LOOKING FOR AN EXPERIENCED PASTOR

Overview

We are looking for a pastor with a unique profile to join the team here at Grace London. The church was planted in September 2014, by a small group of young adults. In the ten years since then, we have grown fairly constantly and moved through many phases of maturity. Today, the church is full of life and vibrancy, meeting across three congregations in central London, and gathering predominantly 20s and 30s from a wide array of backgrounds and nationalities. In addition to our Sunday services, we have around thirty midweek home groups (called Life Groups). We seek to engage in evangelism to secular Londoners through our Salt Live events and the Salt Course, and we experience an ongoing and ready opportunity to help those with no faith as well as those who are rediscovering faith in Jesus.

Our hope is to continue this work of establishing a healthy disciple-making church, and we harbour a desire to send out church planters in the years to come by offering pastoral residencies and training.

We put a strong emphasis on clear preaching and teaching as a way of shaping young Londoners, helping them to hear the uncompromising call of Christ, and give themselves to him in unconditional surrender. Outside our Sunday services, we have sought to build a rich and deep community – no easy task given our context – and to provide more opportunities for discipleship, primarily through our Life Groups, but also through our Foundations Course. We aspire to keep pursuing other ways of grounding people in the gospel and raising up leaders for the mission of God.

Therefore, in view of the present encouraging state of the church, and its future potential, the need to grow the staff pastoral team is quite pressing. We need to establish pastoral teams over each of the three congregations, made up of a mixture of staff and volunteer elders, with each team led by a staff pastor. To that end, we are taking proactive steps to grow the eldership team with able volunteers. But at the same time, there is a recognition that we need to look outside the church in order to find what we need: an experienced pastor with a great fit who can help strengthen the work here in very significant ways, with a particular gifting in pastoral care and disciple-making.

Who are we looking for?

We have in mind quite a specific profile. Ideally, we would like to find someone with ample experience and gifting in pastoral ministry. We would anticipate that this pastor will take primary responsibility for one of our three congregations, but at the same time – due to experience and seniority – he will take an interest in building health across the entire church, with a focus on pastoral care and the structures of church community.

He must have a deep passion for healthy church life and pastoral ministry, both through personal discipleship and pastoral counsel, but also in leading towards structures of pastoral care throughout the church. He must understand and believe in the usefulness of midweek home groups, and care deeply about raising up and overseeing the right leaders, and helping people connect with these groups. In addition, he must see the importance of releasing different gifts and volunteer leaders in church life so as to multiply the church’s effectiveness in all kinds of ways.

This pastor needs to be highly relational, possessing strong gifts in building relationships across the church, and with an ability to establish trust quickly. He should be known as a wise and thoughtful, theologically informed and godly person. A special focus on relationships with volunteer leaders is key, given that much of the care for the church takes place through these leaders. He needs to be someone who is sought out for pastoral counsel, with rich experience in helping people through different life situations.

A love for the city of London is absolutely essential. Equally, there must be a love for working with young people (20s and 30s) given that this is the majority age group in the church. Therefore, even though this pastor is likely to be older than the average person at Grace, he will be keen to get involved in the lives of younger people, and see the wonderful potential of working in a church like ours.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of this search is finding close alignment in theological and ministry convictions. We are reformed and charismatic. We are credo-baptist. We are complementarian, and seek to hold this position with delight despite the general tide in the wider church scene that is moving in the opposite direction. We belong to a church planting movement that emphasises the importance of the different gifts named in Ephesians 4, but equally avoids the use of titles.

Given that this role involves coming alongside the current eldership & pastoral team, and especially our senior pastor, this person must be adept at working in a team. Fundamentally, this pastor must be a true people-person, but also well-organised, hard-working, motivated, with a deep sense of responsibility for the church and the mission of God.

What next?

If you think this is you, then we would love to hear from you soon. There is no definite timeline for this process, though we would love to have someone in place by next summer, 2025.

Please write an email to us at pastorsearch@grace.london explaining why you think you’re suitable for this role, including some idea of your experience, your church background, your theological convictions and influences, your gift mix, your interest in city ministry, and your life stage and circumstances. Please also explain what has drawn you to an interest in Grace London.

Given the very specific fit we’re looking for, there is some possibility that we will not be able to interview every applicant. At the same time, please be assured that if we feel there is some merit in continuing the conversation then we will be in touch. You are most welcome to visit one of our Sunday services if you would like to find out more about us.