Churches and Networks Consultant
Please Note: The application deadline for this post has now passed.
Post Introduction
WE ARE LOOKING FOR A CHURCHES AND NETWORKS CONSULTANT
About the Department/Role
The Vision and Strategy team supports the whole Church in its engagement with the Church of England’s Vision and Strategy for the 2020s which has three strategic priorities: to be a church of missionary disciples, to be younger and more diverse, and to develop a mixed ecology – being church in varied forms and settings. The team is also the lead owner of the strategy within the NCIs, and therefore responsible for ensuring that the work of other teams within the NCIs is aligned to the strategy and helps ensure its delivery across the Church. The Vision and Strategy team consults on and manages the distribution of one of the largest grant-making programmes in the country, with over £100m of Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment (SMMI) disbursed annually and helps the delivery of projects funded by previous grants.
The Churches and Networks Support Team leads on work to inspire, encourage and enable local churches to see the national vision come to fruition. The team works with a range of parachurch March 2024 organisations and networks to help take forward the priorities of Vision and Strategy. This includes supporting the development of funding proposals. Undergirding all this work is a commitment to the following approach: P.R.A.Y. The Churches and Networks team prays for all its work and encourages others to do so both nationally and in individual churches. Then it seeks to help churches and networks:
P - prioritise the work of the vision and strategy
R - resource that work
A - adapt as necessary to make space for growth of all kinds
Y - you - remind everyone that this is the work of the whole church and challenge each person to play their part.
The Church and Network team consults on and manages the distribution of significant national funding of 11.9 million through People and Partnership Funding over three years.
The team champions the three strategic priorities of the strategy to enable us to be a church for everyone: missionary disciples, younger and more diverse, and mixed ecology and the six bold outcomes that arise from the strategy.
The Churches and Networks Support Team leads on work to inspire, encourage and enable local churches to see the national vision come to fruition. The team works with a range of parachurch March 2024 organisations and networks to help take forward the priorities of Vision and Strategy. This includes supporting the development of funding proposals. Undergirding all this work is a commitment to the following approach: P.R.A.Y. The Churches and Networks team prays for all its work and encourages others to do so both nationally and in individual churches. Then it seeks to help churches and networks:
P - prioritise the work of the vision and strategy
R - resource that work
A - adapt as necessary to make space for growth of all kinds
Y - you - remind everyone that this is the work of the whole church and challenge each person to play their part.
The Church and Network team consults on and manages the distribution of significant national funding of 11.9 million through People and Partnership Funding over three years.
The team champions the three strategic priorities of the strategy to enable us to be a church for everyone: missionary disciples, younger and more diverse, and mixed ecology and the six bold outcomes that arise from the strategy.
What you'll be doing
The primary purpose of this role is to develop and manage strategic partnerships that address critical gaps and enable the Church’s Vision and Strategy to become a reality alongside this contributing to development of the mixed ecology across the church.
Main Duties and Responsibilities:
- Identifying opportunities for impactful partnerships by assessing gaps, trends, and potential areas of growth
- Working with external networks, agencies, and organisations to explore innovative approaches and to scale impactful initiatives aligned with bold outcomes.
- Supporting partners to co-create proposals that include clear objectives, milestones, and budgets, ensuring alignment with the Vision and Strategy criteria.
- Overseeing and managing the implementation of partnerships, monitoring delivery milestones and outcomes, and facilitating timely adaptations to plans as needed.
- Developing evaluation frameworks with the Funding and Learning Team to monitor and measure the effectiveness of partnerships and identify learning opportunities.
- Building partner capacity to sustain initiatives beyond the funding period, facilitating workshops and providing ongoing support to strengthen governance and delivery capabilities.
- Producing case studies and reports that capture learning, highlight successful practices, and contribute to shared knowledge with the Church and external networks.
- Representing the Vision and Strategy Team in external forums, communicating the Vision and Strategy with passion and clarity, motivating teams and individuals, fostering collaboration, and sharing progress and insights on partnerships and the role of parishes in starting new worshipping communities.
- Contributing to the strategic alignment of partnership activities March 2024
- Mixed ecology as the norm – Working with and catalysing those involved in this area to ensure a coherent and co-operative approach. This will also include enabling collaboration and sharing learning from across the church. Enabling ways to inspire scaling and innovation in achieving the Church’s Vision and Strategy of parishes revitalised for mission and 10,000 new worshipping communities.
About You
The Church of England is for everyone and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country. Therefore, while of course we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minoritised Ethnicities (UKME)/Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and other under-represented groups. As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to recruiting disabled people. We offer interviews to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the role.
Essential Knowledge/Experience
- Proven track record in developing and managing strategic partnerships or large-scale programmes.
- Experience working within the Church, charities, or mission-focused organisations. Strong understanding of the Church of England’s Vision & Strategy and its organisational structure.
- Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation frameworks and applying learning to drive continuous improvement.
- Knowledge and understanding of the structure of the Church of England and the role of the Parish.
Skills & Abilities:
- Excellent relationship-building skills and the ability to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders.
- Strong project management capabilities, including planning, budgeting, and delivery oversight.
- Good communication skills, with the ability to present complex ideas clearly and effectively to varied audiences.
- Adaptability, resilience, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage complexity and ambiguity.
Work Related Personal Qualities
- Self-motivated, proactive and committed to achieving results.
- Collaborative and collegiate in approach.
- Flexible to meet the demands
- Operate with discretion and integrity.
- An understanding and empathy with the structure and culture of the Church of England.
Desirable
- Professional qualification/experience relevant to the role.
- Influencing and negotiating skills.
- Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to establish positive working relationships with senior stakeholders and to represent the Directors to external partners.
- Experience in youth engagement or community development
Please refer to the Job Description for more information about the role and person specification.
What we offer
Your Salary
- A salary of £59,248 per annum, plus age-related pension contributions between 8-15% of salary. We will also match any pension contributions you make up to an additional 3% of your salary.
Your Benefits
- 25 days annual leave (increasing to 30 days within 5 years) plus eight bank holidays and three additional days (pro-rated if working part-time).
- We welcome all flexible working arrangement requests. This is looked at in a case-by-case scenario and if this fits within the department’s needs. We try to be as flexible as we can in your work pattern to support you with other commitments, and to give a good work-life balance.
- We offer many services and initiatives under our Family Friendly Programme, some of these include enhanced Maternity Leave initiative, Adoption Leave, Paternity Leave, & Shared Parental Leave. Structured induction programme and access to a range of development opportunities including apprenticeships.
- Automatic enrolment and access to Medicash (one of the UK’s leading health cash plan providers), providing you with many services including reimbursements of routine dental treatment, optical, specialist consultations, and therapy treatments. Unlimited access to virtual GP & Private prescription service and health & Stress related helplines.
- Access to Occupational Health, and an Employee Assistance Programme
- Access to the Department of Education Restaurant and Westminster Abbey with a plus-one guest.
- Apply for eligibility for an Eyecare voucher.
- Opportunity to join the Civil Service Sports & Social Club, and get involved in a range of staff networks, groups and societies.
ABOUT NATIONAL CHURCH INSTITUTIONS
The National Church Institutions comprises a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.
We Include. You Belong.
Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.
Living out our values in all that we do, we:
- Strive for Excellence
- Show Compassion
- Respect others
- Collaborate
- Act with Integrity
We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward. The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you.
Please note: You must have the right to work in the UK to be considered for the role.
