Anna Anderson tells us how to read the book of Jude well
Vacancy for Comms Assistant and Social Media Coordinator
Join our Comms Team
The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with eight sites located across the city of Bristol. Our vision is to see Bristol transformed through the love and power of God as we create spirit-filled, visible communities of faith in neighbourhoods across the city.
The majority of our guests and members at Central connect with us online in some way before they ever come through the door. People find out about us through the internet, our website and social media, including watching our Sunday services online. This is why our communications work is key in helping to deliver the good news of Jesus to every person in Bristol and beyond.
ABOUT THE ROLE
You will assist the Communications Lead, with a focus on building and improving our social media presence. You will help Woodlands communicate effectively to people wishing to explore faith, as well as to our existing church family about connecting into church life. You will create and publish engaging content on our channels, (primarily Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube) and help us share experiential content using innovative concepts and ideas.
You will be free to develop and execute campaigns and write compelling copy that drives engagement and growth. There will also be occasional projects where this role will design printed materials to match in with digital content as well. We have a new branding guide which will set the style and tone of your work, so our content will have a consistent look and feel.
Occupational Requirement
As a church family we want to make disciples who make disciples. We therefore seek to create a culture and environment in our churches where every team member and volunteer is able to encourage and inspire one another and the many people who pass through the doors each day, to pursue that vision.
The role is based at Woodlands Church in Clifton, Bristol. As a member of the staff team, you will be joining a faith community that meets to worship and pray together every week, and we share prayer and worship moments throughout the day. Around the building, you’ll often come across teams or individuals praying over their work and really speaking the language of faith.
Therefore, the role has an occupational requirement that the post holder be a follower of Jesus and worshipping member of Woodlands Church Family, Woodlands Central (if not already) to ensure protection of our strong Christian ethos and values, and our charitable objective of advancing the Christian faith. We also want to ensure all team members thrive and flourish in this environment.
Right to Work in the UK
We have a legal responsibility to ensure that all our employees have the legal right to live and work in the UK. Therefore, please only apply if you are eligible to work in the UK as we will have to verify this before you can start work.
How to apply
To apply for this role, download and complete the Woodlands Church Family application form:
Please send your completed application to our HR Team at hr@woodlandschurch.net.
If you would like an informal conversation to discuss questions about the role please contact the Lead Recruiter, Rachel Riddall, at rachel.riddall@woodlandschurch.net
The closing date for applications is midnight on Tuesday 29th July 2025. However, this vacancy will close once we have sufficient applications.
If shortlisted, interviews will take place on the afternoon of Monday 4th August 2025.
July Prayer Calendar
Pray each day
Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.
Navigating Life with the Psalms Series
Navigating Life with the Psalms Series
Our emotions can be mystifying. Science struggles to fully explain their origin and for Christians, they can be both life enhancing and seriously undermining! God created us to experience emotions, but wants to give us godly ways to manage them.
The Psalms—ancient Jewish poems of prayer and praise— can give voice to some of our deepest emotions. They are timeless, profoundly human, and deeply spiritual prayers that can help us process life. One aspect of the Psalms is how they can help move us along when we get stuck! They guide us on journeys from sorrow to joy, fear to faith, longing to fulfilment, despair to hope.
Over the next few weeks we will be enlisting the help of the Psalms to help us process some of our most common emotions. As we take the opportunity that summer brings to recharge our relationship with God, we want to dig into the literary and psychological genius of these three thousand year old prayers.
Our talks in this series at Woodlands Central will look at:
An Attitude of Gratitude - 6th July
Overcoming Fear - 13th July
Navigating Uncertainty - 20th July
Contending for Contentment - 27th July
Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week.
See you on Sundays or catchup on the livesteam!
MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES
Vacancy for WTC Hub Director
Thank you for your interest in this role
An exciting opportunity has arisen to lead Westminster Theological Centre’s (WTC) Bristol Hub in partnership with Woodlands Church Family. The Hub Director role involves facilitating and supporting growth of the Hub and providing an environment and foundation for students to succeed in their studies.
WTC Theology is a pioneering theological college with a vision to integrate the best of scholarship with the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit to transform, heal, and release God’s people into His purposes for them. We deliver transformational theological education within prophetic, worshipping and learning communities throughout the UK, in partnership with local churches.
