Vicar of the Parish of St Luke the Evangelist, York

The parish of St Luke the Evangelist, is situated just outside the historic city walls close to the centre of York, playing a part in God’s mission in the Burton Stone Lane area of the city. People have been drawn to St Luke’s from many different backgrounds and places, and have found a welcoming community in which each individual is valued, differences embraced and gifts and talents shared.

St Luke’s seeks to be the body of Christ in its local setting. We understand that to mean:

• bearing witness to the love of Christ through worship, prayer and the quality of our life together
• being an inclusive community which recognises there are no outsiders to God’s love and that God welcomes and celebrates everyone just as they are
• nurturing our congregation so that we grow in faith and understanding, baptising and nurturing new disciples
• showing the love of God through involvement with and care for our local community and care for creation

St Luke’s worship style is as diverse as its people and supported by a number of experienced ordained and lay ministers. Music is an important element of worship - St Luke’s musicians and actors have played a major role in the revival and production of the wagon-based, York Cycle of Mystery Plays. Reaching out to our local community is also important to us and we run a number of activities and groups like Luke’s Larder, our Joyful Connections Community Café, OutsideIN and nurture our children and young people. We were the first church in York to gain an Eco-Church award ten years ago. Currently we have Silver status and aim to reach Gold.

As a whole community we hope our next incumbent will find a church that…

• is welcoming and prayerful
• has a rich mix of ages, social and church backgrounds and traditions
• has a strong commitment to inclusivity, the environment, and youth and children’s work
• has a love of and talent for music and drama.

We are praying that God will call a priest who:

• is a gifted and flexible leader who will work collaboratively with our active and committed lay and ordained leadership teams as we seek to engage in ‘Living Christ’s Story’
• is capable of embracing the liturgical diversity that characterises St Luke’s and demonstrates a pastoral heart for those in the congregation and the wider parish
• has a passion to see spiritual and numerical growth and can demonstrate the necessary gifts to encourage our discipleship and discern and develop the lay and ordained ministry of others
• will support our present ethos of inclusivity, environmentalism and social justice, and continue to develop this, whilst helping us to explore new areas of mission
• recognises that we have strong lay involvement, and is able to develop new talents in the existing membership as well as encouraging new members to become more involved
• has the experience, skills and enthusiasm to build up our ministry with families and children through outreach into the local schools..

The Diocese of York

The Diocese of York, led and guided by Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, takes in much of North and East Yorkshire. As the largest diocese in England, geographically, the area is very diverse, featuring a multitude of needs and opportunities. This includes the bustling urban centres of York, Hull and Middlesbrough, the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors National Park, and the incomparable Yorkshire Coast; as well as areas of deprivation in some of our urban and smaller rural and coastal communities.

Our mission and ministry relies on thousands of people - lay and ordained, volunteer and paid. Our diocesan teams provide a wide range of support services to our mission and ministry, including lifelong learning for ministry, the care of church buildings, and safeguarding. Together, we are striving to be a people who are ‘Living Christ’s Story’. We want to be a simpler, bolder, humbler church which in its diversity reflects the communities it serves. We are bringing renewed focus and fresh energy to achieving our aims:

• Becoming more like Christ
• Reaching those we currently don't
• Growing in discipleship, influence and numbers
• Transforming our finances and structures

Our approach is aligned with a commitment to the best of our parochial inheritance and to the poorest communities, and to the financial realities we face.

Under current immigration rules, it is not generally possible for us to appoint clergy who are not already eligible to work in the UK.

For more details about this post, including a Parish Profile, or to apply, please CLICK HERE

Vicar of the Parish of St Luke the Evangelist, York:

Contact:

If you would like to have an informal conversation about this post, please contact the Bishop of Selby, the Rt Revd John Thomson tel: 01757 429982, or the Archdeacon of York, Ven Sam Rushton 01904 758241 Appointment is subject to a satisfactory Enhanced DBS disclosure.