You may have picked up we are looking for a second full-time worker at Oldham Bethel Church. Below is the advert we have put out for our Gospel Worker role. If you, or anyone you know, fits the bill we’d be grateful to be put in touch.

Gospel Worker

Job Description

The church is looking for a gospel worker who will seek to increase the church’s evangelistic and discipleship output. They will engage with the existing activities of the church whilst looking to expand the work of evangelism in the community and take a lead on discipleship within the church. There is a degree of flexibility in the role which will be built to suit the skills and experience of the applicant. However, they will live in Oldham and seek to be a faithful friend and evangelist to those in the community as well as developing relationships within the church for the sake of discipleship.

The church is in a predominantly South Asian area of Oldham and, through a number of established activities, is well regarded locally within this community. The applicant will have opportunities to serve in existing areas of ministry and think about how they might be expanded. Nevertheless, they will also be expected to reach out to the predominantly white council estates (Fitton Hill, St Mary’s and Limeside) that are within easy reach of the church and with whom we currently have less involvement.

The membership of the church consists of a number of asylum seekers and refugees. These are mainly Muslim-background believers from Iran. Alongside them, we are seeing believers joining us from various African nations. There are also indigenous Oldhammers from working-class backgrounds. The applicant will involve themselves in the discipleship of church members so they can see how the Christian faith is lived out in practice. However, the applicant will be clear about how the gospel transcends cultures and yet, at the same time, does not nullify them. They will be sensitive not to tie the gospel to any one class or ethnic culture.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

• Actively sharing the message of the Christian faith locally
• Disciple new believers and support existing discipleship relationships
• Pastoral care, support and counselling in the church and community
• Establishing new and maintaining existing contacts in the community
• Establishing new means of outreach and/or improving existing areas of ministry
• Assist in developing partners for financial and prayer support

Person Spec

Required	Desirable but non-essential
Affirm doctrinal basis and willingness to abide by church distinctives	Prior experience in a ministry role and/or ministry training
Self-starter able to self-direct work	Experience working with asylum seekers, homeless and others from complex backgrounds
Resilience
Ability to disciple people from unchurched backgrounds
Willingness to work with marginalized people and to work cross-culturally
Ability to express convictions clearly & directly and hear such in return

Area Profile

Oldham is a town to the North-East of Manchester and one of the ten boroughs making up the Greater Manchester city region. The borough has a population of c.240,000 people. The town has a significant South Asian population mainly from Pakistan and Bangladesh. In 2016, Oldham was named by the ONS as the ‘most deprived town in England’ and remains in the top 20 most deprived towns in the country.

Oldham has a proud industrial history which remains part of the psyche of its people. It was once the richest town in Europe due to the ubiquity of its cotton mills that still dominate the town. An influx of Caribbeans in the 1950s, and South Asians in the 70s, was due to worker shortages in the mills. The last mill closed in the 1990s and no industry came into the town to replace them, leading to mass unemployment and deprivation.

Oldham is connected to Manchester by the Metrolink Tram service with Central Manchester readily commutable. The town is well served by shops and amenities.

Church Profile

Oldham Bethel Church is in the Glodwick area of Oldham. It is on the edge of the Town Centre, a 5-minute walk from Oldham Central tram stop and less than 5-minute walk from the award-winning Alexandra Park.

The church was planted in the 1930s following a tent mission. Originally meeting in a local theatre, the church moved into a building on Churchill Street before a compulsory purchase order led to a move to its current building in the 1970s.

The makeup of the town, and local area, changed significantly around this time. Glodwick is now over 90% South Asian Muslim. Oldham Bethel Church is the only church of any sort left in the area, with others having closed or been converted into mosques. New mosques continue to appear. Nevertheless, there are two predominantly white council estates – Fitton Hill & St Mary’s – within walking distance of the church as well as the Limeside estate nearby.

The church now belongs to the FIEC and North West Gospel Partnership. It is theologically reformed and baptistic in practice.

The church currently has 47 members and is led by 3 elders. It is multicultural in makeup, with people from Britain, Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East. There are a significant number of Iranian asylum seekers and refugees attending and in membership. As such, the church aims to translate as much of what goes on as possible into Farsi.

Contact

For further details on the role or to discuss matters further please email info@oldhambethelchurch.org.uk.

Salary is approx. £20-30k dependent on experience and needs, but is open to negotiation.