Ministry Trainee – Harper Church in Glasgow

Harper Church has been serving the local community around Plantation and Kinning Park in Govan with the Gospel of Jesus Christ for over 125 years. Our church is together on a mission to make and grow disciples of Jesus, seeing lives changed around our doors, in our city, across our nation and over His World. Harper Church is an intercultural church with approximately 40 nations represented in our church family. By the Lord’s grace we are a growing church with Sunday morning attendance around 240.

Background: Harper Church is investing in training men and women for gospel work in an intercultural context. As part of this commitment, we have an Antioch Academy which aims to train intercultural leaders to be effective church members, deacons, elders and full-time ministers. Harper Church is looking to recruit a Ministry Trainee to join the staff team. This is a training role that will focus on the development of character, competence and conviction. The two-year fixed-term full-time role will involve significant service within the local church in addition to theological training in partnership with an external training provider (for example, at Cornhill Scotland).

The successful candidate will be involved in the shepherding, pastoral care, discipleship and evangelism of people from a variety of backgrounds, nationalities and ages. You will be supported in this role by the church at large, and in particular by the elders, staff team and lead pastor. This role is designed to stretch individuals and they will be given responsibilities to help them grow and equip them for ministry in the local church. The successful candidate will serve 40 hours per week and the training role would be based in large part in and around the church and at the location of the external training provider. There would be a requirement to serve some evenings, attend prayer meetings, our mid-week Growth Group meetings, members meetings (~6 per year), and attend morning and evening services on a Sunday.

The Remit: In order for Harper Church to live out our vision, we are guided by the following:

• Engage – we seek to engage with all our communities
• Evangelise – we seek to share the good news with the lost in our communities
• Establish disciples – we seek to make disciples from all our communities
• Equip – we desire that those in Harper Church become disciple-making disciples in all our communities.

The successful candidate, along with the rest of the staff team, will be guided by these ‘four Es’. The role would include:

• Shadowing and learning from experienced individuals.
• Internal training times with the associate and lead pastors, focusing on practical ministry and intercultural church.
• Preaching responsibilities with feedback prior to and after preaching opportunities. Given our complementation convictions, if the candidate is a woman, appropriate teaching opportunities will be provided with feedback before and after.
• Developing 1to1 and smaller group discipling relationships.
• Offering pastoral care to those in our church, particularly in times of personal trials; this may involve visits to care homes, hospitals and homes.
• Involvement in ministry to young people as this proves to be a useful training ground.
• Building relationships with those in our community who are not Christians, seeking to share the Gospel with them; this may include the organising of evangelistic courses.

The Candidate: The successful candidate will be in agreement with the church’s statement of faith. The church is a member of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches and the successful candidate will also be in agreement with the FIEC Statement of Faith and Ethos Statements. Further, the successful candidate will have:

• A clear evangelical Christian commitment and consistent integrity in life and doctrine.
• A commitment to prayer and serious-minded study of the scriptures.
• A real love for people (young and old), including a desire to see them mature and follow Jesus throughout life.
• An evangelistic heart.
• Ideally, experience of serving in a local church.
• A willingness to work as part of a team is especially important.
• An approachable personality and an understanding nature.
• Strong people skills to build relationships for the gospel.
• A willingness to live in the immediate area of the church.

Reporting Lines: The Ministry Trainee role will report directly to the lead pastor. The candidate will be remunerated as follows: The fees for the external training course (likely Cornhill Scotland) will be paid by the church direct to the training provider. In addition, we will provide support for the two days per week spent with the external training provider (or at Harper outwith term time), 1 day per week self-study, and your two days per week placement at Harper. This will be in the form of a bursary of £15,000 per year. £10,000 will come from the church and we will work with you to raise the other £5,000 from other sources. The bursary will be awarded quarterly.

We are a diverse congregation with those from approximately 40 nations represented in our church. Many in our church are from Iran, Latin American nations, African nations, India, Pakistan, as well as those from Scotland, England and Ireland. We welcome applications from those from any of these national backgrounds. Applications can only be considered from those who are UK citizens or who otherwise have a right to work in the UK. We are not offering visa sponsorship to candidates. Having regard to the nature and context of the work, it is an occupational requirement for the postholder to be an evangelical Christian whose personal convictions and practice should comply with and not conflict with the Doctrinal Basis and Christian beliefs of our church.

Please send a CV and covering letter to peter@harperchurch.org.uk prior to the 27th of February should you desire to be considered for the role.