The Bishop of Chester is looking to recruit a Ministry Administrator to provide excellent administrative support to the team overseeing the ministry of clergy and lay people across the Diocese of Chester. This will involve processing applications to minister, monitoring safeguarding training and DBS applications, maintaining records and liaising with ministers and senior clergy in the diocese. You will be working as part of the team supporting the work of the bishops in the Diocese of Chester.

You will be based at Bishop’s House, Abbey Square, Chester, CH1 2JD.

The successful candidate will have proven administrative competence, excellent interpersonal and organisational skills.

Salary: £25,415 - £27,954 dependent upon qualifications and experience.

The job description, person specification and application form can be downloaded from the Diocesan website: https://www.chester.anglican.org/support-services/job-vacancies/other-vacancies/

PLEASE NOTE: Applications should be made via the Diocesan website using the diocesan application form, not through Pathways.

Completed application forms should be returned to Mrs E A Geddes, Diocesan Director of Human Resources preferably by email to liz.geddes@chester.anglican.org

Or by post to Church House, 5500 Daresbury Park, Warrington, WA4 4GE.

Closing date: Sunday 19^th March 2023

Interviews: Monday 3rd April 2023

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Job Title: Bishop’s Ministry Administrator

Hours of Work: Full time – 35 hours per week to be worked Monday to Friday

Reporting to: Director of Operations to the Bishop of Chester

Normal Place of Work: Bishop’s House, Abbey Square, Chester CH1 2JD

Main objective

To provide excellent administrative support to the team overseeing the ministry of clergy and lay people across the Diocese of Chester. This will involve processing applications to minister, monitoring safeguarding training and DBS applications, maintaining records and liaising with ministers and senior clergy in the diocese. You will be working as part of the team supporting the work of the bishops in the Diocese of Chester.

Main Duties:

Correspondence

• To process all correspondence in a timely manner. To take action where necessary, producing draft replies, standard replies and holding letters as necessary.
• To use own initiative in generating standard letters following the agreed process for each task.

Office duties

• To use own initiative in responding to telephone enquiries – providing information, using judgement in directing calls and ensuring that information is brought to the attention of the appropriate colleague.
• To undertake the administrative processes of authorising the ministry of clergy and lay ministers across the Diocese of Chester.
• To record safeguarding training for clergy and lay ministers.
• To organise and maintain filing systems.
• To ensure files are stored and maintained in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation.

Other duties

• To liaise and work together with colleagues in the Human Resources, Safeguarding and Ministry Teams at Church House.
• To maintain confidentiality around information handled and processed in the course of work. Staff must not pass on to unauthorised persons any information obtained in the course of their duties without the permission of their manager.
• Other duties broadly in line with these from time to time as instructed by the Director of Operations.
• To undertake training as required.
• To assist where necessary in the making and serving of refreshments to visitors to Bishop’s House.

Please note: this list is not exhaustive and the post-holder will be required to undertake duties commensurate with the role.

Dated: March 2023

The successful candidate will have proven administrative competence, excellent interpersonal and organisational skills.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The work of the Chester Diocesan Board of Finance (DBF) is operated from within Church House and is located at Daresbury Park, Warrington.

The DBF is the body which oversees the central financial and administrative work of the Diocese of Chester, provides support, teaching and trained personnel to advance the mission and ministry of the parishes within the Church of England Diocese of Chester, and the mission and ministries of the bishops of the Diocese.

The DBF is part of the Church of England, the established Church of the land, which proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and aims to proclaim the Kingdom of God in an open way to all people, of all races, cultures and backgrounds.

For many posts within the Diocese those who are not members of the Church of England are welcome to apply. We respect their right to express different religious and philosophical opinions but require them, as employees of the Diocese, to respect our ethos as an Anglican Christian organisation and not to undermine it. These posts will require the post-holders to be in sympathy with the aims and objectives of the Church of England.

Some posts may include an Occupational Requirement for the post holder to be a practising Christian in accordance with the Equality Act, 2010. Where this applies the recruitment documentation will state this.

The Diocese of Chester is in the province of York in the Church of England, part of the global Anglican Communion. For more information about our life, ministry and work please visit our website www.chester.anglican.org We are linked with the Anglican Church of Melanesia in the Solomon Islands and the Dioceses of Aru and Boga in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Diocese covers an area of 1025 square miles, approximately the old Victorian County of Chester, including parts which subsequently became absorbed into Merseyside and Greater Manchester. The Rivers Mersey and Tame approximately delineate the boundary with Liverpool and Manchester. There are areas of dense urban population, mainly in the north, stretching from Birkenhead to East Manchester. There are prosperous suburban regions of West and South Wirral, Chester and south of Manchester, with a mainly rural heartland, bounded by the Derbyshire Pennines and the Welsh Border. The overall population is around 1.6 million.

The diocesan bishop is Mark Tanner. He is supported by two suffragan bishops: the Bishop of Birkenhead, Julie Conalty and the of Bishop of Stockport, Sam Corley.

The Cathedral for the Diocese is in Chester.

The Diocese is divided into two archdeaconries: Chester covering the western half and Macclesfield the eastern, each with nine deaneries. There are 273 parishes, about 100 of which can be described as rural. Compared with many dioceses, there are few teams, and few multi-parish benefices. There are approximately 231 stipendiary clergy. The ministry of Readers and Pastoral Workers is important, with over 400 licensed. The role of self-supporting ministers is increasing, with over 80 in post at present.

Roughly speaking, the Archdeaconry of Macclesfield covers that part of the diocese to the east of the M6, plus the area around Crewe and Nantwich. The Archdeaconry of Chester covers the rest of the diocese to the west of the M6. Each archdeaconry has a broad mix of urban and rural parishes. The Archdeacon of Chester lives in Chester, and the Archdeacon of Macclesfield lives in Congleton. Both now work from Church House, Daresbury.