Nestled in the heart of Lancashire, Preston is a thriving city built on a rich history. It is served by four major motorways and a large central railway station giving easy access to major towns and cities, the Fylde coast and the Lake District.

The parish of St Michael & All Angels Ashton-on-Ribble with St Mark Preston is a suburb on the west side of the city of Preston, close to the historic Albert Edward Dock which has been comprehensively redeveloped for residential, retail and business use and is close to the University of Central Lancashire.

St Michael and All Angels with St Mark follows a liberal catholic tradition of worship, and has signed up to the Inclusive Church movement. We are a friendly, outward-looking church community with strong ecumenical relationships. We welcome the ministry of women priests, and have been a training parish in recent years.

Recognising that this is a half-time post we are looking for a priest who will

• lead us forward in prayer to realise our vision;
• enthuse and enable lay people in our church community to participate in the ministry and mission of the church by recognising individual gifts and encouraging their use to strengthen our spiritual lives and to demonstrate faith in action;
• motivate and encourage a diverse team through strong but sensitive leadership and delegation;
• inspire and develop our work with children and young people

We are looking for a priest who

• has a nurturing leadership style and will actively encourage and develop the church community and grow and support new leaders;
• will encourage our spiritual development as individual Christians, and as a church;
• has experience of working with children and young people and wants to encourage more families to join our church community;
• is committed to growing an Inclusive Church;
• is committed to leading us to become an Eco-church;
• has a deep sense of mission and social justice and will work ecumenically in the local community;
• is a good communicator;
• has courage, a sense of humour, and the ability to improvise.

For an informal conversation about the post, please contact the Archdeacon of Lancaster: Ven David Picken (david.picken@blackburn.anglican.org)

For information about Blackburn diocese please follow this linkhttps://jobs.churchofengland.org/blackburn/vision-2026/

For information on making an application through Pathways please follow this linkhttps://jobs.churchofengland.org/HELP/candidate-faq/

Closing date: Thursday 18^th May 2023

Interviews will be held on: Thursday 22^nd June 2023