Background
The Diocese of Birmingham is an area that is young, culturally diverse, creative dynamic and constantly changing; politically, economically, socially and environmentally. In all these changes, God is at work, inside and outside the church.
Since 2009, our Transforming Church strategy has been shaping our vision across the Church of England in Birmingham, guiding us to be a more inclusive church that is growing ‘larger, wider, deeper and younger’ – a church that is a transforming presence at the heart of our communities. Transforming Church has its heart in local parishes and in all forms of growth; numerical, spiritual and transformational.
Our local churches are led by a diverse group of people undertaking specific licensed or commissioned ministries, including ordained ministers (deacons and priests), Readers, Commissioned Pastoral Teams, Local Ministers Lay and Ordained, as well as new and developing ministries responding to local needs, including Authorised Occasional Preachers and Authorised Occasional Worship Leaders. Ministers may be full-time stipendiary office holders such as Incumbents, but the majority are part-time volunteers, mostly lay people.
ROLE PURPOSE
The Bishop’s core ministry officers - the Director of Ministry (The Revd Canon Dr Mark Pryce), the Diocesan Director of Ordinands & Vocation Development (The Revd Calvert Prentis) and the Head of Ministry Formation (The Revd Paul Hinton) - oversee the discernment, formation, training and development programmes and licensing or commissioning arrangements for those who undertake recognized and representative ministries on behalf of the church, both lay or ordained.
The work also involves relating to a number of auxiliary roles who work with the principal ministry officers, supporting particular ministries on behalf of the bishop: The Warden and Co-Warden of Readers (The Revd Sheri Gidney and Mrs Maggie Forknell); the Warden of Commissioned Pastoral Teams (Mr David Harrison); The Bishop’s Adviser for Self-Supporting Ministry (The Revd Simon Cocks). Currently in post are two grant-funded ministry development posts: Ministry Development Lead Ordained (The Revd Mark Bennett) and Ministry Development Lead Lay (The Revd Canon Catherine Grylls) who lead on specific developments.
The Ministries Support Officer will, with support from a colleague (0.5fte), provide support to team through personal and diary support to the Director of Ministry, whilst primarily providing support to the discernment, formation, learning and development programmes and processes offered, through practical arrangements and excellent administration and communication with participants and/or candidates.
OUTLINE RESPONSIBILITIES
- Provide a discreet and confidential administrative support to the Director of Ministry, including occasional team diary arrangements, making meeting arrangements and minuting and communicating follow-up actions to the team.
- Provide facilitation to various ministry focus groupings e.g. The Clergy Wellbeing Group, Round Table Theology Group, Clergy Sabbatical Forum, Ministries Round Table meeting.
- Producing promotional material for and promoting ministry learning and vocations events.
- Make arrangements for regular and one-off learning events and church services as part of the ministry formation and development programmes, including arranging locations and catering if required, managing attendance, liaising with locations, speakers and participants, issuing/receiving papers.
- Keeping records of candidates and ministers’ development and attendance at learning events as well as being a central point of contact.
- Enabling our move to online learning through administration of ministry “modules” on our online moodle-based ‘Pathways’ learning platform.
- Collaborating with West Midlands Colleagues in other diocese for training and events which are shared regionally and making necessary arrangements.
- Managing the resources of the Ministry Team including physical library and online file-sharing.
- Working with ‘Pathways’ colleagues to support our online learning and Learning & Development Support colleagues to support with practical arrangements for events.
- Working with those discerning vocations, requesting details, undertaking checks, sending information and maintaining records during the vocations process.
- Keeping Ministries content on the CofEB website up-to-date.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
We are looking for a focused and self-starting individual who will provide effective administration for the ministry team and quickly build relationships of trust in a variety of contexts. They will have:
- A friendly and warm character with ability to relate to and build trust quickly with a diverse range of people.
- Great interpersonal skills and the ability to handle queries from a wide range of people.
- A commitment to collaborative team-working, with appropriate initiative and self-motivation.
- An ability to prioritize, meet deadlines, communicate progress and handle multiple projects simultaneously.
- The ability to be confidential in their discreet areas of work and appreciate both synergies and boundaries between multiple areas of work.
- Excellent accuracy and attention to detail.
- Excellent planning and organizing skills.
- Experience in using Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint to an intermediate level, with an understanding of booking / forms / e-learning software being an advantage.
- To be willing to work within the Christian ethos and values.
- An understanding of the breadth of Anglican patterns of ministry and theologies would be a strong advantage.
