• Are you an experienced ordained and missional leader with a proven track record of effective church planting?
• Do you have a passion to mobilise God’s people in mission through planting new worshipping communities of missional disciples, able to reach the people of our Diocese with the Good News of Jesus?

Church Planting Lead

The Diocese of Carlisle is looking for an ordained Church Planting Lead to work with a phase 1 cohort of local churches to develop church plants, new congregations and revitalisations in three contexts across Cumbria, to develop our wider readiness for and understanding of Church Planting and to work with local and national partners to develop the longer-term strategy for Church Planting.

As part of the Mission and Ministry, Support and Innovation team you will be responsible for overseeing the successful launch and delivery of the first generation of the planting programme funded by a five-year Diocesan Investment Programme award. You will be working with church plant local leaders in both rural and urban contexts to develop their plans and capacity for planting, providing leadership, monitoring and evaluation for the programme to succeed, and facilitating ongoing learning and harvesting insights to inform strategic thinking and planning for future work.

Working across a diverse region of rural and urban Cumbria this is an exciting opportunity for a missional and motivated experienced leader with a passion to serve and support Church of England churches from a variety of contexts to plant in a Diocese with an established record for pioneering and resourcing innovation in mission.

This is a part-time position of 3.5 days a week.

Ideally, we are seeking a candidate who is also interested in applying for the House for Duty post in St Mary’s, Westfield – currently advertised. Although not formally combined, we believe these two posts will provide the successful candidate with the opportunity for sustaining priestly and planting ministry alongside this part time specialist diocesan role.

Salary £35,051 plus 15% non-contributory pension or the choice to remain in the Church of England Clergy Pension Scheme.

This post is subject to an occupational requirement that the postholder be a practising Christian under Part 1 of Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010.

Closing date for Applications: 20^th May 9am 2026

Interviews: Church House, Penrith 10^th June 2026

For an informal chat about this role, please contact Rachel Head (Director of Mission, Ministry, Support and Innovation) by emailing rachel.head@carlislediocese.org.uk

Completed application forms should be returned to HumanResources@Carlislediocese.org.uk