Job Description

Job Title: Outreach Cook

Salary: £13.80-£14.50 per hr depending on experience

Hours: 16-21 per week

Location: St Philip’s Centre & St John’s Church Centre, Nelson

Responsible to: Rev Lorelli Hilliard, Vicar, Great Marsden St John the Evangelist with Nelson St Philip

Responsible for: Head up our two kitchens, facilitating life skills to promote wellbeing

1. Background

St Philip’s Centre is run by the parish of Great Marsden although other churches support us and we are keen to increase this. It is a former church now a centre for outreach to those on the margins. It is situated in an area of high deprivation. We seek to show God’s unconditional love to people through hospitality and help and we pray that this leads to hope as they find greater wholeness, purpose and meaning. We are open to people of all faiths and none but are distinctively Christian in our ethos and offer opportunity to explore Christian faith. We run Lighthouse on a Monday evening which is a meal for 30-40 people followed by a short service. On Tuesdays there is a Community Café warm space alongside our foodbank. We have support from various agencies including the Homeless Pastors, Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and Inspire (cgl) who rent half of our building. We run a 12-step recovery course at intervals and are looking to set up a mental health wellbeing group. We reach out to those with life controlling issues, those in poverty, those having poor mental health and people suffering homelessness. We have money to set up two homeless sleeping pods and a food pantry. St Philip’s Centre will likely become a CIO during 2026. St John’s is our worship centre and eating together there is also an important part of our church family life and outreach.

2. Purpose of the role

The post holder will help fulfil our aims of hospitality, outreach and community building at St Philip’s Centre and also a little at St John’s Church Centre. They will help community to form around sharing food and learning new skills. They will be passionate about everyday cooking and healthy eating. They will be a committed Christian eager to share the good news of Jesus alongside our team. We hope that they can help us build sustainability through a social enterprise.

3. Overview of the main aims

The role will be to manage our two kitchens, cook, manage the volunteers, lead community initiatives such as a ‘healthy cooking on a budget club’ and with the team be involved in helping people improve their wellbeing. This could involve setting up and managing a CAP Life Skills course in conjunction with the local CAP centre. We hope that along the way a social enterprise will naturally be possible to develop that will both provide opportunity for people to improve their cooking skills but also provide a not-for-profit income to support our work. This could be at one or both centres.

The vision of St Philip’s Centre is to be a place of Hospitality, Help and Hope with Jesus at the centre. This role will fulfil those aims as follows:

Hospitality

We aim to be a welcoming space where all feel valued, respected and cared for. Where we can foster a sense of community. At the heart of this is the kitchen. This role will be to head up and enhance our food provision for our various activities. We would like to expand our offering and incorporate a two-course meal in our community café.

Help

In bringing God’s love to people we seek to meet them at their point of need. The role will include teaching basic cooking skills on a budget, combined with equipping attendees to make healthy food choices. Working together with the team the role holder will help facilitate learning around wellbeing which could include setting up a CAP Life Skills course. Developing a social enterprise will help our volunteers to grow further skills in catering and business development.

Hope

Hope sees people helped to aspire to change the things that hold them back and reach their full potential. We want to see wellbeing facilitated through learning, playing, working and social connection. We want to see lives transformed. We believe that the source of true hope is Jesus and we want to make that visible and gently accessible whilst being open to all.

The vision of St John’s Church Centre is Following Jesus Together as Family. Gathering around food is very important for building community and drawing in new members in a relaxed setting. We used to provide a community meal on a Thursday that raised considerable income for church. We would like to explore whether we can offer something more to our local community. We have members from many nations and would love to celebrate that in sharing food together too.

Main responsibilities

a) Management of the kitchens at St Philip’s and St John’s and the volunteers working in them. Oversight of other groups using our kitchens.

b) Management of stock in liaison with our Operations Coordinator.

c) Heading up the cooking teams to provide food for our various activities. Currently these are on Monday evenings and Tuesday lunchtime at St Philip’s. However, we expect these to increase.

d) Run healthy “cooking on a budget” courses and with the team help with other life skills learning which could include becoming manager of our CAP Life Skills course. The latter would involve a recruitment and training process with CAP.

e) Work within the church leadership team to consider ideas and opportunities around sustaining the work through generating income.

f) Be part of the staff team sharing the love of God in word and deed, through kindness, listening and a non-judgemental attitude.