- The post-holder may need to be able to travel the breadth of the diocese for events hosted elsewhere.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
- Full-time 35 hours per week. Hybrid working will be offered for the right candidate after an initial settling in phase. There will be the need for occasional evening or weekend working, with time off in lieu.
- Salary £26,788 per annum
- Pension 12% employer contribution into the Church Workers Pension Fund
- The role reports to the Director of Ministry, with the Director of Ordinands and Vocation Development and the Head of Ministry Formation also supervising in their areas of responsibility.
- Five weeks holiday per year plus Bank Holidays plus 3 additional Diocesan Discretionary Days between Christmas and New Year.
The Church of England Birmingham is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community - a place where all can be themselves and bring their unique identity to their ministry and/or work. We welcome applications from any individuals who feel that they meet the person specification for any post, in particular we welcome applications from those who are currently under-represented in our staff teams such as those from Global Majority / UK Minority Ethnic heritage, those with visible or invisible disabilities and those who identify as LGBTQI+.
The Church of England Birmingham is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All post holders are expected to share this commitment.
Closing Date for applications: Thursday 1 August 2024
Interview Date: Tuesday 13 August 2024
To apply for the role, please click here.
APPENDIX – detailed task list (with 0.5 FTE colleague)
Director of Ministry
• General Administration and confidential PA support
• Facilitator for various Groups under the DoM remit: e.g. Clergy Wellbeing Group; Death of a Senior National Figure; Ministries’ Round Table, Reader Training Oversight Group.
• Planning the annual work programme
• Regular and One-Off Events (depending on size: form building/availability-poll; working with external Facilitators; catering; pre-meeting papers; reviews
• Database/Record Maintenance
• WM CMD liaison with Colleagues and Officers especially for the programmes which CofEB carries specific leadership responsibility, currently First Post of Primary Responsibility (course admin; cross-Diocese liaison; website up-dating; technical support for on-line training)
• Liaison with Comms. and Pathways Learning e.g. Bishop’s Study Mornings
• Preparation of Training Materials and Course Literature
• Collection and Analysis of Data
Head of Ministry Formation
• Curates related admin: e.g. being a point of contact; relating to the assessment process
- Supporting the administration of the Reader Training Programme, including IME training events and Reader CME events
• Room Booking (internal and external)
• Planning the annual work programme
• Regular Curates’ Consultations (from administering the process through to catering and on-the-day presence)
• Regular and One-Off Events (depending on size: form building/availability-poll; working with external Facilitators; catering; pre-meeting papers; reviews)
• Database/Record Maintenance
• Misc. Admin (e.g. facilitating on-line training; arranging 1-2-1s;
• Up-Loading to Pathways Learning platform
• Preparation of Training Materials and Course Literature
DDO
- Responding to enquiries and sending initial Vocations Pack to potential candidates
- Maintain confidential files & excel document of enquirers & candidates
- Requesting references and arrange medical and financial checks
- Support the Vocations Team & Examining Chaplains with relevant information for meeting candidates.
- Produce promotional material (paper and electronic) suggested by DDO
- Liaise with Bishops Croft regarding ordinations
- Print ordination lists & liaise with cathedral regarding ordination services, information for ordination retreat
- Liaise with Bishop’s Croft regarding Faculty applications for applicable candidates
- Liaise with National Discernment Team concerning booking candidates on a National Discernment Panel
Occasional Ministry Development tasks
Commissioned Pastoral Teams (CPT)
Liaison with the Head of Ministry Formation and Warden of CPTs in making arrangements for
- The annual CPT Away Day and occasional CPT training events
- Termly meeting of the CPT Steering Group
Self-Supporting Clergy
Liaison with the Bishop’s SSM Adviser and Director of Ministry in making arrangements for
- The annual SSM Reflection Day
- Occasional SSM training events
Ministerial Development Review Partners
Liaison with the Ministry Development Lead (ordained) and Director of Ministry in making arrangements for
- MDR Partner Training Days
Reflective Pastoral Supervision (RPS)
Liaison with the Ministry Development Lead (ordained), Director of Ministry and RPS Lead (The Revd Magdalen Smith) in making arrangements for
- RPS Training Pathway with Wesley House Cambridge
- Occasional RPS CMD days
Growing Gifts
Liaison with the Ministry Development Lead (Lay) in making arrangements for
- Formation Pathway for Growing Gifts Enablers
- Formation Pathway for Occasional Preachers
- Formation Pathway for Occasional Worship Leaders
Transforming Church: People & Places Culture and Structure Change
Liaison with the Archdeacons. Archdeacons’ PA and Director of Ministry in making arrangements for
- Oversight Area Formation Days (change programme funded until December 2025)