Staff Elder

Job Details

• Length: Contract (Elders serve 3 year terms with renewals proposed and voted at annual church meetings. This post has an initial 3 year contract with the intention of becoming permanent.)
• Type: Full Time / Part Time
• Location: Bicester
• Salary: Salary range is £38,000-42,000 (depending on experience) plus 8% employer pension contributions and expenses. There is no accommodation with the role.
• Posted: 30 Apr 2026
• Closes: 31 Aug 2026

About [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal]

[Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] is a growing, gospel-centred church situated in one of the fastest growing towns in England. We recently celebrated our 8th birthday and are currently made up of 52 members (who have 45 children between them) with around 120 attending regularly on a Sunday afternoon. This includes around 50 under 11s attending our creche and Junior Church each week. As a church we want to be: a people who have been and are being transformed by the good news of Jesus, who seek to live for Jesus and make Jesus known to others in and around Bicester. We also hold to four key values from which all our worship and activity flows. We have four elders who operate as a plurality of pastors with one set aside and paid for 20 hours a week as a staff elder. We also employ a Children & Families Worker and Operations Manager (18 hours), and Church Administrator (8 hours). Currently meeting in a local primary school, we are actively considering how we approach growth and so, alongside thinking through premises we are committed to increasing our pastoral capacity. We are thus seeking to appoint another paid elder to serve alongside the existing team, ideally starting from Autumn-Winter 2026-7, although we are open to conversations around timing.

Required Skills

Essential

• Meets the elder requirements found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1
• Experience of leadership responsibility in a church
• Desire to work in a plural eldership team and work collaboratively with others across the church
• Gifted in expository preaching
• A desire to train others in gospel-centred teaching
• A heart to seek the lost and do evangelism

Desirable

• Over 5 years of pastoral/ministry experience
• Experience of church growth
• Member of the FIEC Pastor's Network
• Some formal theological education
• Able to plan and deliver strategic projects (desirable)

Application Instructions

If you're interested in this job please: Email Simon Poole at [contact hidden] for an initial conversation and to request a job pack.

Important: Applications can only be considered from those who are UK citizens or who otherwise have a right to work in the UK. You will need to be able to declare wholehearted acceptance of the FIEC doctrinal basis and agreement with the FIEC ethos statements.