The Rivers Team is looking for a Team Vicar with a heart for mission and evangelism and a desire to reach those who do not comfortably fit into traditional models of church, with the good news of Jesus. It is a role that will involve helping to equip the whole people of God for the whole mission of God as well as sharing in oversight of the worship and missional activities of the church. This is the perfect role for someone who doesn’t want to be encumbered with all the paperwork and day-to-day running of a parish but feels called to be a part of a team in which they are able to focus their energies on building the church and sharing the gospel with the wider community.
The Rivers Team is a single parish, with four churches, serving five communities located between the town of Rotherham and city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire. The Team has an evangelical tradition and places a high value on lay leadership in all areas of church life. The role of the clergy, therefore, is very much oversight and equipping with absolutely no expectation that ‘the vicar does everything’.
Last year the Team resolved to focus its Sunday worship around one Team service, in one church building, which is now flourishing, with a vibrant congregation that is both multi-generational and multi-ethnic. From this place of unity, the Team is in the process of launching missional congregations that meet at different times throughout the week in each of the communities and are aimed at reaching different demographics and needs in contextually appropriative ways.
Although the Team Vicar role will include leading, presiding and preaching at the Sunday service on a rota, as well as some occasional offices, the expectation is that bulk of their time will be dedicated to evangelism, mission, and sharing in oversight of these missional gatherings as well as growing the teams through identifying gifts in church members and encouraging them to be developed and utilised.
The successful candidate will join an established leadership team comprised of the Incumbent (a House for Duty priest), a Centenary Project Children and Families worker, three Church Wardens, and a number of other committed and gifted lay people.
Applications to be sent to: pa.archdeacon.sheff.roth@sheffield.anglican.org
For an informal chat, contact: Julie Bacon, Associate Archdeacon-Transition Enabler, julie.bacon@sheffield.anglican.org, 07706 357165
Closing date: 23 June
Interviews: 7 July