Pastor

Context
GHEC is a Gospel-centred, Bible-preaching/teaching church, based in South Woodford, north-east London - with a mission of glorifying God and transforming lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Following the departure of our previous Pastor in September 2025, GHEC is prayerfully seeking the Lord's help in looking for the man He has in mind to bring to us as our next Pastor.

Job Description
This is a full-time position which requires a person who, above all, is a man of prayer who loves the Lord Jesus Christ and has a close daily walk with Him, so that he can love, serve and care for the 'flock' at GHEC - while also having an evangelistic heart. He must be a strong communicator of the Word, who possesses the 'soft skills' necessary to connect with people. He must lead with a clear vision and drive - and be able to proactively train and multiply new lay leaders. This will include preaching on a regular basis and visiting (or leading one of) the fortnightly Fellowship Groups.

While the Pastor will have general pastoral oversight of all the activities of the church, he will work alongside fellow Elders, with whom he would meet regularly for prayer and discussion - seeking to lead GHEC in unity.

The Pastor would need to get to know and understand the GHEC Members and attenders by visiting them - to build relationships of trust so that he can offer help and advice by applying the Gospel to their individual situations. He would also need to be familiar with the different ministries across the fellowship and be willing to provide help and advice as required. He should be able to lead prayer meetings and be ready to pray with individuals and small groups as required.

On his appointment, the Pastor would automatically become a Trustee of the church (or Director, when the church becomes a Charitable Incorporated Organisation ('CIO') - which is anticipated during 2026).
He would need to understand and encourage the close relationships which GHEC currently has with five other local evangelical churches involved in Passion 4 Life, as well as the FIEC and the London Gospel Partnership.

Required Skills

Essential

• Meet the Elder requirements found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Peter 5:2-3;
• have accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and have a love for Him, His Word, God's people and the lost - and be a man of prayer;
• been baptised;
• have confirmed his unreserved agreement to the FIEC Doctrinal Basis and agreement with the FIEC Ethos statements, as well as acceptance of the GHEC Rules/Church Handbook and Constitution and commitment to upholding GHEC's Safeguarding and other policies;
• have a life which would commend itself to all around him and which would not bring himself, the Gospel or the fellowship into disrepute;
• have experience of leadership responsibility in a church;
• desire to work in a plural eldership team and work collaboratively with others across the church;
• be gifted in expository preaching;
• have a desire to train others in gospel-centred teaching;
• have a desire to care for the 'flock' at GHEC, through personal visitation and other ways, as appropriate;
• have a heart to seek the lost and be active in personal evangelism.

Desirable

• Have more than five years of pastoral/ministry experience;
• be able to provide evidence that he has been a trusted and effective leader in previous employment;
• have experience of church growth;
• be a member of the FIEC Pastors' Network;
• have some formal theological education;
• have experience of working in a secular environment;
• be able to submit links to sermons previously delivered.

Interested?

The deadline for applications will be 31st December 2026, but we will consider applications as they come in. If you are interested in finding out more and would like to request a job-pack, please e-mail Peter Parson (Elder) at [email protected], attaching a covering letter and CV.