You may or may not have picked up that we are currently recruiting. We are seeking a second full-time worker to come and join us, with a view to the person stepping onto the church eldership in time (or, possibly, immediately depending on experience).
We are being purposefully vague about the title of the role. Mainly because we are most concerned about finding the right person. We want to tailor the role to an appropriate person rather than seek to get someone to fill a pre-determined role. As such, we are open to appointing someone as a co/associate/assistant pastor or in a more general gospel worker role. Our hope is that whatever role is ultimately created, the person will step up into an eldership role within the near future.
We are open to a younger or older person joining us. We are willing to look at somebody who has prior experience of being an elder or who has yet to become one but is one their way to it. We are less looking for a particular set of skills and more for a particular set of attitudes towards Jesus, the church, our community and the broad work to be done therein. The specific tasks and nature of the role is very flexible and we are glad to tailor this for the right person.
Below is the initial text of our advert:
Willing to take a risk for Christ? Able to work unsupervised for long periods? Eager to participate in the leadership of a small reformed church situated in one of the most deprived towns in England? Happy to do what’s needed, rather than wait for direction and sticking rigidly to what’s on a job description? Then this role may be for you.
Oldham Bethel Church has funds to add a full-time worker to the team. You may be young, you may be turning grey, but you will have some ministry experience under your belt. You will have proven ability to take initiative, to be proactive in pastoral care and to preach & teach the Bible in ways that those with little or no formal education can understand, as well as those operating in other languages. You will have a burning passion to make the true Jesus known in a place where he is regarded as no more than a prophet by some and entirely unknown by others.
You may or may not have formal academic certificates, but you will be someone who takes the study of God’s Word seriously. You will work hard to apply biblical truths to everyday life in a multicultural, former mill town that has seen better days.
You will be welcome to contribute to leadership discussions on doctrinal, pastoral and ecclesiological matters. You will have strongly held opinions that you can argue for with passion and yet be happy to accept the consensus of the leadership team, which you will eventually become a part of yourself.
As well as good understanding of the Scriptures, you will have a servant’s heart to love other members of the church sacrificially, even when it hurts to do so, bearing with our limitations and weaknesses as we will seek to do with yours. You will be welcoming to the stranger, be they asylum seekers, single parents, ex-convicts, or those with drug and alcohol dependency. You will keep going in times of disappointment because you are doing it for Christ’s sake, not your own.
You will be a person who is willing to be sent by Jesus into what might seem to many to be uncomfortable and hard because you desire to see his hand at work amongst the poor and foreigner. Far from being crushed by the work you will share in the existing team’s joy as they see the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in bringing dead sinners to life in Christ and watching like a proud parent as they grow in Jesus.
We are open to appointing a co, associate or assistant pastor. We are equally open to a more generalized gospel worker role. We are most concerned with finding the right person and building the role around them rather than fitting someone into a pre-determined post. We envisage the person becoming an elder either quickly or in future depending on experience and, as such, are seeking a suitably qualified man for the role.
You can view a full copy of our advert here with details of the person spec, area and church profiles and details of how you can contact us to register your interest. You can also get in touch with me on Facebook, Twitter or via this blog and I would be glad to talk to you about the role in more detail too.