“Every Church of England Birmingham deanery ‘Growing Younger’
with children and families an integral part of their life and growth”

We are seeking a Mission Enabler to join a new growing team focused on establishing and sustaining ministry opportunities with children, young people and their families across Birmingham.

This new creative and strategic role is part of the Church of England Birmingham Children and Families Missioner Project. Employed by the Diocesan Board of Finance and hosted by a local parish, each Mission Enabler will work across the breadth and diversity of parishes in a deanery. Each role will take a different shape or specialist focus informed by the local context and deanery vision. All Mission Enablers will support parishes by envisioning, equipping and deploying volunteers to engage with children and their families, helping them to grow in discipleship and become part of new and existing worshipping communities that are connected to local parish churches. This is an exciting opportunity for an inspiring leader who loves empowering volunteers to share in mission together amongst children and families through a local church.

Working in support of the deanery vision and focus, the main elements of this role are to:

• Recruit, support, train and encourage local volunteers from the host parish and across the Deanery to growmission and ministry with children and their families; particularly with those not yet engaged in their local church community.
• Develop and resource creative discipleship pathways to engage and encourage discipleship with children and families wishing to grow in faith.
• Imagine and bring to life new volunteer-led initiatives for engaging children and their families with their local church community.
• Catalyse the launch and ongoing development of new intergenerational worshipping communities.
• Identify and enable ways in which volunteers from across the deanery could work together fruitfully
• Develop and support new training for volunteers in collaboration with the diocesan Flex Pathway.
• Support and model a culture where children and families are integrated throughout the church and community and where children of all ages are valued and given opportunities to share in ministry and mission.
• Be an active participant in the ongoing values, vision, culture and collaborative, missional leadership of the host parish.
• Work with the Area Dean to understand the opportunities in the deanery and identify which parishes will most benefit from CFM support.
• Develop 'best practice' initiatives with the host parish that can be reproduced and adapted across the deanery.
• Meet regularly for reflection and supervision with the local supervisor, and coaching and support with the CFM Project Coordinator.
• Manage the delivery of the CFM project within the parish and deanery and be responsible for delivering feedback and evaluation, updating plans and communicating clearly with all key stakeholders.
• Participate in a relational and learning community with CFMs from across CofE Birmingham.
• Uphold high Safeguarding standards, supported by the CofE Birmingham safeguarding team.
• Contribute to parish, deanery and diocesan life in other ways as agreed with your line manager and the CFM Project.

Essential

• Demonstrable love of Christ with an infectious Christian faith
• Significant experience of building and leading teams of volunteers
• A proven track record of recruiting and supporting new volunteers
• Experience of initiating and overseeing new work delivered by a team
• A strategic thinker who can deploy teams and individuals in a way that maximises what can be achieved
• An innovator who can imagine new ways of helping people to explore and grow in faith
• A team player, with good self-awareness and both ability and enthusiasm to reflect self-critically with colleagues
• Empathy, commitment and proven ability to grow healthy relationships with a wide diversity of people
• Good verbal and written skills and able to communicate effectively in a variety of contexts
• Confident communicating with a number of varied stakeholders in a project who may have differing expectations
• A commitment to uphold current safeguarding legislation and best practice
• Ability to travel across the geographical area of the deanery
• Supportive of the Church of England and a willingness to work within its frameworks
• There is an occupational requirement for the postholder to be a practising Christian
• Candidates must be able to prove their right to work in the UK

Desirable

• Experience of missional activity and ministry with children and their families
• Significant experience of working with or in schools
• Experience of working with others to bring about culture change
• Confidence in using technology and social media

The Church of England Birmingham is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community - a place where all can be themselves and bring their unique identity to their ministry and/or work.

We offer a range of inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements and other services to our staff teams.

We welcome applications from any individuals who feel that they meet the person specification for any post, in particular from those who are currently under-represented in or staff teams such as those from Global Majority Heritage or UK Minority Ethnic backgrounds, those with visible or invisible disabilities and those who identify as LGBTQI+.

Terms & Conditions

• Full-time 35 hours per week for a fixed-term of 3 years (subject to funding)
• Salary £27,000
• Pension 12% employer contribution into the Church Workers Pension Fund
• Holidays 25 days per annum, plus 8 Bank Holidays, plus 3 discretionary days
• This post is subject to a DBS disclosure and satisfactory references
• The employer is the Birmingham Diocesan Board of Finance (BDBF)
• Reports to the CFM Project Co-ordinator and deanery steering group

Closing Date for Applications: 10th February 2023

Interviews to be held on: 28th February 2023

We'd love to talk to you! To arrange an informal conversation with no strings attached please email: libbyj@cofebirmingham.com