Executive Director Grace London London, England, United Kingdom

Description of Job

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

INTRODUCTION

This is a significant role in the life of the church. You'll be responsible for managing the operations staff, overseeing the implementation of the key priorities of the church, and ensuring that the staff team, ministries and events of the church are functioning well. You'll work with staff and volunteer leaders across multiple areas of church life to ensure that our activities and events are well-run and that our staff and volunteer leaders are flourishing in their roles. We'd expect you to come with some leadership experience, potentially from within the church or from other contexts. It's likely that you enjoy working with people, managing projects, and are passionate about the flourishing of the local church. We'd expect the successful candidate to be committed to the mission and ministry of Grace London.

WHO WE ARE

We're a (relatively) young church based in the heart of London. We began very small, with nine adults and a few babies in 2014. Over the course of our short history, it has been thrilling to make new friends, see people's lives changed in very concrete ways, and baptise people who have made a decision to follow Jesus. We meet on a Sunday across two services (morning and evening) in central London. Looking forward, our hope is to continue the slow and deliberate work of helping new folk discover more about Jesus, and to build a family which is growing in faith and character in the heart of the metropolis. We also hope to play our part in planting churches and raising up leaders to reach the city and beyond.At the heart of the church's life there are three priorities: First, we have a passion to engage with sceptics by speaking relevantly to cultural issues and obstacles to faith. Second, we are constantly working to build a genuine community in the heart of the city, despite the contextual challenges. Third, we aim to call people to an authentic expression of discipleship by serious engagement with the Scriptures and obedience to Jesus. In other words, we are seeking to form a countercultural movement in London to live out the reality of the gospel. In terms of what we believe, it's all about Jesus. You can see our statement of faith here. We're an evangelical church, holding to a broadly reformed and charismatic theology. We're part of Advance, a global movement of churches which sits within both these traditions (

THE TEAM

The church is led by Andrew Haslam (Lead Pastor) and two other pastors (Luke Boardman and Jeremy Moses). We currently have two full-time pastors (Andrew and Jeremy), with the hope of growing the pastoral team in the near future. By September '23, we expect to have eight other staff members covering communications, digital media, worship, operations, finance, children's ministry, events, hospitality and pastoral care, alongside two ministry-focused interns. They are joined by a fantastic team of volunteer leaders, including a team of deacons, life group leaders and those who help to lead our Sunday serving teams. We are fortunate to have a strong base of committed volunteers who serve in various ministries in the church.

THE ROLE

You'll work across all aspects of church life, overseeing the core activities of the church, implementing our strategic priorities, managing staff and overseeing finance and HR. This includes:

1.CHURCH ACTIVITIES OVERSIGHT

You'll work closely with the pastors to implement our key priorities for the church. This means you'll be responsible for making sure our events, ministries and Sunday services are running well, and that we have the right staff, volunteers and processes in place. You'll also work on specific strategic projects. This includes:

•Oversight of the planning and implementation of the church calendar

•Ensuring that the right staff and volunteers are allocated and deployed to specific ministries and events

•Ensuring the right operational processes are in place across church life

•Oversight of specific key projects which represent significant change (e.g. starting a new ministry, adding a service or moving venue), including project planning, stakeholder engagement, volunteer recruitment and liaising with external parties

2.STAFF & VOLUNTEER OVERSIGHT

You will oversee the operationally-focused staff members (e.g. events, hospitality, operations, finance, communications, digital media & welcome process). Your level of involvement in each aspect of church life will vary significantly, but you'll be primarily responsible for ensuring that the team operates effectively and that each team member is working well. In addition, much of the work of the church is done by volunteers. You'll work with key staff members to ensure that volunteers are well-cared for, supported and deployed appropriately. This includes:

•Translating the overarching priorities of the church into specific responsibilities for different team members (working with the pastors)

•Ongoing line-management, direction and development of staff

•Working with specific individuals to help them work effectively in their roles

•Ensuring that all volunteer teams are flourishing (e.g. sufficient numbers of team members, sufficient resources, timely communication, effective leadership etc.)

•Ensuring there are effective processes for volunteer recruitment, induction and ongoing communication

3.HR & FINANCE OVERSIGHT

You will work closely with trustees and key staff members to ensure the right HR and finance policies (and processes) are in place and being followed across the church. You'll play a key role working between trustees, pastors and specific staff members to make sure the finances are well managed and reported appropriately. This will include:

•Working closely with the trustees and pastors to ensure that the right HR policies and processes are in place, and that all the staff are well-cared for

•Working closely with the trustees to ensure continued compliance with charity legal requirements (e.g. safeguarding, annual report etc.)

•Oversight & implementation of HR processes including contracts, staff reviews and remuneration

•Oversight of the budgeting and financial reporting inc. overseeing the annual return, finance updates and budgeting

•Working with the Operations and Finance Coordinator to ensure that the finances are appropriately managed, tracked and reported, as well as ensuring the right financial policies are in place and being followed

PERSON SPECIFICATION

We're looking for someone with a deep passion for the flourishing of the local church, who enjoys managing people (and projects), and is comfortable in a leadership role.

•Walk with God. You have a clear and vibrant walk with God, which is clear to people around you

•Passion for the church. Because of your sincere faith in Christ, you're passionate about the flourishing of the local church. You're excited about the prospect of working for the church and supporting the ministry and mission of the people of God

•Shared convictions. We seek to be a gospel-centred, reformed, charismatic, complementarian, missional church with a strong aspiration towards further church planting. It's likely that you share most of our theological convictions (they'll be plenty of time to discuss these with us).

•Godly character. You'll fit the biblical character requirements for servant leadership in the local church (e.g. 1 Tim 3.8–13). You'll have a track record of conforming your life to Christ's commands, and being a healthy example of discipleship to others

•Leadership skillset. You are comfortable leading others. You have the ability to gather others alongside you.

•People-management experience and skills. You enjoy working with people, including helping them to grow and develop their skills. You are an effective communicator, both 1-to-1 and with small groups. You are a thoughtful and caring manager. You're able to relate well to a range of different people. You want to help people reach their potential and want to use every tool in the management toolkit to help folks perform well.

•Project management experience and skills. You enjoy managing projects and have plenty of experience working with a range of stakeholders to achieve a set of outcomes. You're able to keep track of actions, and timelines, and establish easy-to-follow processes. Ultimately, you care that things are done well and can work with a team of people to accomplish that.

•Personal organisation. You're organised and efficient and able to manage a diverse set of tasks. You have an eye for detail and a desire to bring tasks to completion.

BENEFITS

•Competitive salary (to be discussed at interview)

•25 days of paid annual leave (in addition to bank holiday entitlement) per year
•8% employers' pension contribution

FURTHER DETAILS

•This is a full-time role for 40 hours per week (i.e. equivalent of 5 days per week, working 9am - 5pm). However, the role would require some flexibility, including the willingness to work Sundays and some midweek events. Naturally, attending Sundays and midweek events would be included in your working hours (when on duty), and so you would have a day off during the week

•We would also expect you to make Grace London your church, including attending a Life Group (not included in working hours)

•For the right candidate (with pastoral training and experience), the role could be combined with pastoral responsibilities to be an 'Exec Pastor'. Naturally, there would be some flexibility as to how we tailored the role according to your experience and interests.

•There is a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010 for this post to be held by a practising evangelical Christian who assents to our statement of faith

HOW TO APPLY

Send us a short application email stating why you'd like to do the role with an up-to-date CV to There is no fixed deadline for the role, but we'll respond to applications on arolling basis, so please do apply as soon as you're ready to do so. Feel free to reach out to Jeremy for an informal chat before applying.