Reflections on our
Next Vicar

We would be glad to have a man or woman as our priest who, from a secure and deep Christian faith, will give clear and confident leadership in mission within the Parish, whilst retaining and demonstrating a genuine love for all those to whom they minister.

We need our new vicar to be able to see the ‘big picture’, think strategically, and to discern and prayerfully develop a clear and collaborative vision for St. Andrew’s, which particularly explores fresh and effective ways of engaging in outreach and mission that are true to our identity. Ideally, we are looking for a priest who is prepared to consider a long-term and sustained commitment to St Andrew’s, who will journey with us and be open to where God might be calling us in this next season.

We hope for a priest within our tradition who is community minded and people-focused, and who is able to demonstrate a track record of empowering people to exercise their own gifts and talents within the church. Within our diverse church membership we have many different gifts to be drawn out and encouraged. In our work in the community and in our mission, there is much to be nurtured and much to be discovered. We are looking for a priest for whom discipleship, and identifying, developing and releasing those with leadership gifts, will be an exciting challenge.

Because we are so diverse, we need a priest who enjoys the quirky as well as the conventional, and who will welcome the richness of not being a monochrome gathering. We want a priest who will maintain our absolute commitment to embracing the many types of diversity that exist within our church, including LGBT+, gender, disability, ethnic and community inclusion.

We would want our new vicar to have experience of actively supporting ministry to young people, and particularly to be able to support the Youth Ministry in Communion (YMIC) initiative which has recently received significant funding to move it forward, including by playing an active part in the managing committee and in mentoring the project leader.

We seek a priest who recognises the need for a focus on creation care and who will support and encourage our response to this.