ROLE DESCRIPTION AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR A PRIEST-MISSIONER IN A NEW URBAN VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT, LONDON
A friend was applying for job as a Priest-Missioner in a new development area in east London. He asked what I thought, and this diagram was my response. On close reading of the job description it became clear that the headline title given to the post was nowhere near describing the day to day requirements of the role. The successful candidate was to report directly to the Bishop and his staff, with a long term expectation to brief deaneries on the church planting experience. He/she had to liase with close ecumencial partners who had a stake in the development and somehow minister to the church - which did not exist - and the people in the area. All this had to be done without a either a church building or permanent living accommodation. The church facility had not been built, and ‘the manse’ was to be one of over 40 appartments forming part of the church development. Keeping an eye on the building of the new church was also in the job description, including liasing with the local authority, developers and funders. So the key skill required for the newly appointed Priest-Missioner was what? In my view it was not theology, or pastoral skills, but administration.
Leighton Carr ©
And success in getting the job would boil down to level of confidence in the room - in the panel as well as in the candidate - at the time of the interview.
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