The Parish of Rural Ainsty is made up of five churches and seven villages to the south west of York. The villages of Bickerton, Catterton, Bilton, Healaugh, Hessay, Moor Monkton and Wighill are rural farming communities, but with easy access to the A1M and close to Wetherby, Harrogate and Leeds, as well as York itself.

A single parish, with a single PCC since 2016, the Churchwardens and congregations have grown stronger spiritually and practically through living together as one worshipping community. This makes better use of resources and allows more focus for clergy on their diaconal and priestly vocations, including their close collaboration with Methodist partners and across our deanery. Aware of our spiritual heritage in the ancient Saxon buildings, we are embracing our traditional values but exploring and offering a wide range of styles and means of worship, including online, to suit the different parts of our communities.

We have a lot to offer, with

• A Leadership Team, with 5 Churchwardens who meet regularly and work effectively as a team, bringing different ministerial gifts and knowledge
• A united PCC, a part-time Curate in training, a part-time Lay Multiply Leader – focusing on young families, a voluntary youth leader – with links to the Bridge Project Tadcaster and a Recognised Parish Assistant
• Family and children’s work - Holiday clubs for our younger members and re-enactment of Live Nativity and Easter passion plays
• Pastoral team, led by our Recognised Parish Assistant
• Historical events (eg. Battle of Marston Moor) and celebrations of the seasons
• Building our community through social interaction and food bank collections
• Mixed modes of services, including online, to connect with different parts of our community
• Small groups for Bible study, prayer, the Alpha Course, Living Free, The Bible Course, 24/7 prayer events.
• Inner healing ministry (Bethel Sozo, Big Green Heart) and bereavement counselling (Cruse counsellor)
• A social media presence on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook

As we build our reverence for worship, for scripture, for prayer and our respect for people and places, we look for someone to come and journey with us who will enable us to grow, who will illuminate, enthuse and encourage us that together we may be set alight with the love of God.

We are seeking a priest who

• Will help us nurture new disciples, making use of mixed modes of worship to increase access
• Will support our work with our Multiply Team to reach out to young families
• Will help us engage with the new housing areas and the communities we do not serve effectively at the moment
• Will help improve the visibility of and improve the communication of our mission and ministry
• Will nurture and grow our existing church communities, respecting our traditions and encouraging a wide variety of worship styles, to suit all.
• Will support working ecumenically where appropriate
• Will grow the confidence of the laity in ministry, evangelism, discipleship, involvement in the leading of worship, and in living out our faith in our daily lives

The Diocese of York

The Diocese of York, led and guided by Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, takes in much of North and East Yorkshire. As the largest diocese in England, geographically, the area is very diverse, featuring a multitude of needs and opportunities. This includes the bustling urban centres of York, Hull and Middlesbrough, the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors National Park, and the incomparable Yorkshire Coast; as well as areas of deprivation in some of our urban and smaller rural and coastal communities.

Our mission and ministry relies on thousands of people - lay and ordained, volunteer and paid. Our diocesan teams provide a wide range of support services to our mission and ministry, including lifelong learning for ministry, the care of church buildings, and safeguarding. Together, we are striving to be a people who are ‘Living Christ’s Story’. We want to be a simpler, bolder, humbler church which in its diversity reflects the communities it serves. We are bringing renewed focus and fresh energy to achieving our aims:

• Becoming more like Christ
• Reaching those we currently don't
• Growing in discipleship, influence and numbers
• Transforming our finances and structures

Our approach is aligned with a commitment to the best of our parochial inheritance and to the poorest communities, and to the financial realities we face.

Under current immigration rules, it is not generally possible for us to appoint clergy who are not already eligible to work in the UK.

If you would like to have an informal conversation about this post, please contact the Bishop of Selby, the Rt Revd John Thomson tel: 01757 429982, or the Archdeacon of York, Ven Sam Rushton 01904 758241

Appointment is subject to a satisfactory Enhanced DBS disclosure.