Associate Minister (Chinese Ministry)

St Andrew’s is an evangelical Anglican English speaking church serving the international community of Hong Kong. It has an attendance of over 1300, meeting in three services, with a mission outreach Putonghua service as well.

The staff team consists at present of 20 pastoral staff, including five clergy, four office staff including an Administration Manager, and 6 building and grounds staff.

St Andrew’s seeks an experienced evangelical Anglican minister to assist the Vicar, John Menear, by overseeing the Putonghua ministry in the church.

Fluency in English and Putonghua is essential, and would be an advantage.

Key attributes

Ordained Anglican minister Experienced clergy person in a city based parish ministry Demonstrated strong leadership in pastoring a church Proven experience of working in a team Cross cultural experience preferably in an Asian context

Key Responsibilities

* To have special responsibility for the oversight of the PTH ministry and congregation.

*To assist the Vicar in working together as a team for the effective ministry of the whole church.

The PTH ministry has a weekly Sunday service, presently at 2pm, together with a wide variety of other ministries, including youth and children’s ministry, bible study groups, student ministry outreach in universities nearby, and so on.

St Andrew’s Church

SAC is an active international church with 1,500 attending every Sunday, including a Putonghua congregation, two daughter churches, and 500+ youth and children. SAC is an English speaking ministry reaching out to the multi national community including local and overseas Chinese, especially families with children.

SAC is an evangelical church with contemporary worship and a renewal flavour. At present there are five major divisions of ministry: pastoral, discipleship, mission, outreach, and family.

Applications should be accompanied by curriculum vitae, and sent to The Vicar, St Andrew's Church Kowloon ‐ [email protected]

OVERVIEW

SAC has an excellent staff team that functions closely and happily, yet with freedom for each member to pursue their areas of ministry. The divisions of ministry are designed to enable each to support the overall life of the church, but are not meant to stifle initiative, but to allow each minister to follow God’s leading in their pastoral ministry.

This position would suit a minister with good general experiences and gifts in ministry, but also those with specific interests and gifts too. The unity of the staff team and the enormous opportunities within SAC, mean there is wide scope for diversity.

INTRODUCTION

St Andrew's is a church complex in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui Kowloon. The area is a busy shopping precinct, which has many hotels, and tourists abound. It is just as busy as many other places in Hong Kong, but because of its proximity to the harbour, it attracts many more people on weekends and festivals.

St Andrew's Church consists of a large group of people, about 1200‐1400 per Sunday plus 200 children and youth, with a diverse mix of nationalities, educational standards, professions and church backgrounds. It is however largely a church of professional people, younger in age, and who work long hours. In addition, a significant minority of the church constitute a highly fluid or mobile group, so there is a constant turnover of people.

STAFF STRUCTURE ‐ The following staff structure is presently in place at St Andrew's.

Vicar Senior Associate Minister (Pastoral Care). Associate Minister (Family & Outreach Ministry) Associate Minister (Discipleship, Training and Growth) Associate minister (Director of Chinese ‐ Putonghua Ministry Executive Director (2020 Vision) Director of Youth. Director of Music and Creative Ministry. Pastoral staff worker ‐ Children’s Ministry. Pastoral staff worker – Discipleship Pastoral staff worker – Youth and Evangelism Administration Manager

There are nine administrative and support staff.

St Andrew’s is a contemporary, evangelical church, with a long history of evangelism, mission support, modern worship and music, and considerable lay ministry.

Provincial/Diocesan structure. St Andrew's, along with St John’s Cathedral and Christ Church Kowloon Tong comes under the Church of England Trustees in Hong Kong. This is century old trust that holds the freehold title to the land and Cathedral of St Johns, and the leasehold and buildings of St Andrew's and Christ Church.

The Province of Hong Kong and Macau Sheng Kung Hui ( Paul Kwong) oversees three Dioceses, Western Kowloon ( ) which St Andrew's is in, Eastern Kowloon which the two daughter churches are in, and Diocese of Hong Kong (Archbishop Paul Kwong). Macau is presently a mission region and is heading towards becoming a diocese in time. The Province and Diocese try hard to incorporate the English speaking clergy into their structures and fellowship. It is essential that clergy and staff of the three churches do their utmost to engender closer fellowship within the daughter churches, abut especially the Anglican structures as well.

St Andrew's is an evangelical church, but with a mixed congregation with respect to denominational backgrounds, ecclesiology, pneumatology, and spirituality. Of course it is also very diverse in nationality, but International Chinese are the predominant group with a mixed western group following from that.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Clergy are employed by the Vicar with the agreement of the Council and the Bishop. The position is by contract, 4 years initially renewable 2 yearly after that. All offers to applicants without permanent residence in Hong Kong are subject to a work visa being issued by the Hong Kong Government, at St Andrew's cost.

Salary is fixed to the Master Pay Scale (MPS) a Government scale that many organizations use to peg salaries. The Associate Minister scale is presently point 21‐26. MPS ‐ http://www.csb.gov.hk/english/admin/pay/42.html

An Entertainment allowance will be provided. Hong Kong has a mandatory provident (i.e. pension or similar) scheme, however this money can be paid into an existing overseas scheme upon application. Staff are responsible for their own income tax, which is paid provisionally to the Tax Dept, and not deducted from salary. The top rate is 15%.

Housing: St Andrew's will either provide accommodation if it has it, or provides an accommodation allowance for a home off site from the church….. Living in Hong Kong requires some adjustment, firstly in terms of living indoors, and then also the amount of space available. Phone and utility expenses are paid as provided for in the contract.

Transport: Hong Kong has a very efficient and cheap public transport system, both MTR and buses. Taxis are quite cheap too. Overall, few people own vehicles. St Andrew's has vehicles which are available for work use, parked onsite. Ministry travel costs are reimbursed.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Hong_Kong

Education: St Andrew's pays for schooling for children (1‐12) through the English School Foundation. http://www.esf.edu.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=2&langNo=1

Medical: St Andrew's covers medical expenses for you and your family, including dental and optometrist. You will be required to have a satisfactory medical examination as a condition of employment.

If there are any pre‐existing matters that could be an issue let us know.