Trainee Youth Pastor

Working for Bovey Valley Youth Project in Bovey Tracey

Project Type: Single Church

Project Area: South

Job Title: Trainee Youth Pastor

Type of Post: Trainee

Number of Hours: 40 inc training

Allowance/Salary:
Rent and board with host family + £2000 subsistence paid to student over the year
SWYM fees + expenses

Accommodation:
Host family being sought- option on house in Moretonhampstead from April 2010

Training Options Available:
Foundation Year: Yes
Trainee Youth Worker Course: Yes
Advanced Youthwork Course: No
Associate: No

Job Description:
4. Job Description
1.To complete appropriate studies through SWYM
2. To develop a discipleship programme of bible teaching, prayer and ministry at PPT & EDBC for young people in school years 7-13, working with existing volunteer leaders
3. To develop a programme of regular events, courses, services and weekends to enable young people to reach out to their peers
4. To co-ordinate and train volunteer leaders among the supporting churches
5. to seek to develop a peer support group for young adults aged 18-25s, including students returning during vacations
6. To support Jen Bulman (outreach worker) in her programme of contact and outreach to years 7-13 in the Bovey Area
7. to inform and enthuse supporting congregation to give and pray for the work

Essential Criteria:
Strong and mature faith, able to teach and pastor young people
Experience of leading small groups for young peopleand involvement with events, services etc. Proven ability to relate to and enthuse young people in their faith
Good personal skills, able to relate to adult volunteers and church leaders
Good organisational skills, able to plan events and programmes
Willingness to work across a range of Christian traditions

Preferred Criteria:
Able to drive
Able to lead and organise creative worship
Ability in music and/or sport

Draft Weekly Timetable

Project History & Affiliations:
St Peter, Paul & Thomas, Bovey Tracey (PPT) is an evangelical Anglican church of 160 members. Rev G Hamilton has been incumbent for almost 10 years and we have sustained small groups of young people. Youth Work moved forward in 2005 when PPT led Christians Together in Bovey Tracey to begin a partnership with the Teenbridge Project and employed Ruth Cawood. She made a huge impact, took young people on mission, established streetwork in Bovey and Heathfield and good contacts in schools. In 2008 the Methodist church took the initiative in appointing Jen Bulman, whose remit has been schools, streetwork in Bovey and Heathfield, co-operation with the Youth Cafe run by Bovey Youth Action ( a secular trust) and lastly support of the church youth groups. PPT and East Dartmoor Baptist ran the CY course in January 2009: this has united and energised church youth work. We are seeking to widen the existing youth project with Christians Together in Bovey to embrace the whole Bovey river valley, from heathfield to Moretonhampstead, thus incorporating the Ilsington and Moretonhampstead benefices. At present Christians Together in Bovey comprises East Dartmoor Baptist Church, Bovey Methodist Church, Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit, St Johns Bovey (C of E) and Rora House Christian Fellowship.

Structure & Vision of the Project:
At present Jen Bulman is managed by a committee comprising Methodist, Anglican and Baptist representatives. Her training comes through Methodist channels. Funding is mainly Methodist, with outside grant aid, and small sums from PPT and EDBC. We plan to develop a Trust to match the emerging Mission Community for the Bovey Valley, but at this early and critical stage, PPT is proposing to fund the new Youth Pastor post until new structures have been clarified. We do not want to duplicate the existing structure, but rather adapt it.
We hope that together we can establish youth work in Moretonhampstead, and reach into the needy areas of Heathfield and Liverton. All these communities look to South Dartmoor Community College as their secondary school, of which the Baptist minister is Chaplain.

About the location of the Project:
Bovey Tracey is a prosperous market town of 8000, on the edge of Dartmoor. It is popular for crafts and tourism. A higher than average proportion of retired people, but also families, and a large and popular County primary school. Liverton is a housing estate, mainly owner-occupier, but lacking any amenities other than a C of E primary school. Heathfield is an industrial estate and housing estate, with a much more transient population, many renting. It has a C of E primary school.
The Bovey Valley has several small villages, quite expensive properties in Ilsington, Manaton Lustleigh and North Bovey. Moretonhampstead is a small town, with county primary school and hospital, and some cheaper housing. Lustleigh and Moretonhampstead have Baptist chapels, Ilsington a Methodist Chapel.

About the youth work of the Project:
At present the full-time Bovey Tracey Youth Worker (Jen Bulman) supports two teams of volunteers doing street work in Heathfield and Bovey Tracey 2 nights a week. We have weekly use of a youth bus in partnership with the Teenbridge Project. Plans for Heathfield include a new youth centre (Portacabin). She spends time in the Youth Cafe and in local schools. Following on from the CY course in Jan 2009, there are two Christian youth groups- D team (fortnightly on Sunday evenings for 11-14yrs at PPT Church Room); about 15 members and 4 volunteer leaders, and 'Uph' (fortnightly on Monday evenings for 15-18yrs in a nearby home: about 12 members and 4 volunteer leaders. There is a need for a 18-25yrs group, and venue and 2 leaders have been identified. We are trying to create a monthly Sunday evening event for 11-18s, circulating around the churches. All this work needs a co-ordinator (youth pastor) to handle the volunteers and pull the young people together, and to develop youth leadership.

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