Church Assistant

Contract: 12-month fixed-term (18th August 2025 - 10th August 2026)

Salary: £22,222 (with subsidised housing in the parish)

Location: All Souls Parish, West End, London

Hours: Full time, 35 hours per week (include early mornings, weekends, and evenings)

Department: Support

Reports to: Events Manager

DBS Check: Not required

Role Summary

Church Assistants provide practical support to the parish: they facilitate a wide range of events and help keep our buildings ready for ministry. Although the bulk of the work is practical, each week Church Assistants also spend time participating in staff planning meetings, exploring a ministry of their choice and receiving theological training. Church Assistants work in shifts, and live together in shared accommodation. They are a team of five.

You will:

• Facilitate and support church events
• Help maintain, clean, and tidy parish buildings and facilities
• Spend a year in community worshipping at All Souls, exploring church ministry, and deepening your Christian faith

Person Specification

We are looking for someone who:

• Is a committed Christian in sympathy with the evangelical stance and mission of All Souls
• Is a hard worker with a servant heart
• Is prepared to undertake a wide range of physically demanding work
• Has a desire to grow an understanding of the Bible and develop as a disciple
• Will contribute to the shared life of the All Souls staff team and church
• Has excellent interpersonal skills and is able to communicate effectively
• Has excellent organisational skills and initiative
• Has the ability to handle pressured situations with tact and wisdom
• Is flexible and a team player
• Is able to work sensitively with a multicultural staff team and church family
• Will bring their own Christian experiences and background (local or global) to help support a diverse and international congregation

Details of role

The work of a Church Assistant is extremely varied and requires a flexible attitude. No two shifts are completely alike, and an ideal candidate will demonstrate a willingness to jump into whatever needs doing. That said, the role also carries a lot of responsibility. Church Assistants facilitate 20+ ministries, interact with high profile external clients, and work closely with the church family. They are the first response to any practical problem in the parish, be that a frustrated congregant or a leaking sink. Church Assistants also spend part of their time studying some theology and exploring church ministry. To this end we give our Church Assistants lots of training, from the practical (first aid, fire marshalling, safeguarding) to the theological (ministry training sessions, mentors, placements). Over the course of the year, Church Assistants will be supported in building their leadership skills and growing in their Christian discipleship.

Event support

All Souls runs more than 2,000 events each calendar year, ranging from Sunday services, to weddings, to big evangelistic talks and Bible Studies. We also run events as an external venue to fund our ministry. Church Assistants are responsible for facilitating all of these events and liaising closely with the ministers, organisers, and church family who are leading them. Typical events responsibilities include:

• Layout of tables, chairs, lecterns, setup and operation of PA, projectors, sound recording etc.
• Making tea and coffee and assisting with catering
• Welcoming and being on hand during an event
• Solving any problems that arise during the event
• Taking down equipment after the event
• Washing up and cleaning and closing up kitchens, lock up and alarm setting
• Acting as Fire Marshals and First Aiders (full training provided)

Buildings and Facilities Support

All Souls has four church buildings spread across our parish, two of which are historically listed. We have a Buildings Department that looks after the maintenance and fabric of the structures, and an external cleaning team who come in once a week. Alongside this, Church Assistants also do work throughout the week to make sure our buildings stay clean, tidy and safe for ministry. These duties include:

• Responsible for opening up in the morning, checking and closing church buildings at night, and making sure the steps are clean each day and rough sleepers have moved on.
• Cleaning duties including hoovering, cleaning and resupplying office kitchens, washrooms and toilets and cleaning exterior areas including jet washing
• Resupply and restocking of offices, washrooms, toilets and staff kitchens.
• Emptying rubbish and recycling bins, handling of deliveries
• Various buildings maintenance tasks including risk assessments and fire safety checks and maintaining repair logs
• Other ad hoc tasks as required through arrangement with the Events Manager

Ministry Training

Alongside their practical work, the Church Assistant role includes a focus on Christian faith and discipleship. The team is managed by the Events Manager, who together with the Minister of Training runs the programme and offers pastoral care and support. Additionally, Church Assistants are provided with a mentor, and given roughly half a day each week for training. Training includes:

• A weekly study session coordinated by the Minister of Training, which helps establish a strong Biblical framework, covers aspects of Christian discipleship and helps Church Assistants learn about Christian ministry
• A weekly two hour placement with a ministry of their choice to get involved with serving in a specific area
• Weekly staff meetings, which give a chance for Church Assistants to build relationships with the rest of staff and contribute their ideas to the planning of church life
• A retreat at the end of the year to think through the experience of Christian ministry and what that might mean for the future

Hours

This is a full time job based on a five day working week with 35 hour weeks in 8 hour shifts. Shift times will change each week and will include early mornings, weekends, and evenings. The role will involve working some shifts over Easter and Christmas/New Year.

Housing

Subsidised accommodation, including council tax, utilities, phone, internet and water rates is provided in the parish in our shared or single bed flats. Accommodation is only provided for Church Assistants, not for their spouses or families. Please note that because shared community is at the heart of the job, all Church Assistants must live in All Souls accommodation. This has often meant that married individuals or those with children are not suitable for the role unless the individual is willing to live apart from their family for a year.

Application closure: Sunday, 30 March 2025

Interview: From 7th April 2025

All Souls Today

In the centre of London’s West End, All Souls Langham Place is a conservative, Anglican evangelical church. At the heart of all we do as a church is our desire to be ‘All for Jesus!’ We are deeply grateful for a diverse and international church family, a rich heritage and an exciting location and seek to use all God has given us in the extension of Christ’s Kingdom. We recognise that we are only a small part of God’s worldwide Church, so we aspire to a generosity and graciousness in our fellowship with other Churches while submitting ourselves to the authority of God’s unchanging Word. We believe that Jesus is for all and we long to be all for Jesus.

There is an occupational requirement that the job-holder is a Christian under Part 1 of Schedule 9 to the Equality Act 2010.