Church seeks Angel Gabriel for full-time role

Have you ever read the job description for a church role and thought they want the Angel Gabriel? Further reading might reveal that at a push, and only if times are hard, they may accept Michael or one of the other heavenly host.

In the advert, the Church itself appears a bastion of truth and justice, full of saints and involved in all manner of community work. It will often be described as child-friendly and full of the vigour of spirit-led youthfulness. It is the hub (no pun) of the community, rather than a humble servant. Whether intentional or not many Church (Parish) profiles are aspirational documents.

Depending on your denomination and role, being ‘employed’ by or for a church is mired in more dark arts than Professor Snape’s diary and more acronyms than a Civil Service handbook. Most churches profess to welcome growth until there is an influx of ‘unchurched’ and changes need to be made.

Of course, as has been said, ‘details will always be missed out’!

Angel Gabriel seeks Church

How accurate is our own CV? It’s one thing to elaborate our transferable skills, but another to elaborate on transferable realities. Filing down the edges of our square shape to ‘fit’ can be equally damaging.

Church organisation seeks Sir Angel Gabriel

Many Christian organisations can be guilty of asking for the moon on a stick when seeking staff too. It is not unknown for current staff to read a job description for a post recently vacated by their ‘friend’ and think, well that describes them and their role to a T - NOT!

Those in ministry seek community

Given the heartache and suffering that can result from serious mismatches, it’s clear that ‘mis-selling’ our churches (or ourselves) is not a trivial issue.

If you are in ministry and considering a move there is a useful collection of Hub wisdom on this topic.

Log in or join the Hub and find others who understand life in ministry.

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