Director of Discipleship

Director of Discipleship

This is an exciting new role leading, expanding, and embedding a vibrant culture of discipleship and faith formation in existing churches, new Christian communities, and children’s and youth groups in every district and circuit across the Methodist Church in Britain.

This role and its related teams will encourage and support clergy and lay leaders in the Church’s major commitments to multi-generational, whole-life discipleship – the long-term journey of becoming, and growing as, followers of Jesus Christ and communities of God’s grace – so that:

1)      more Methodist Christians respond to God’s call in every part of their lives;

2)      more religiously-unaffiliated people, especially those within rising generations, begin faith journeys and grow into disciples of Jesus Christ; and

3)      more churches and communities experience the joy of transformation, growth, and justice.

The successful candidate will further develop, operationalise, and manage the Discipleship/Methodist Way of Life strategic area 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 responsible for directing and managing the implementation, integration, alignment, and strategic deployment of two teams – the Children, Youth, and Family Ministry Team and the Discipleship sub-team of the Evangelism and Growth Team – into one unified, multi-generational Discipleship team on the Mission: Evangelism and Growth Team.

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 discipleship and faith formation in Methodist districts, circuits, and local churches across diverse contexts 

·       Working with circuit superintendents, district chairs, and other senior leaders to build children’s, youth, and young adult ministry into standard operating missional and ministerial practice in local churches and communities across the Church

·       Ensuring that clear discipleship foundations and accessible discipleship pathways are built into all relevant major Methodist events, conferences, festivals, courses, and trainings

·       Leading the expansion and cross-Church consistent coordination of networks and pathways for discipleship training, children’s and youth worker’s support and organising, and related aspects of clergy and lay leadership in faith formation

About You 

The ideal candidate will need the following: 

·       Significant training, leadership, and direct work experience in discipleship and faith formation

·       An evidenced track record of integrating discipleship and faith formation into the ministry of local churches, new Christian communities, and children’s and youth groups

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

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

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

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), TOIL, flexi-leave and an on-site Well-being 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 7 April 2025 by 12:00noon  

Interviews:            Friday 2 May 2025 at Methodist Church House London