This is a very varied role, which includes networking with church leaders across Bristol and the wider region to raise the profile of WTC, recruiting students, facilitating and growing the learning and worshipping community, and growing a Hub culture in which students learn and thrive in their studies. Together with an ability to build communities, the successful applicant will possess excellent interpersonal skills with strong relational and/or professional networks in the churches across this part of the UK. The ideal candidate will be entrepreneurial, a self-starter, well organised and methodical. They will be an outstanding networker, with an ability to implement a recruitment strategy leading to a healthy intake of students each academic year.
The successful applicant will see this role as part of their call to ministry, and as such it is a genuine occupational requirement for the Hub Director to be a mature Christian.
The successful candidate will be contracted to Woodlands Church.
ABOUT THE ROLE
This is a part-time, permanent post attracting an annual salary of £8,300 for 1.5 days per week. (FTE £27,700). Flexibility is required for working hours, with a requirement to work on Mondays between 4 and 10pm.
Occasional Saturday and Sunday availability is also required, as is a 48 hour stay at bi-annual Residentials and attendance in person at the third HD training day during June/July each year in Cheltenham.
How to apply
To apply, please email an up to date Curriculum Vitae together with a covering letter explaining why you feel you are suitable for this post to DHO@wtctheology.org.uk.
Closing date for applications:
5pm Wednesday 2 July
Interviews will be held on Wednesday 16 July.
The successful candidate will ideally attend the WTC Residential on 1–2 September.
Vacancies in our Youth Team
Join our Youth Ministry Team
The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with eight sites located across the city of Bristol. Our vision is to see Bristol transformed through the love and power of God as we create spirit-filled, visible communities of faith in neighbourhoods across the city.
Each congregation is distinct in their style, but we all share the same vision, mission and values to be communities which are welcoming of everyone, authentic in our faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit and expectant of all that God will do in us and through us.
Central to our plans to reach this city for Jesus are young people! In Bristol, there are 90,000 young people who don’t have regular contact with church or faith. We would love to see this change!
As we’ve grown, so too has our team, and we have several exciting opportunities for joining our youth ministry team.
ABOUT THE ROLES
Candidates should be highly motivated, enthusiastic, able to take initiative, work well in a team and be committed to see the church community grow in their faith and reach the city for Jesus.
The following positions are available at Highgrove Church in Sea Mills. Find out more about each role below:
SENIOR YOUTH MINISTER
£27k - £30k (pro rata) | Full or Part Time Role
View Role Summary & Terms
View Job Description
YOUTH MINISTER
£25k - £27k (pro rata) | Full or Part Time Role
View Role Summary & Terms
View Job Description
Occupational Requirement
These roles have an occupational requirement that the post holder be a follower of Jesus and to be a worshipping member of the Woodlands Church Family (if not already) to ensure protection of our strong Christian ethos and values, and our charitable objective of advancing the Christian faith. We also want to ensure all team members thrive and flourish in this environment.
Right to Work in the UK
We have a legal responsibility to ensure that all our employees have the legal right to live and work in the UK. Therefore, please only apply if you are eligible to work in the UK as we will have to verify this before you can start work.
How to apply
To apply for either of these roles, download and complete the Woodlands Church Family application form:
Please send your completed application to our HR Team at hr@woodlandschurch.net.
If you would like an informal conversation to discuss questions about the role, please contact the Lead Recruiter, Jack Saunders at jack.saunders@woodlandschurch.net.
The closing date for applications is midnight on Wednesday 9th July 2025. However, this vacancy will close once we have sufficient applications.
If shortlisted, the first interviews will take place online on the 14th and 15th of July 2025.
If you are taken through to the second stage in the interview process availability all day on the 20th July 2025 will be required. We will consider other interview dates for candidates not able to make the 20th July 2025.
June Prayer Calendar
Pray each day
Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.
The Holy Spirit for Everyone Series
The Holy Spirit for Everyone Series
As a church, we want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. As Pentecost Sunday approaches on the 8th June, we will be thinking about the gift of the Holy Spirit. But there’s more to it than that.
Living the Christian life is impossible without the help of the Spirit. Our character growth depends on the fruit of the Spirit. Our prayer life depends on the unction of the Spirit. Our ministry depends on the power of the Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost the promise of the Spirit was for everyone (Acts 2:39). This series looks at some of the aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit - for everyone.
