Parish Administrator for the Bristol Harbourside Churches
Hours: 17 hours per week, worked across 3 or 4 days (Mon-Weds or Mon-Weds and Fri)
Place of work: Saint Stephen’s church, Bristol BS1 1EQ and Holy Trinity church, Hotwells BS8 4ST
Pay: £12,164 per annum (pro rated against a full-time (35hpw) equivalent salary of £25,043 per annum)
Purpose: We are seeking to appoint a skilled administrator to join our Parish Administrative Team in our vibrant harbourside Church of England parish in Bristol. This is a varied and busy role with no two days the same, and lots of people-facing work as you deal with visitors, church users, volunteers and clergy. Our admin team is essential to supporting and enabling the Rector and wider leadership team to flourish in their roles, and to build the capacity of our churches to develop and grow our ministry in the parish.
Following the joining of our two churches into a single parish in November 2022, our administrative functions have been held across both churches by a single admin team of two part-time administrators since 2024. Our new Parish Administrator will work with an existing Parish Administrator (who works 20 hours per week) to continue bringing these functions together to provide administrative support across the parish, with each team member taking a lead on different areas of work for both churches.
To enable our admin team to work together well and be familiar with both churches, and to maintain a good presence in both places, our administrators work across both sites. We envisage our new Parish Administrator working 17 hours across three or four sessions a week, working at the church office at Holy Trinity on Mondays, and at St Stephen’s church office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and possibly Fridays (with their Parish Administrator colleague on Tuesdays). Some lone working will be required; we have a Lone Working Policy and Risk Assessment.
Key Relationships
- Line managed by the Rector
- Working closely with their Parish Administrator colleague
- Working with key volunteers including Churchwardens, Parish Safeguarding Officer, Treasurer
- Key contact for church hirers, contractors etc
Responsibilities
Each member of the admin team will develop familiarity with all the following areas of work, but individual team members will take a lead on specific areas by agreement.
- Consolidating integrated administration across the two churches
- standardising and implementing new administrative systems and processes where necessary
- General admin and office management
- Being a first point of contact for enquiries via email, on the phone and in person, on varied and sometimes pastorally sensitive matters
- Maintaining the church diary
- Overseeing and ordering stationery supplies
- Counting and banking cash payments and collections
- Organising meetings for members of the team and taking minutes when required
- Bookings and events
- Responding to booking enquiries, managing bookings and arranging access for hirers
- Calculating fees and invoicing for hirers
- Setting up for hirers
- Occasional out of hours support of events by agreement
- Communications
- Keeping online information, social media and physical noticeboards up to date
- Producing email newsletters
- Administrative support for worship
- Managing baptism, wedding and funeral enquiries and administration
- Preparing PowerPoints and service booklets for services
- Preparing the rota for worship
- Ordering supplies for worship
- Maintaining parish registers
- Building management
- Working with Churchwardens to support care of church buildings
- Overseeing church opening during the week
- Overseeing routine cleaning and maintenance schedule
- Arranging quotes from contractors, liaising with contractors and arranging access
- Preparing faculty applications for works
- Liaising with Bristol City Council around parking permits, waste management etc
- Carrying out routine Health and Safety checks and basic maintenance tasks where appropriate
Person specification
Essential
- Excellent organisation and planning skills and the ability to support others to stay on track.
- Excellent spoken and written communication, evidenced by at least a C or 4 Grade in GCSE English, or equivalent.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work well as part of a team.
- Adaptable and self-motivated with the ability to work independently and take initiative.
- A good understanding of confidentiality and the ability to deal appropriately with sensitive issues.
- Good IT skills.
- Good level of numeracy, evidenced by at least a C or 4 Grade in GCSE Maths, or equivalent.
- Educated to A-level standard or with an equivalent experience in comparable work.
- Sympathetic to the Christian faith, and comfortable working in a church environment and representing Bristol Harbourside Churches.
Desirable
- Experience in an administrative role for a church or charity.
- Familiarity with the structures and workings of the Church of England.
- Experience in developing and implementing administrative systems and processes.
To apply
Please download the application form here or contact info@bristolharboursidechurches.org to be sent a copy.
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a confidential declaration as part of our safer recruitment process.
The closing date for applications is 9am Monday 12th January. Interviews will be held in the morning on Wednesday 21st January at Saint Stephen’s Church.
For an informal conversation about the role please contact Rev’d Kat Campion-Spall on rector@bristolharboursidechurches.org