New Worship Communities Enabler in Liverpool

Are you someone who:

• Is excited about enabling clergy and lay people to think about mission in new ways?
• Wants to see lay people released into planting and growing new worship communities?
• Is able to develop strategies to enable the growth and development of new worship communities?

We are looking for a gifted and passionate team member to work with the rest of the Cultivate team to grow mission locally and fulfil the diocesan vision of more people knowing Jesus, and more justice in the world. Both experience and evidence suggest that a key strategy for church growth is the planting of new worship communities, and so we have developed a programme called Cultivate that catalyses the growth of new worship communities and releases, trains and supports lay people in this pursuit. This role will work alongside the deanery-based Cultivate teams to encourage replication and generally deliver strategies that enable the growth of new worship communities (NWCs) across the diocese. Fundamentally, the essence of this role is to ensure that more people know Jesus and that churches in Liverpool Diocese are growing with disciples.

Cultivate began as a grass-roots initiative in Liverpool Diocese, seeking to grow missional capacity in the church and stimulate the planting of new worship communities. It works with both Larger Single Parishes (LSPs) and Single Parishes (SPs), enabling them to become more missionally effective, and it attempts this in two ways. The first is supporting churches to “refresh” what already exists, enabling them to build missional capacity. The second is enabling a “fresh” wave of new worship communities (NWCs) and justice initiatives to spring up through envisioning, training and supporting lay leaders. Vitally, all clergy (and churches) engage with both pathways concurrently and all aspects of Cultivate are done in partnership with local clergy. Through both the FFM and DIP projects, we have a remarkable opportunity to work with every church in the diocese, encouraging and growing missional capacity and encouraging the planting of new worship communities, and therefore we are particularly looking for someone who is able to work across a broad range of traditions in the church.

Duties And Responsibilities

This role will work alongside deanery-based Cultivate team members but will focus exclusively on the planting of NWCs. Therefore the core tasks will be:

• Establish Learning Communities across the diocese: The development of Learning Communities (or “communities of practice”) is a key strategic focus for the Cultivate team, which will support learning and development for emerging lay leaders but will also be a catalyst for NWC planting in deaneries across the diocese. Therefore we will look to establish a Learning Community for types of NWC planted in the diocese.
• Develop other strategies to encourage the planting of NWCs: Alongside Learning Communities, this role will develop other strategies (alongside the Cultivate team and other stakeholders) to encourage the planting of NWCs in deaneries across the diocese.
• Oversee current areas of lay leadership development: To oversee the process for NWC grants for emerging worship communities within FFM and DIP. To lead on the delivery of the annual Inspire conference. To assist in the delivery of the Cultivate course across the diocese in conjunction with the rest of the Cultivate team. To assist in the development of local mentoring for lay leaders of NWCs.
• Ensure effective liaison and development: Work with each Cultivate team member on their deanery Cultivate Work Plan, to ensure a targeted and creative plan for NWC planting for each deanery. Develop good relationships with key personnel, engage effectively with all clergy, foster good relationships with key teams (for instance, in relation to worship communities in schools). Integrate work with the Vocations Team to ensure robust recruitment practices for Lay Leaders and support for vocational pathways for individuals including relevant learning and development opportunities. Meet regularly with the Learning and Development Lead for the overall coordination of Diocesan learning communities. Represent the diocese at occasional regional and national church planting conferences and network meetings. Ensure excellent communication with key stakeholders and adhere to agreed procedures for the full delivery of Cultivate. Measure and track delivery data.