The Church of England in London is growing, vibrant and at the heart of communities throughout the capital. At the London Diocesan Fund we seek to do everything we can to support this mission and growth, using our resources to help our parishes and chaplains to serve over 4 million people.

The Diocese of London (LDF) is seeking a part time (21 hours per week) Compassionate Communities Development Worker: Mental Health & Isolation/ Debt & Food Insecurity, to play a key role within the Compassionate Communities team, based from London Diocesan House in Pimlico.

We will be shortlisting the week of the 9^nd October and successful candidates will be notified by Thurs 12^th.

Interviews are scheduled for week of 16^th October.

The role will contribute fully to the work of the Compassionate Communities Team, who exist to deliver one of one of the 3 key ambitions for the Diocese for our vision to 2030: “inspiring and equipping Diocese of London’s churches to reach out compassionately to the communities they serve”.

Compassionate Communities has six key ‘themes of work’ we aim to intentionally support churches around responding to community needs. These are:

• Caring for God’s Creation

• Mental Health & Isolation

• Money Debt & Food Insecurity

• Modern Slavery, Refugees & Asylum Seekers

• Housing & Homelessness

• Safer Communities for All Young People

Compassionate Communities aims to raise in our churches both awareness and participation in responding to these community needs. Our team act as a broker, equipper and supporter of the local church who are doing this extraordinary work of showing the love of God in action.

This role mainly is taking responsibility for two of our Themes of Work: Mental Health & Isolation, Money Debt & Food Insecurity and as well as where those themes intersects with other themes. This responsibility includes:

• Responding to parishes and church communities of queries around these themes

• Drawing together networks of churches working in these areas;

• Offering strategic support on these themes at a Diocesan level,

• Building relationships within the Diocese and with organisations outside of it.

The role involves being a generalist rather than a specialist; knowing where to signpost people and forming relationships, rather than having a detailed knowledge of any one of the themes of work. However expertise in any of these themes of work listed would be valuable and bring depth and richness to the work.

The role is a dual role: to lead on the co-ordination and implementation of the Diocese of London’s support offer to parishes around these themes of work, and to help us co-ordinate telling stories and celebrating what parishes are already doing to the wider diocese.

The ideal candidate will:

• Understand the overarching narratives and opportunities to engage.

• Add encouragement and co-ordination to churches as they seek to respond.

• Raise the confidence and competence levels of parishes who wish to engage but feel unable or are unaware as to what can be done.

• Connect key partners to parishes who can enhance their delivery, building trust and strong working relationships

• Organise events and commission trainings where needed

• Manage their own work time flexibly

• Ensure that we are prayerful and theologically reflective in all we do: bringing the hopes, dreams and fears of those we serve to God.

Strategic

• Understand and engage with our churches and how they are responding to the needs in their communities across the broad themes of work
• Liaise with Episcopal Area teams to help deliver their aims around these themes of work
• Be responsive and willing to engage prophetically with issues as they arise, focussing on needs and areas of “energy” where more can be done, being led by church response; including where needed forming alliances and partnership with other organisations

Operational

• Respond to specific requests from parishes for advice, consultancy or connection
• Draw together those churches that currently
• Organise other events and meetings, and commission training where necessary
• Form strong partnerships with other agencies & external charities to deliver these aims
• Ensure work is rooted theologically & in prayer, and lead churches in reflection on this
• Share responsibility for communications & social media presence relating to these themes of work
• The post holder may be required to undertake any other duties that are commensurate with the role.

Please refer to the attached Job Description for the full details on the main responsibilities.

Essential

• Ability to take initiative and to demonstrate energy and determination
• Ability to work across church traditions and integrate faith and statutory bodies
• Ability to build effective relationships at all levels with key partners and then deliver outcomes
• Organisational skills to deliver events both online and in person
• Ability to communicate in a way which draws people together and builds confidence
• Understanding of the political landscape and theological roots of faith-based social action
• Ability to ground all the work theologically, and encourage others in that
• Ability to work as a team that operates flexibly, and be confident to work independently
• Christian faith

Desirable

• Community organising skills
• Social Media experience
• Confidence in public speaking
• Experience of working within Church of England structures

Please refer to the attached Job Description for the full details on Person Specification.

The LDF is the employment body that serves and supports the Diocese of London and Church of England. The Diocesan of London comprises of c400 parishes north of the River Thames and within the M25 motorway. You can find our Diocesan 2030 vision, which outlines our priorities for the next 10 years here: london.anglican.org/our-2030-vision

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

The Diocese of London is committed to creating and sustaining a diverse and inclusive workforce which represents our context and wider community.

We are aware that those of Global Majority Heritage/United Kingdom Minority Ethnic (GMH/UKME), women, and disabled people are currently under-represented among our clergy and workforce, and we particularly encourage applications from those with the relevant skills and experience that will increase this representation.

Benefits of Working with the LDF

The LDF offers a supportive working environment, opportunity for career development and the following financial benefits:

• Competitive remuneration package
• 27 annual leave days to rise to 30 after 5 years’ service, plus bank holidays
• 15% employer pension contribution and salary sacrifice available
• Death in service benefit x3 of basic gross salary
• Enhanced maternity leave of six months full pay, after 12 months’ of employment
• Season ticket loans of public transport
• Access to Benenden Health Insurance
• EAP counselling through Health Assured