Our vision as the Diocese is about confident clergy equipping confident Christians to live and tell the good news of Jesus Christ. In appointing to this post, we are therefore looking for someone who is both visionary and enabling, with the capacity to lead into a new era of growth. (S)he will have a joyful and confident faith which has inspired a track record of church growth, both numerically and spiritually.

This particular role sits at the heart of the strategy for the Diocese of Leeds and its outworking in the Bradford Episcopal Area. It is partly enabled by Strategic Development Funding from the Church Commissioners for church planting appropriate to Bradford.

Closing date for applications is 29th May 2022 with interviews to be held on 13th June 2022

Shelf with Buttershaw is a large and significant parish on the southern edge of the Bradford Epsicopal Area. While there is a mix of housing in the parish, it includes considerable amounts of social housing, particularly the outer estates of Buttershaw and Woodside. The estates are experiencing some transition, with some increased diversity, but remain largely white communities of people experiencing a range of forms of deprivation. The parish of Shelf with Buttershaw is among the top 7% most deprived nationally. St Michael’s church is located away from the main Buttershaw estate, on the far side of the Halifax Road. There is another licensed place of worship, St Aidan’s, on the Buttershaw estate, but worship has not restarted there following the pandemic.

Fountains Church Bradford is a newly planted city centre resource church, now nearly 3 years old. It has grown quickly in that time, despite significant challenges brought by the pandemic, and has also birthed some dynamic partnerships with community groups and other agencies to develop ministries which are having considerable impact with groups that the Church of England (and others) find hard-to-reach. These include a Saturday Gathering ministry built around food provision and a Wrestling School now developing into another congregation.

The Role Purposes

To support and work closely with the Leader of Fountains Church Bradford in growing Fountains Church as a city centre resource church that works closely with the Bishop and Archdeacon of Bradford, taking particular responsibility for the church’s work with mission and ministry amongst those from harder-to-reach backgrounds.

To develop and revitalise mission and ministry in the parish of Shelf with Buttershaw.

We have 4 main priorities for this joint role:

1. To grow new disciples from harder-to-reach backgrounds, both in the city centre and in the parish of Shelf with Buttershaw, developing forms of church and worship in which these new disciples can flourish, use their gifts and become disciple-making disciples.
2. To grow new leaders from people who might find existing Church of England leadership pathways harder to navigate.
3. To make good use of the great existing partnerships with community groups and agencies, and to develop these further to help address individual and systemic issues of injustice affecting the communities around Shelf with Buttershaw and Fountains.
4. To multiply the mission impact of both St Michael’s and Fountains through working together, growing unity and co-operation within and between the congregations and trustees of Shelf with Buttershaw and Fountains, building effective teams between them and realising the potential benefits of shared approaches to ministry, mission, finance etc.

Amongst other things we are looking for someone with:

• Proven track record of commitment to and delivery of church growth.
• Track record of leadership which empowers others and grows the confidence and gifts of people from harder-to-reach backgrounds.
• Track record of inspiring vision and developing appropriate strategies.
• Track record of fruitful work on outer estate social housing communities.
• Track record of working well and collaboratively in a team.
• Collaborative and consultative, working in unity with other churches and their leaders, sustaining healthy relationships and eager to learn from others.
• High level of emotional intelligence, grounded in a strong value base and able to access appropriate resources to sustain and refresh their own faith and spiritual life.

The Diocese of Leeds was formed at Easter 2014. It is one of the largest dioceses in the country covering an area of around 2425 square miles and a population of around 2642400 people. The diocese comprises five Episcopal areas, each served by a suffragan Bishop. Each Episcopal Area is coterminous with an Archdeaconry.

The Diocesan Vision is ‘confident Christians, growing churches, transforming communities and so helping share the Good News of Jesus Christ across our Diocese’. This Vision is embedded into the Diocesan Strategy and Goals.

The Diocese is a mix of urban and rural. The area includes the major cities of Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; the large industrial and post-industrial towns of Halifax, Huddersfield and Dewsbury; the market towns of Harrogate, Skipton, Ripon, Richmond and Wetherby; and the deeply rural area of the Yorkshire Dales.

The Diocese in unique in having three cathedrals; Bradford, Ripon and Wakefield. The Deans of the Cathedrals work together to provide key diocesan services.