In 2020 St Peter’s Birstall celebrated 900 years of worship on the site of the present church. Now they are looking for their next priest -in-charge to lead them as they begin to work towards achieving their mission priorities and serving their community during the next 900 years.

St Peter’s Church and its vicarage lie at the heart of the ancient village of Birstall, now on the outskirts of Leeds, and home to Yorkshire’s IKEA Store. Birstall is within easy reach of Leeds City Centre, the neighbouring cities of Bradford and Wakefield and the towns of Huddersfield, Halifax and Dewsbury. There are excellent links further afield via the M62/M1 motorways and Leeds railway station has a good train service to London, Manchester and beyond.

The closing date for this post is 15^th May 2021

Interviews will be held on 1^st June 2021

If you require further information please do not hesitate to contact The Ven Dr Anne Dawtry, Archdeacon of Halifax by email initially on archdeacon.halifax@leeds.anglican.org . She will then arrange to have a telephone or Zoom conversation with you.

Introduction

The congregation at St Peter’s are looking for a priest-in-charge who can guide and nurture the church family, leading them to achieve their key priorities as they bear full witness to Christ’s teaching and seek to become the very best community that they can be.

The current priorities of the church are:

• Ministry - serving the local community making God’s love known to all
• Discipleship – Seeking to be more like Jesus in everything we do
• Worship – responding to God’s goodness to us through Bible reading, prayer, music and Holy Communion
• Fellowship – sharing activities, celebrations and troubles with one another in a group held together by our common faith
• Mission - proclaiming the Good News of God’s Kingdom, teaching baptizing and bringing in new believers, service to the community, challenging the wrongs in society and protecting God’s world.

Main Responsibilities

The parish is looking for a pastor, filled with the Holy Spirit, who will help them to:

• Grow the Church in numbers and in discipleship so that all in Birstall can know more about the grace and love of God
• Develop work with families and young people including growing more family friendly services
• Grow together in faith balancing the traditional and contemporary aspects of worship and building cohesion between the two congregations
• Develop opportunities for growth in faith and discipleship and in their healing ministry
• Grow mission and community outreach reaching out in love to the whole community and offering high quality pastoral care to those in need
• Find ways to engage better with our community , through engagement, where appropriate, with local support services such as the Food Bank

In return the parish commits to supporting their priest-in-charge through both prayer and practical action, using their skills in the service of God and his Church and working together with the new priest-in-charge to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to the people of Birstall.

In addition to these priorities above the Diocese expects the new priest-in-charge to seek opportunities to work with the neighbouring parish of Brownhill, its clergy and people, finding opportunities for mutual working together and the development of shared priorities where that is possible. Pastoral reorganisation between these two parishes remains a possibility for the future.

The Candidate

The ideal candidate will be:

• Filled with the Holy Spirit and dedicated to following Jesus’ teaching to the best of their ability
• Dedicated to both prayer and action
• Committed to developing the faith of all ages
• A people person with great interpersonal skills and with a heart for families
• A leader of vision and passion who will take us forward in faith
• A pastor committed to engaging with the whole community
• A good listener showing compassion and energy
• An excellent communicator able to deliver a clear message through all forms of media
• Prayerful and able to inspire others

Please see the Person Specification attached for further details of the essential and desirable qualities we are seeking in relation to this post.

About Us

The Anglican Diocese of Leeds comprises five episcopal areas, each coterminous with an archdeaconry. This is now one of the largest Dioceses in the country and its creation in 2014 is unprecedented in the history of the Church of England. It covers an area of around 2,425 square miles with a population of around 2,642,400 people. The Diocese comprises major cities (Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield) large industrial and post-industrial towns (Halifax, Huddersfield and Dewsbury), market towns (Todmorden, Harrogate, Skipton, Richmond, Ripon and Wetherby) and deeply rural areas especially in the Dales. The whole of life is here, along with all the richness, diversity and complexities of a changing world.

Five area bishops (Bradford, Huddersfield, Kirkstall, Ripon and Wakefield and five archdeacons (Bradford, Halifax, Leeds, Richmond and Craven and Wakefield. assist the Diocesan Bishop (The Rt. Revd Nicholas Baines)