a noble tradition of horse racing (the St Leger) and other centres of sporting excellence. There are prosperous suburbs and sprawling housing estates, areas of multi- cultural vitality and of stark socio-economic deprivation. These are the communities we seek to serve with the Good News of what God has done for the world in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. If, when you read the role description, you find your pulse is quickening, then please be bold and contact us: we are seeking to be utterly open in this discernment process — at this point there really is no pre-determined outcome. With every blessing. The Rt Revd Dr Pete Wilcox Bishop of Sheffield Chief Executive Candidate pack November 2019 About Us The Diocese of Sheffield is one of 42 Church of England dioceses. It covers South Yorkshire and the southern parts of the East Riding of Yorkshire. It comprises parishes, schools, chaplaincies, missional communities and other organisations all united by their common Christian faith. Since the creation of the diocese in 1914, the shape of the villages, towns and cities may have changed but the people are still vibrant, energetic and passionate about serving our Lord Jesus Christ. We are an Anglican diocese, in the Northern Province of York, made up of a diverse community of mission-focused people who are seeking to transform their lives, and the lives of others, by sharing the Christian faith. We serve a population of approximately 1.25 million people across Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster and the subsidiary towns and villages of those areas, with 92 stipendiary clergy, 183 parishes and 219 churches. We have two bishops, the Bishop of Sheffield is the Diocesan Bishop, and the Bishop of Doncaster is the Suffragan. They work as a team to best serve and lead the diocese. The most recent Bishop of Doncaster, Peter Burrows, retired in September 2019. We expect to welcome a new Bishop by Easter 2020. In September 2017, Bishop Pete Wilcox, was installed as our new Diocesan Bishop. At this point, the diocese was six years into its strategy, so Bishop Pete undertook a review of what had worked, what hadn't and what the current issues were. After a series of consultations throughout the diocese, it became apparent, that while the vision of the diocese was still exactly the same, some re-focussing was needed on how we get there. As a diocese we have been called to grow a sustainable network of Christ-like, lively and diverse Christian communities in every place which are effective in making disciples and in seeking to transform our society and God’s world. Every day around the diocese, dedicated, creative and passionate people are working together in the mission of God. Following Bishop Pete’s review, we are now embarking on a radical strategic transformation programme to ensure that the diocese is a sustainable vibrant communion, revitalised and refreshed and able to deliver our vision. Our Continuing Vision Our vision statement has informed the strategic direction of the Diocese for a decade: “The Diocese of Sheffield is called to grow a sustainable network of Christ–like, lively and diverse Christian communities in every place which are effective in making disciples and in seeking to transform our society and God’s world.” We long to see sustainable Christian communities in every place. We long to see the Body of Christ grow in depth and in numbers. We long to see every disciple, and the whole Church, better serving our local communities and wider society. Our Challenge As with many dioceses, our capacity to realise this vision and to minister effectively to our communities requires a creative approach to a number of challenges. How we address these is fundamental to our strategy and we will be looking to our new Chief Executive to work across the diocese to enable us to deliver our mission. Our key challenges are: • Attendance (2016 data): the Diocese of Sheffield sits in the bottom quartile of Church of England dioceses for per capita attendance and for attendance decline in the past decade. In 1989, over 20,000 adults worshipped routinely in our churches on Sundays; thirty years later, the number is just over 12,000. • Budgets: in 2009 parish share revenues amounted to £4.8m; in 2018, they had fallen to £4.3m. Together with falling fees income, falling revenues from rents and investments and reduced grant income, this represents a serious financial challenge. • Church structures: many of our buildings are not located where we would site them if we were building now nor are they configured as flexibly as we would design them if we were building now. In addition, many will require significant investment to keep the fabric sound. • Demographics (2016 data): on average 1.3% of the population of the Diocese routinely worships in a Church of England church on Sundays, this figure is not uniform for every age- group. It is 3.1% of those aged 66-75 and by contrast, it is just 0.9% of those aged 25-45 and 0.2% of those aged 18-24. Renewed, Released, Rejuvenated! To meet this escalating challenge, the senior staff consulted widely with deaneries and other bodies through 2017-18, and in October 2018 launched the new strategy to realise a flourishing and generous Diocese of Sheffield by 2025: renewed, released and rejuvenated! We seek to be a Diocese renewed in the grace and power of God, by a constant reliance on the Holy Spirit. To this end, we have created a prayer community whose members commit to praying daily for the renewal of the Diocese. The community has 340 members so far: we are seeking to recruit 2025. We have composed a Diocesan Vision Prayer to be said daily and we are heartened by the number of people and congregations making regular use of it. We seek to be a Diocese released from the constraints which hold us back from mission, and released, as the whole people of God for the whole mission of God. To this end, we have begun a radical assessment of our church buildings to determine which are assets in mission (or have the potential to be). We have been taking part in a learning community for Setting God’s People Free and have a number of initiatives underway to enable all the baptised to realise their calling to be Lights for Christ in the world. We seek to be a Diocese rejuvenated — partly through a dedicated and sustained programme of outreach to families, children and young people (the Centenary Project and related SDF Children, Young People and Families Project) and partly through the creation of 75 new congregations, including 25 in our church schools. We are encouraged by the number of parishes whose 2019 Mission Action Planning returns include a commitment to establishing a new congregation within the next three years. This process will undoubtedly be greatly helped by our successful SDF bid to establish Resourcing Churches in Rotherham, Goole and Wath — we expect to have 12 such churches across the full geographical and theological breadth of the Diocese by 2025 The Diocese of Sheffield is called to grow a sustainable network of Christ-like, lively and diverse Christian communities in every place which are effective in making disciples and in seeking to transform our society and God’s world. Job description Job title: Chief Executive to the Diocesan Board of Finance and Diocesan Secretary. Accountable to: The Diocesan Bishop. The Chief Executive will also act as secretary to the Bishop’s Council and the Diocesan Synod and will work closely with the Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance.
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