Hours need to have some flexibility by mutual arrangement and may change over time. Generally, we will only occasionally require working on weekends or evenings other than Mondays.

Key relationships

• Vicar and Director of St Philip’s Centre

• Board of Trustees of St Philip’s Centre (once we are a CIO)

Associate Mission Priest

Church Army Lay Evangelist

Operations Coordinator

• St Philip’s Caretaker

Church Administrator

CAP team

• PCC

• Volunteers

• Local organisations and churches offering help to those on the margins

• Diocese of Blackburn lay pioneer network

• MPower

Person Specification

				Criteria Assessed by:
Criteria	Essential	Desirable	App	Int	Ref
Experience, knowledge and skills
Experience of catering for groups	X X		X		X
Have gained at least Level 2 in Food Hygiene				X
Catering qualification			X	X
Experience of management of a commercial kitchen			X	X	X
Teaching qualification			X	X
Experience of teaching skills to others		X		x	X
Experience of managing budgets		X		x	x x
A clear understanding of social action Working knowledge and commitment to safeguarding		X X		X	x
and promoting the safety and welfare of vulnerable people. Must adhere to the Parish Safeguarding Policy.					X
Has strong interpersonal communication skills and is a patient and empathic listener.		X
Experience of managing volunteers.		X		X	x	X
Has the skills to lead and enthuse others		X			X
Experience of undertaking and applying effective risk assessments for a variety of activities		X			X
A good organiser able to creatively manage menus and stock and organise self and others in a timely fashion		X			X

Personal qualities
Passion for outreach to the unchurched and those who find themselves on the margins					X	X
Warm and relational, empathic, compassionate and non- judgmental	X			X
Committed to community development, empowering others and values diversity and inclusion.	X			X
Displays a personal and attractive faith in Jesus Christ, able to speak naturally and appropriately about their own faith and able to engage others in faith	X			X	X
conversations. Able to motivate self and others and to manage use of time	X			X	X
Able to initiate and develop quality projects and adapt to changing priorities and circumstances	X			X
The confidence to work on own initiative, but also able to recognise when to ask for help and advice	X				X
Commitment to engage in professional development	X			X
Is wiling to participate in relevant training, including that provided by the Diocese of Blackburn and specifically to	X			X
attend all required safeguarding training A good understanding of safeguarding and a	X		X	X
commitment to following CoE procedures

Training and support

In addition to local support the post holder will become part of a growing network of urban pioneers within the Diocese and receive regular training and support.

Christian Ethos: Given the nature and context of the work, it is an occupational requirement that the post holder should be a communicant member of the Church of England or a full member of a church within Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, or the Evangelical Alliance, in order to fulfil the main purpose of the post. This post is therefore exempt under Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010.

Outline of Terms and Conditions

Employer: Great Marsden St John the Evangelist with Nelson St Philip PCC (to be transferred under TUPE to St Philip’s Centre CIO)

Contract type: Permanent

Salary: £13.80-£14.50 per hour

Hours: This is a part-time role based on a 16-21-hour working week, but the post holder may be required to work additional hours as to meet the reasonable requirements of the role. The post holder will be entitled to time off in lieu for attending meetings outside normal office hours which may include evenings and weekends.

Location: The post holder will be based at St Philip’s Centre, Leeds Road, Nelson, BB9 9XB.

Pension: a work place pension is available to opt in to. At least 4% to be contributed by the post holder. 4% from the employer.

Annual leave: 25 days per annum plus statutory bank holidays

Probationary period: 3 months

Notice Period: 1 month

Expenses: All reasonable expenses of office will be reimbursed under the discretion of the PCC.

Right to work: The post-holder must have the right to reside and work in the UK.

DBS: This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check

Diversity - The Diocese of Blackburn believes that diversity enables us to thrive and develop and is committed to race equality, welcoming applications from UK Minority Ethnic/ Global Majority Heritage backgrounds

The Diocese of Blackburn is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All post holders and volunteers are expected to share this commitment.

Preparation of Job Description

Author of Job Description	Lorelli Hilliard
Date signed off	21 July 2026	Version 1.2

THE BISHOP OF BLACKBURN'S FUND FOR THE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF POOR CLERGY

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