Job Description for Worship Pastor of St Andrew’s, Burgess Hill

Responsible to: Vicar

Overall purpose: to enable the worshipping congregations and wider parish of St Andrew’s to enjoy God, particularly and specifically through music ministry.

Location: the post holder must live sufficiently near to Burgess Hill to be able to access the church on working days, as and when necessary.

Payment: £9,000 per annum.

Working hours:20 hours per week, including services

Key Responsibilities:

  1. To own, hold and contribute to the development of the vision for music ministry at St Andrew’s, primarily with the vicar, and to this end to participate in continuing professional development.
  1. To lead regular musical worship in formal and informal styles and settings:
  1. To lead musical worship at the regular 9am Sunday formal liturgical Holy Communion services, and arranging for others to be involved in this as necessary;
  2. To lead musical worship at the regular 10.30am Sunday informal Morning Worship and Holy Communion services, and arranging for others to be involved in this as necessary;
  3. To lead musical worship at the regular 6.30pm Sunday informal services (currently once per month), and arranging for others to be involved in this as necessary;
  4. To lead musical worship at festival services (i.e. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Ascension Day and other services as required), and arranging for others to be involved in this as necessary.
  5. To keep abreast of new developments in leading musical worship and to develop the repertoire of songs and hymns sung by the congregation.
  1. To lead and develop the team of musicians who help lead musical worship:
  1. To grow team members’ understanding of worship leading and developing their skills in the practice of leading worship;
  2. To develop youth participation in worship and leading worship;
  3. To enable team members to grow in their musicianship as appropriate;
  4. To write parts (or arrange for the writing of parts) for members of the music team to play, as necessary.
  5. To timetable and lead practices as necessary;
  6. To assemble and train occasional choirs as necessary (e.g. for Nine Lessons and Carols);
  7. To encourage people to join the team where appropriate.
  1. Contributing tothe maintenance and development of the sound system to ensure the highest quality of sound in worship services:
  1. Ensuring that sound equipment is working efficiently for services of worship;
  2. Liaising with the site coordinator, and others as appropriate, on necessary maintenance and development of the sound system.
  1. Leading worship at pastoral offices (e.g. marriage and funeralservices) conducted at St Andrew’s church, arranging for others to be involved in this as necessary.
  1. To maximize the use of the organ both as a resource for worship and a community resource
  1. To play the organ in services, as appropriate
  2. To develop the use of the organ within the music ministry of the church
  3. To explore and develop opportunities for use of the organ within the community and wider mission of the church
  1. To take responsibility for the administration of the music ministry and report as appropriate:
  1. To organize the rotas for music ministry;
  2. To keeping records of all music used and liaise with parish administrator on CCLI returns;
  3. To work with the parish administrator and others as appropriate on all matters pertaining to the efficient organization of the music ministry;
  4. To write reports as required (e.g. for APCM) and bring issues to the attention of the vicar as necessary;
  5. To take responsibility for the music budget liaising with the treasurer as necessary;
  6. Attendance at staff team meetings, as required.

There is a genuine occupational requirement that the postholder is a Christian.

This post holder will work within the parish and therefore the successful applicant will be required to satisfactorily complete the disclosure and barring service process, and will be required to comply with the safeguarding policies and procedures of St Andrew’s Church, Burgess Hill.

Person Profile:

In order to fulfil this role, St Andrew’s Burgess Hill will be looking for someone who is/has:

Faith

  1. A committed Christian demonstrating evidence of a growing personal faith in Jesus Christ
  2. A good knowledge of the scriptures and commitment to their authority
  3. An openness to the whole work of the Holy Spirit as laid out in the scriptures, including a mature charismatic spirituality
  4. A clear vocation to music ministry

Skills, abilities and experience

  1. A humble worshipful spirituality that enables others to enjoy God
  2. A professional level of musicianship
  3. Excellent keyboard skills
  4. An accomplished organist
  5. A strong singing voice
  6. Ability to lead groups or teams
  7. Ability to provide pastoralcare of individuals and groups
  8. A gentle teacher who has the ability to train others with varying degrees of musical ability
  9. Requisite technological skills to maintain and develop a sound system
  10. Good administrative skills

Personal qualities

An open,humble, prayerful, worshipful, calm and efficient person with personal integrity, resilience and confidence who empowers others, and leads with gentleness and grace.

For details of how to apply for this post or to arrange a conversation to find out more about it, please e-mail the parish administrator Ginny Nicholls at

For further details of St Andrew’s Church, please see the website