St Mary’s, Goudhurst Director of Music & Worship

Leader

Information & Application Pack

Our Church CommunitySt Mary’s is a thriving and active church in the village of Goudhurst, in West Kent, with a population of 2500. We are committed to deepening our trust in God and to discovering how he is at work amongst us. We long to share the good news of Jesus with our neighbours, to build God’s kingdom in this area and to see the church continue to grow.

Our congregation is mixed in age and background, averaging 100 adults and 50 children each Sunday. Some have lived in the village for many years, some have moved here more recently and others live in local towns and villages. Some value a traditional style of service, others enjoy contemporary worship. In all of this, we have a unity which we value deeply.

We are rooted in the local community and have excellent links with a wide range of village organisations. We are very involved with the local Primary School, including through music.

St Mary’s and Christ Church, Kilndown are a united benefice. Kilndown is significantly smaller than Goudhurst, with a population of 800. The parishes work closely together, but have their own PCC’s.

Our visionOur vision for the church is to grow in depth of faith and numbers, across all age groups.

Music is essential to the mission of the church; to worship God and to make Him known. It is important to the teaching ministry of the church and to the growth of our vibrant prayer life and spirituality. We will invest in the musical life of the church to see this area of our ministry flourish.

We want our music to be a source of unity within the church community, so that we can all, singing with one voice praise the Lord, in a wide range of musical styles.

God deserves the best that we have, and we want our worship to be of the highest quality. God loves to see all our gifts used to his glory, and we are therefore willing to take risks to enable maximum involvement from a wide range of people.

“To grow in depth of

faith and in numbers, across all

age groups”

Who we are looking forAt this key moment in the life of our Church, we want to appoint a person or two people who will enable our worship to flourish.

We are open to appointing either one person with all the skills we are looking for, or two people who can lead different styles of worship - most obviously an organist and a worship leader more comfortable with contemporary music.

Throughout this pack, wherever we refer to a single applicant, please bear this in mind, and do not hesitate to contact Rev Hugh Nelson to talk about the possibilities. The Person Specification applies in full to all applicants.

Whether one or two people are appointed, they will be a servant hearted and committed Christian with a passion for worshipping God through music. He or she will be open to a wide range of Christian music, including traditional and contemporary hymns and choral music, and contemporary worship music. They will have excellent people skills, the ability to encourage and grow the musical gifts of others, and to inspire a wide range of people to join in the musical life of the church. A full person specification is given below.

Our choir, band and musical resourcesSt Mary’s has a choral tradition that goes back many years. Our choir, led from the organ, currently leads sung worship on three Sundays a month.The band, made up of adults, teenagers and young people, leads worship on the first Sunday and we are planning to extend this to third Sundays.

St Mary’s has a well cared for 2 manual pipe organ which is well suited to our Parish Church context. There is also a good quality baby grand piano. We have a recently installed sound system, including channels for amplified vocals and instrumentation, and a good quality AV system which includes a screen which is regularly used in worship.

“We are looking for a

servant hearted and committed

Christian with a passion for

worshipping God through

music”

Our services and worshipOur 10.45 services at St Mary’s reflect the diversity of our congregation. The current pattern is as follows, and is likely to evolve. On the first Sunday of the month the Family Service is informal and led by the band. The second Sunday is a communion service, using Common Worship, with hymns, settings and anthem. The third Sunday is a communion, but more informal in style, including a longer time for preaching and prayer, which is often interactive. The music is currently led from the organ, but we plan to move this to a more contemporary style. On the fourth Sunday of the month the service is also communion, with a larger choir

who lead the hymns and sing an anthem. Our average congregation is 100 adults and 50 children and teenagers.

There is a said communion, using BCP, every Sunday at 8:00.

At Kilndown, which has a smaller congregation of 15 to 20, there is a sung communion service at 9.15am every week. The music is led by the church organist who has been in post for many years. We plan for the choir from St Mary’s to lead the worship in Christ Church on one or more Sundays per month.

Between April and October we hold a monthly Choral Evensong in Kilndown with a choir of 10 -15.

We have a growing number of opportunities for people to come together to pray informally for the mission and ministry of the church, and for other significant occasions. We run Alpha every year, as well as other events and services aimed at those outside the church community.

At the major Christian Festivals we have a wide range of services and we celebrate these with services which attract large numbers from the local community - notably at Easter, Christmas, Harvest, Remembrance Sunday and All Souls.

We hold an average of 11 weddings per year, the majority of which include an organist, and a similar number of funerals, almost all of which include an organist.

“We want our music to be a source of unity within the church community”

The Job1. Leading the music during worship at the 10:45 morning service each Sunday; at present this is from the

organ with the choir on two Sundays per month, and in a more contemporary style with or without a band on the other two Sundays. On the first Sunday, it may also mean being involved with the music in Christ Church, Kilndown at the 9:15 communion service. We expect this pattern to continue evolving, as our needs change;

2. Rehearsing, developing and growing the choir in a way that meets the needs of the congregation;

3. Leading, rehearsing, developing and growing the band in a way that meets the needs of the congregation;

4. Under the direction of the vicar and in collaboration with the leadership team and the PCC to develop the musical expressions of worship at St Mary’s as part of the vision for the whole benefice;

5. Working flexibly with the relevant people, under the vicar’s leadership, in planning the music for Sunday services. Playing a key role in planning and leading the music at other services, including major festivals, outreach events and times of church prayer;

6. Playing the organ at weddings and funerals when possible;

7. Working with the organist and Church Wardens of Christ Church, Kilndown to grow the way that music and worship is developed across the whole benefice;

8. Working with other church members and/or external musicians to organise occasional concerts or recitals;

We are interested in hearing about other skills and gifts which you could contribute to the mission and ministry of the church, including working with children and young people.

Person SpecificationWe are very open to appointing either one or two people to share this post. Please bear in mind that all successful applicant or applicants will need to have:

1. An active and living faith and an enthusiastic commitment to leading and enabling the worshipping life of St Mary’s church;

2. A good level of musical skill on the organ (Director of Music or Organist) or piano and/or guitar (Worship Leader if a separate role);

3. A good singing voice and the ability to lead public singing and worship;

4. A knowledge of a wide range of Christian music, including, but not limited to: hymns both traditional and contemporary, traditional choral music, modern choral music and contemporary worship music;

5. An ability to work with people of all ages, to inspire them to get involved with the choir, band and other forms of music making, to develop their musical skills and to grow their confidence;

6. An openness to a wide range of Christian music, and a commitment to unity within the church community;

7. A servant heart, keen to put the needs of the congregation and visitors ahead of personal preferences when advising on choice of music;

What next?We hope that this pack has given you a sense of our vision for the Music Director and Worship Leader role or roles. We are very open to filling these posts creatively and we encourage you to contact us if you share our vision and would like to explore ways in which you might be involved in making it happen.

The core of the role will be developing and leading the music and sung worship on Sunday mornings, but we would love to hear from people who have gifts that can be used beyond Sunday mornings, either in music or in other areas of the church’s life and ministry. We are particularly interested in hearing from people with experience of working with children and teenagers.

The salary will be based on the current RSCM guidelines and will be negotiated on the basis of experience, hours worked and responsibilities carried.

To discuss the role and your application, please call the vicar, Rev Hugh Nelson on 01580 211739

To make an application please send your CV with a covering letter to beckyaddisgk@gmail.com

Closing date for applications 11 November 2015

For more information about the church, our vision, mission and activities, please see

www.gkchurch.org