Director of New Churches

The Vacancy

Location: This is a hybrid position, with an average minimum of 2-3 days based in our London office, working remotely from your home, and extensive travel around Britain. You should live within commuting distance of our London Office.

This is an exciting new role leading, expanding, and embedding a vibrant culture of pioneering and planting new churches and Christian communities in every district and circuit across the Methodist Church in Britain – supporting clergy and lay leaders in the Church’s major commitments to prioritise mission and grow relationally, spiritually, and numerically, especially related to engaging religiously-unaffiliated people and rising generations in diverse British contexts, with a priority for those experiencing marginalization.

The successful candidate will further develop, operationalise, and manage the New Places for New People/Church at the Margins strategic areas of the Methodist Church in Britain’s God For All strategy. This will include working strategically; embedding deep learning and practice; managing staff, workplans and budgets; and organizing networks of leaders.

You will be a member of the Evangelism and Growth Team of the Methodist Church in Britain, working collaboratively with many other teams, groups, and networks across and beyond the Methodist Church in Britain. You will also be part of the wider Mission Team, playing a key role in implementing its strategy in response to Our Calling and the Methodist Way of Life. 

In this post, you will have responsibility for the following priorities: 

·        Supporting, normalising, and directing a culture of pioneering and planting in Methodist districts, circuits, and local churches across diverse contexts 

·        Working with circuit superintendents, district chairs, and other senior leaders to build pioneering and planting new churches into standard operating missional and ministerial practice across the Church

·        Leading the expansion and cross-Church consistent coordination of the Methodist Pioneering Pathways and all related aspects of pioneer formation and ongoing training

·        Developing and implementing MCB strategy and related planting networks for pioneering in particular contexts, e.g., new housing/estates, global communities, young people and young adults, addiction recovery, church at the margins

About You 

The ideal candidate will need the following: 

·        Significant leadership experience in pioneering/planting new churches or new Christian communities 

·        An evidenced track record of leading stabilisation and growth – numerical, spiritual, and relational – in new churches 

·        Ability to communicate passionately, accessibly, and theologically with diverse audiences, both religiously-unaffiliated and -affiliated 

·        Abilities as a skilled trainer, line-manager, and supervisor/coach 

·        Able to manage complexity, operate strategically and build focused, relational teams 

This post carries an occupational requirement for the post holder to be a Christian (in accordance with the Equality Act 2010). 

Our Culture, Values and Benefits

Thank you for considering joining our inclusive and welcoming team that strives for excellence and values employee wellbeing.

We value and support all those who join our team through a positive work-life balance augmented by generous annual leave (plus an extra 3 days over Christmas/New Year), annualised hours and a Wellbeing Adviser service. We offer a generous occupational pension scheme, where the Methodist Church will pay double the employee contribution up to a maximum of 16% employer contribution.

The Methodist Church is an inclusive and supportive employer. We are actively committed to encouraging applications from people of all backgrounds. We welcome applications from people of Black, Asian and other Minority Ethnic groups. We also welcome applications from people living with disabilities.

Closing Date:       Monday 17 February 2024 by 12:00 noon  

Interview:           Wednesday 5 March 2024 at Methodist Church House London