Minister (Children) maternity cover (12-month)

Discipling children
– Manage the running of the children’s ministry for 0–11, held during the 9:30am service at All Souls Church, including leading and teaching responsibilities as required.
– Provide materials for age groups (Scramblers, Climbers and Explorers) and Mountaineers, our group for children with additional needs, preparing them for use each Sunday and maintaining an appropriate curriculum for each group.
– Manage the resources for the children’s ministry and ensure there are adequate materials for the Sunday activities.
– Work with the Children’s Music Leader to plan the musical programme for the children.
– Work with the Youth Minister to facilitate the transition of Year 6 children during the Summer term, before they move up to the Youth Work.
– Oversee the effective running of the Sunday creche for 0–2½ year olds.
– Organise a programme of Family Focus slots for the 9:30am service each term, speaking at many of them, and also giving direction and feedback to those who teach those slots.
– Work with the 0-18 team to plan occasional All Age services (two each year) and lead them as required.
– Organise and run one weekend away and one sleepover each year for the 7–11 year olds
– Assist with the planning of ‘Cornerstone’, the All Souls Summer Holiday week, as required.

Recruiting, Training and Supporting leaders
– Recruit, train and disciple leaders to ensure the running of an effective children’s programme at All Souls.
– Supervise the Ministry Trainees linked to the children’s ministry.
– Ensure due diligence with recruitment of leaders, in line with safeguarding, such as updating database records, and passing on information to process DBS checks, etc.
– Plan regular training sessions for children’s leaders.
– Meet current leaders regularly to check on progress and discuss specific issues.
– Appoint group leaders to oversee the running of the children’s groups.
– Develop relationships with other children’s workers and be informed of resources and training available for yourself and the team.

Supporting parents
– Communicate with parents on a weekly basis about the programme and upcoming events.
– Involvement with the planning of regular families lunches, which include parenting training, and organise the children’s activities for these lunches.
– Spend time with children and parents before and after services, and during Sunday afternoons as necessary to support, encourage and equip through personal contacts.
– Support and encourage parents by suggesting resources for their own discipleship of their children.

Broader ministry responsibilities
– As a member of the staff team, to undertake or demonstrate the following:
– Help the church to grow into a genuinely international community, which reaches out to the multicultural society and is ‘All For Jesus’.
– Committed to pray regularly for the work of All Souls, including other members of the staff team.
– Regular attendance at prayer gatherings, and staff meetings and events.
– Playing an active part on the church leadership team. This will include other duties as may be required from time to time by the Rector.

Personal and professional development
– To participate in the annual appraisal of one’s personal role and ministry in the organisation in line with the Thrive programme used at All Souls.
– To participate in personal and professional development opportunities as agreed during your appraisal.
– To participate in wider team development as recommended by your line manager and/or rector.

We are looking for someone who is:

– A committed conservative evangelical Christian in full sympathy with the aims and values of the ministry of All Souls Church, having a supreme regard for Scripture.
– A hard worker with a servant heart seeking to live a life of Christian integrity.
– A creative visionary with initiative and the ability to develop new ideas to implementation.
– Experience with and the ability to relate to children and their families.
– Both a good team player willing to seek advice and able to lead by envisioning a team of volunteers and have the management skills necessary to direct a team of leaders.
– Able to teach and train others and formulate principles for working partnerships from a strong basis of biblical understanding.
– Able to communicate effectively both orally and in written communication and has excellent interpersonal and IT skills.
– A strong Biblical understanding, preferably supported by a period of theological study with demonstrable ability to teach children in individual and group settings.
– Demonstrable experience of administrative and management skills required to run a ministry.
– Preferably have an understanding of child faith development stages.
– Confident in an up-front role and in relating to leaders in wider networks.