Associate Pastor – Grace London

OrganisationGrace London
LocationLondon
SalaryCompetitive
HoursFull Time

OVERVIEW

We are looking for an experienced pastor to join the team here at Grace London. The church was planted in September 2014, by a small group of young adults. In the ten years since then, we have grown fairly constantly and moved through many phases of maturity. Today, the church is full of life and vibrancy, meeting across three congregations in central London, and gathering predominantly 20s and 30s from a wide array of backgrounds and nationalities. In addition to our Sunday services, we have around thirty midweek home groups (called Life Groups). We seek to engage in evangelism to secular Londoners through our Salt Live events and the Salt Course, and we experience an ongoing and ready opportunity to help those with no faith as well as those who are rediscovering faith in Jesus.

Our hope is to continue this work of establishing a healthy disciple-making church, and we harbour a desire to send out church planters in the years to come by offering pastoral residencies and training. Therefore, the need to grow the staff pastoral team is quite pressing, and there is a recognition that we need to look outside the church in order to find what we need: an experienced pastor with a great fit who can help strengthen the work here in very significant ways, with a particular gifting in pastoral care and disciple-making.

REQUIREMENTS

This role does not require any formal qualifications, but certain things are desirable, including:

  •  experience in pastoral ministry, including preaching, one-to-one pastoral care and discipleship, and ministry leadership
  • agreement on theological convictions, including a Reformed understanding of salvation, credo-baptism, continuation of the spiritual gifts, and complementarianism
  • godly character along the lines of the qualifications for elders in Scripture
  •  a theological degree is desirable but not essential

THE ROLE

We would anticipate that this pastor will take primary responsibility for one of our three congregations, but at the same time, due to experience and seniority, he will take an interest in building health across the entire church, with a focus on pastoral care and the structures of church community. This includes involvement in the wider eldership team with a concern for the leadership of the whole church.

1 . PASTORING A CONGREGATION

This role involves taking responsibility to pastor one of our three Sunday congregations, which includes:

  • Leading a team of elders & trainees to care for one of our three congregations
  • Service leadership on Sundays
  • Pastoral care focussed on those attending this congregation
  • Working with staff & volunteers to make sure Sundays are run well
  • Welcoming newcomers, including leading Welcome Events for this congregation
  • Overseeing the integration of newcomers into the life of the church
  • Caring for leaders, including ministry team leaders and Life Group leaders
  • Identifying and raising up new leaders
  • Interviewing potential new church members
  • Attending to the membership list to ensure good pastoral care

2 . LEADERSHIP ACROSS THE CHURC H

As a senior member of the pastoral staff team, this role will involve working closely with the elders to give leadership and pastoral care across the entire church, which involves:

  • Attending eldership meetings and working closely with the elders (with a view to becoming an elder in due course)
  • Facilitating and advising on pastoral care across the church
  • Strengthening the structures of pastoral care and community, including involvement with the Pastoral Care Team, and with Life Groups
  • Potential for involvement in new or existing ministries in accordance with gifting and capacity, e.g. a redemption course for those caught in sin, discipleship courses and/or groups, or a seeker course

3 . PREACHING AND TEACHING

This role will likely involve some opportunities for preaching and teaching, depending on experience, gifting and calling in this area, which could include:

  • Occasional preaching on Sundays, at one or more services, as requested
  • Preaching and teaching at other gatherings, such as leaders retreats

4 . PASTORAL CARE ACROSS THE CHURCH

Alongside leading one of the congregations, this role will also involve pastoral care across the church, including:

  • Training new leaders
  • Supporting discipleship of new or immature believers
  • Marriage preparation for engaged couples

FURTHER PARTICULARS

This role is full-time

  • There is a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010 for this post to be held by a practising evangelical Christian who assents to our statement of faith
  • Competitive salary
  • 25 days of paid annual leave (in addition to bank holiday entitlement) per year
  • 8% employers’ pension contribution

To find out more, candidates should go to https://grace.london/experiencedpastorvacancy and then apply by email to us at pastorsearch@grace.london explaining why you think you’re suitable for this role, including some idea of your experience, your church background, your theological convictions and influences, your gift mix, your interest in city ministry, and your life stage and circumstances. Please also explain what has drawn you to an interest in Grace London.

Apply