Our talks in this series at Woodlands Central will look at:
Everyone’s Invited – 1st June
Good News for Everyone – 8th June (Pentecost and Global Partners Weekend)
Generosity for Everyone – 15th June
Freedom for Everyone – 22nd June
Worship for Everyone – 29th June
Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week.
See you on Sundays or catchup on the livesteam!
MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES
Final Spring Bible School session on Genesis
Here is the audio for the final Spring Bible School session on Genesis, looking at “Where is Jesus seen in Genesis”?
Spring Bible School - Genesis part 3
Here is the audio for the third session on our Spring Bible School. Here we cover Genesis ch12-50
May Prayer Calendar
Pray each day
Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.
Spring Bible School - Genesis Part 2
We continue our journey through Genesis looking at the Fall, Cain & Abel, Noah & the flood, and the Tower of Babel as we see the impact and spread of rebellion against God.
Our Culture Series
Our Culture Series
This May and June, all of our congregations across the Woodlands Church Family are sharing a preaching series called Our Culture where we’ll be looking at four values that shape our life together.
Our talks in this series will look at how we aim to be:
Welcoming
Authentic
Empowered
Expectant
As a church family spread out over eight sites, we're increasingly trying to call together the distinctives that help us understand the shared mission and journey that we're on. It's difficult to boil all of our culture and values down into simple, memorable phrases, but we're going to do our best in this series.
A particular distinctive about the Woodlands Church Family is the ‘both/and’ idea and concept that runs through so much of what we do in our theology and our practice. And you'll find it running through this sermon series as well.
We want to unpack some key things that you'll find and experience if you come into any of our celebrations, gatherings and communities around the city and region.
Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week. We hope you find the questions useful to help you look at these values in more detail.
See you on Sundays or catchup on the livesteam!
MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES
Spring Bible School - Genesis 1
Here is an introduction to the book of Genesis and a closer look at the creation narrative
Spring Bible School - starts 22nd April
Here at Woodlands we love the Bible. It is an inspiring, supernatural book, but at times hard to understand. Woodlands Bible School helps you to grapple with different books of the Bible and themes within it. This spring we are going to take four evenings to take a deep dive into the book of Genesis.
Join us from Tuesday 22nd April at 7.30pm in the Foyer at Woodlands Central. All welcome
April Prayer Calendar
Pray each day
Each month, you’re invited to pray for church and all that is happening with our monthly Prayer Calendar. You can view and download the calendar below as a PDF.
8am Talks
Here are a selection of messages shared at our 8am services, with the most recent talks appearing at the top of the list…
Reading John's Letters Well with Dave Roderick (Mar 2025)
This month Dave Roderick takes a look at the letters of 1, 2, and 3 John. You can listen to the audio from the link below
Dinner with Jesus Series
Dinner with Jesus Series
As we lead up to Easter we are looking at Jesus in the gospels through the lens of meals he shared with people. We get to see Jesus’ heart toward others and how He used meals to minister to those around Him. Meals welcome others into our lives and help others feel invited and included.
This seven week series will help us see how we can use meals, like Jesus did, to reach out and connect to those around us. In our discussion notes below, we’ve included a handful of questions for you to discuss as a group as well as a challenge to apply the teaching in a practical way each week.
Our talks in this series will look at the following topics:
16th March – Supper with Sinners
23rd March – Would you like a fish sandwich?
30th March – The Uninvited Guest
6th April – Who’s coming to the dinner party?
13th April – One Last Meal Together
20th April – Easter Sunday
27th April – Breakfast on the Beach
Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week.
See you on Sundays or catchup on the livesteam!
MESSAGES FROM THIS SERIES
Prophecy Mini-Series
Prophecy Mini-Series
As a charismatic church, from time to time we press in on teaching around our values on the work of the Spirit and the kingdom of God. Last year, we focused on healing and this March we are looking at prophecy.
We are a prophetic people and we are all encouraged to pursue the gift of prophecy. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14 - “...eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy."
This mini-series over two weeks will explore the prophetic:
What do we mean when we talk about prophecy?
How do we discern and weigh prophecy?
We hope that these talks will help us find our way forward as individuals and as a community.
Talks in this mini-series are titled:
2nd March: The water we swim in
9th March: Test everything
Watch this 90-second video with Dave Mitchell explaining the vision for the series.
Download our discussion notes to go deeper with the topics each week.
See you on Sundays or catchup on the livesteam!