Head of Vocations & Discernment

The Head of Vocations and Discernment is charged with leading the renewal of ministerial vocations across the Church of England to ensure the church has the lay and ordained leaders we need to fulfil our vocation to proclaim afresh the Gospel in every generation. 

Sitting within the Archbishops’ Council’s Ministry Development Team (MDT), the post holder will lead a combined team of 15 people working together and in partnership with the 42 Church of England dioceses to grow the pipeline of lay and ordained ministers.  A key part of this will be ensuring the smooth operation and ongoing development of the Shared Discernment Process and Candidates Panels for ordained ministry.

Leadership

• Lead the renewal of ministerial vocations across the Church of England at a national level to ensure the church has the lay and ordained leaders we need to fulfil our vocation to proclaim afresh the Gospel in every generation including this one.

• Lead the development and operational excellence of the Shared Discernment and Candidates Panel processes, ensuring that the processes meet the evolving needs of the whole church.  This will include personally leading panels on occasion and ensuring that high-quality training for people involved in discernment continues to develop and evolve over time.

• Ensure that strong foundations of Christian prayer and discipleship are developed and maintained as key foundations for the renewal and discernment of ministerial vocations in the church.

• Build trust and confidence with key stakeholders, especially Bishops and diocesan officers working in vocations and discernment.

• Lead the national Vocations & Discernment team, developing and shaping the team as necessary, with a clear focus on delivering the renewal of ministerial vocations that the church needs.

• Ensure good safeguarding practice is embedded into the work of renewing ministerial vocations and discernment across the Church of England.

• Play an active role in the wider work of the Ministry Development Team, especially as a member of the Ministry Leadership Team.

• Represent the Church at a national level on matters of vocations and discernment within the Church of England, with ecumenical colleagues and with wider society.

Management

• Line manage the national Vocations and Discernment Team directly or indirectly as appropriate.

• Manage the Vocations and Discernment budgets with a clear focus on supporting the key objective of renewing ministerial vocations across the church.

Governance

• Synthesise complex information into clear reports, proposals and recommendations for senior governance bodies
• Work in collaboration with the Lead Bishops for Vocations and Discernment and the relevant advisory group(s)
• Ensure that the advisory group(s) actively support the renewal of ministerial vocations, including by ensuring it has the membership it needs and by facilitating regular productive meetings of the group(s).
• Support the work of the Ministry Development Board (who oversee the work of the Ministry Development Team) plus the Archbishops’ Council and College/House of Bishops as necessary.

Essential

Skills & Abilities:

• A passionate and convincing advocate of Christian ministerial vocation and prayerful discernment with a capacity to personally prayerfully discern.
• An accomplished inherently collaborative leader who can offer strategic, creative and entrepreneurial leadership which draws on data analysis and is rooted in Christian prayer. 
• A proven ability to work fluently across the breadth of Church of England traditions.
• A strong networker who can inspire confidence from a wide range of stakeholders across the church.
• A track record of successfully initiating and implementing change.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to adapt to a wide range of audiences including formal reports for senior leaders.
• Strong administrative skills, including good familiarity with Microsoft 365/Office and CoPilot.
• An ability to hold a portfolio of high profile work and to progress it at pace, prioritising and delegating well, and adapting and adjusting in response to feedback and experience. 

Knowledge/Experience

• A strong fruitful track record of creative nurturing and discerning of ministerial vocations in the Church of England.
• A working knowledge of the Shared Discernment Process
• A proven commitment to serving the breadth of the church and enabling a diverse range of people to pursue their vocations.
• Substantial experience of ministry in the Church of England (lay or ordained).
• An established manager with line management and budget management experience.
• A strong understanding of safeguarding within the Church of England (further training will be provided).

Personal Attributes 

• High levels of emotional maturity and self-awareness. Sophisticated handling of conflict and difference. 
• Resilience in complex relational environments. 
• This post is subject to a genuine occupational requirement (GoR) that the post holder be a committed, communicant member of the Church of England under Part 1, Schedule 9 of The Equality Act (2010), as the post holder will lead on renewing ministerial vocations in the Church of England, including personal engagement in discernment processes, through prayer and appeals to theological and spiritual understandings of the Church and God’s way of calling people to lay and ordained ministry.
• Further the post-holder will be engaged in consulting and giving advice to dioceses on vocations based on those same understandings and in the context of prayer, preaching and spiritual/theological advice. 
• In light of the GoR above, the post holder will need to have a disciplined pattern of prayer and personal discipleship to sustain them in their ministry and to enable that ministry to be fruitful in the life of the church. 
• This role will involve regular travel (including some which require the post holder to be away from home overnight) in England and occasional weekend work.