Worship Leader (part-time) Church Profile, Job Description and Person Specification
Thank you for your interest in the post of Worship Leader with us at St Thomas with St Stephen. We are looking for a commi;ed evangelical Chris>an who is passionate and experienced in leading worship, leading teams and releasing and developing others in their own worship and worship leading. We are a church that loves to worship and place a high value on corporate worship. We have many giaed musicians, singers and worship leaders and many more who are keen to get involved. There is a growing desire amongst our musicians, singers and congrega>on to develop and deepen our worship and also to try new things. This is a new post at an exci>ng >me in the life of the church. Our Sunday services are currently undergoing some significant changes. The Worship Leader will be able to take a significant leadership role in developing this area of our church s life by developing our worship in the new joint morning service, in the growing evening service and amongst our children and young people. I have been vicar of St Thomas with St Stephen since June 2014 and am excited by what God is doing here. If you d like to chat informally about the post please do not hesitate to contact me through the church office, 020 8675 5086. Revd Mar>n Gordon CHURCH PROFILE Our vision is to build the local church and transform the local community through worshipping God, growing in faith and reaching out to those outside the church. The parish serves Clapham Park, Streatham and Balham, with around 5,000 houses and a popula>on of 14,000. We are in an urban area of southwest London where there is a significant contrast of affluence and depriva>on. We are one parish with two church buildings, 8 minutes walk apart. St Stephen s was built in 1974 to replace the old Victorian church and is a singlestorey combined church and community centre. St Thomas is a large Victorian church that is currently undergoing redevelopment. Once completed in July 2015, there will be an upper and lower hall, a chapel, a kitchen, a community garden and new audiovisual equipment. This will provide more facili>es for the local community and more space for children and youth work.
Our worship services In all of our services we place a high value on prac>cal Biblical preaching, par>cipa>on of all ages and joyful worship. Currently we have a more tradi>onal Sunday morning 9.30am service at St Thomas with organ or piano and a more contemporary 11am service at St Stephen s with a band. We have around 100 adults and 40 children and young people at these services drawn from across the parish and a few from further afield. From September we will have one main Sunday morning service at 10.30am at St Thomas. The norm will be for worship to be bandled but we also have an occasional choir and a couple of organists. The band is currently pianoled with some guitars and other instrumentalists. We are also looking to introduce more childfocused worship before the children go out to Sunday School. The feel will be contemporary and accessible with contemporary songs si]ng alongside modern and tradi>onal hymns. At the moment our Sunday evening service is at St Stephen s and varies from week to week. We are developing and growing a more informal monthly service (3040 people) with an emphasis on contemporary worship, teaching, tes>mony and prayer, aimed at young adults. The worship is led by a band of 67 (usually) younger musicians, from a pool of around 15. We hold two other services specifically aimed at children: our weekly Wednesday morning Prayers and Bears for preschoolers and their carers, and Tea Time Praise once a month on a Sunday aimed at primary aged children. Other accvices We have 9 home groups mee>ng for Bible study, prayer and encouragement. They are diverse in profile but tend to meet fortnightly. Over half of the church is in a home group. We run the Alpha Course and church members are involved in various other courses such as Jesus Ministry, Worship Central and the Global Leadership Summit. We have ac>ve groups involved in suppor>ng mission partners overseas and local partners closer to home such as Clapham Park Foodbank. Our staff Irfana is our children and families minister. Josie is our youth minister. Penny and Sarah are our administrators. Lizzie is our intern. Paul is our caretaker. Mike, David, Eileen and Glenn are our lay readers and Helen is in training. And we are confident of another pair of clergy hands in the near future.
WORSHIP LEADER JOB DESCRIPTION Purpose: To lead, develop, coordinate and resource our corporate worship. Main duces and responsibilices To help lead worship at our Sunday services, courses (eg Alpha, Lent), special services (Christmas, Easter, Remembrance etc), and other church mee>ngs To take a lead role in developing our morning worship as we move to one morning service To take a lead role in developing worship in our evening service To take a lead role in developing our worship with children and young people, eg in Sunday services and Tea Time Praise To recruit and mentor new and exis>ng band members and worship leaders and provide training and development opportuni>es for the worship team To choose songs for Sunday worship in consulta>on with service leaders and musicians To encourage and resource the introduc>on of new songs To oversee worship prac>ces To arrange music for different levels and abili>es, working with those who read music and those who don t To work collabora>vely with our exis>ng worship team and occasional choir To develop the rela>onship between worship and prayer ministry General To work with the vicar to develop and communicate a clear vision for the future direc>on of our musical worship To par>cipate fully in the life of the staff team, including weekly prayer mee>ngs and staff mee>ngs To report regularly to the church council on worship To manage the finance and administra>on for the ministry, including rotas, song databases, music folders and equipment To maintain up to date informa>on of worship ac>vi>es on the website To carry out other du>es as requested by the vicar WORSHIP LEADER PERSON SPECIFICATION Faith A commi;ed evangelical Chris>an open to the tradi>ons of the Church of England A personal vibrant rela>onship with Jesus and a love of God s word A disciplined life of prayer, worship and Bible reading A passion for worship, a vision to see a church grow in worship across different tradi>ons and a desire for people to encounter God in worship
Experience and knowledge Experience at leading worship at all levels, including congrega>onal level Experience at leading worship in different tradi>ons, eg contemporary, allage, with choir, tradi>onal etc. A good understanding of band dynamics, leadership and musical arrangement Proficiency in your chosen instrument(s) Ability to read music Knowledge of projec>on soaware and visual media (desirable) Experience of working with choirs, organists and contempla>ve worship (desirable) Qualifica>ons relevant to role (desirable) GiRs and abilices Ability to lead worship alone or with a band as lead instrumentalist and vocalist Ability to build, mo>vate, pastor and lead worship teams Ability to iden>fy and develop gias in individuals, offering opportuni>es, encouragement, training and feedback Ability to encourage appropriate improvisa>on in worship Possessing strong organisa>onal skills TERMS AND CONDITIONS ReporCng: The Worship Leader will report to the Vicar Hours: 18 hours per week to be worked flexibly as agreed with line manager, including Sundays and some evening work Holiday: Five weeks per annum plus Bank Holidays (pro rata). Salary: 22 24k depending on experience (pro rata 11 12k) Length of contract: ini>ally for 2 years Office: Office space is provided Training: The Worship Leader is encouraged to seek opportuni>es for ongoing training Notes There is a genuine occupa>onal requirement that the postholder is a Chris>an The post is subject to an enhanced DBS disclosure Deadline for applica>ons is 5pm on Monday 15 June 2015 Please download the applica>on form from www.stwss.org.uk/workforus then send the completed applica>on form to office@stwss.org.uk Successful applicants will hear by Friday 19 June Interviews will be held on Tuesday 30 June, from 6pm and will consist of leading worship as well as a panel interview. More informacon Parish profile, drawn up in 2013 Website: www.stwss.org.uk