news

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:

The closing date for applications is midnight Sunday 28th September 2025.

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.

If shortlisted, the first interviews will take place online during the week commencing Monday 29th September 2025.

If you are taken through to the second stage in the interview process availability all day on a Sunday 5th October 2025 will be required. We will consider other interview dates for candidates not able to make the 5th October 2025, this date will be confirmed at the first stage interviews. 

Please download and complete the Woodlands Church Family Application Form.

Please send your completed application to our HR Team at hr@woodlandschurch.net.

Vacancy for Early Years Lead

The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with eight sites located across the city of Bristol and a vision to plant more. As we’ve grown, so too has our team, and we have an exciting opportunity for someone to join our Children's team as our Early Years Lead with a focus on children aged 0-4 years at Woodlands Central. 

 As Woodlands Church Family we aim to disciple children and families to be connected, confident and equipped.

1. Connected
We aim to help children and families to connect with Jesus, with one another in friendships, in relationships with the church community and with a sense of belonging.

2.  Confident
We aim to help disciple children to be confident in their knowledge of who God is, to have a sense of their own identity in Christ and therefore confident enough to ask questions, explore faith and be curious.

3. Equipped
We aim to equip and support parents as they disciple their children with the help of the Holy Spirit. We aim to equip children with tools to help them to pray, read the bible and experience the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We want to equip them to own their own faith in Jesus, to obey Jesus and to be empowered ministers to the world around them. 


About the Role
This position is a leadership role to oversee and grow how we disciple our early years generation at Woodlands Central. This involves leading, shaping and delivering our discipleship programme for early years. This includes overseeing our Sunday and midweek ministry programmes, as well as events and outreach initiatives throughout the year.  

The discipleship strategy will be delivered through a large team of volunteers who you will need to recruit, train and support. You will be responsible for communicating vision to the volunteer teams and wider church. You will also be involved with the wider children’s ministry, with an investment in the whole ministry to all our children.    

Candidates should be highly motivated, enthusiastic, able to take initiative, work well in a team and be passionate to see children grow in their faith.  

Requirements: This role requires a commitment to be a follower of Jesus and a member of Woodlands Central.

To find out more about this role, download the following documents:


Terms
This is a permanent position contracted at a minimum of 2.5 days per week with a requirement to work on Sunday mornings. 

The salary band for this role is £26,000 - £28,000 pro rata, depending on experience. The annual holiday entitlement is 25 days pro rata plus 8 days bank holiday pro rata.

The role will be based at Woodlands Central in Clifton, Bristol.

The post is subject to satisfactory references.

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

The closing date for applications is midnight on Friday 28th March 2025. However, this vacancy will close once we have sufficient applications. 

Please contact Nigel Savage, Senior Leader at Woodlands Central at nigel.savage@woodlandschurch.net if you have any questions about the role.

If shortlisted, interviews will take place at Woodlands Church on the afternoon of Friday 4th April 2025.

For an application form please contact our HR Administrator Jenny Hanley at hr@woodlandschurch.net.

Please send your completed application to Nigel Savage at nigel.savage@woodlandschurch.net and our HR Lead Julia Shrimpton hr@woodlandschurch.net.

Vacancy for Senior Children & Families Lead

The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with six sites located across the city of Bristol and a vision to plant more. As we’ve grown, so too has our team, and we have an exciting opportunity for someone to join our team as Senior Children and Families Lead at Woodlands Central.

 As Woodlands Church Family we aim to disciple children and families to be connected, confident and equipped.

1. Connected
We aim to help children and families to connect with Jesus, with one another in friendships, in relationships with the church community and with a sense of belonging.

2.  Confident
We aim to help disciple children to be confident in their knowledge of who God is, to have a sense of their own identity in Christ and therefore confident enough to ask questions, explore faith and be curious.

3. Equipped
We aim to equip and support parents as they disciple their children with the help of the Holy Spirit. We aim to equip children with tools to help them to pray, read the bible and experience the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We want to equip them to own their own faith in Jesus, to obey Jesus and to be empowered ministers to the world around them. 


About the Role
This position is a strategic leadership role to oversee and grow the Children’s and Families ministries at Woodlands involving leading, shaping and building an expanding children's ministry for children aged 0-11.  

This includes planning ministry programmes, events and outreach initiatives throughout the year. You will lead and line manage the staffed Children’s Team and through them recruit, train and support a large team of volunteers. You will oversee the Families Ministry including daytime groups and events, equipping parents to disciple their children in the home.  

Candidates should be highly motivated, enthusiastic, able to take initiative, work well in a team and be passionate to see children grow in their faith.

Requirements: This role requires a commitment to be a follower of Jesus and a member of Woodlands Central.

To find out more about this role, download the following documents:


Terms
This is a permanent position contracted at a minimum of 3 days per week (22 hours 30 mins) with the possibility of more hours being added and the role potentially becoming a full-time position.

The salary band for this role is £29,000 - £31,000 pro rata, depending on experience. The annual holiday entitlement is 25 days pro rata plus 8 days bank holiday pro rata.

The role will be based at Woodlands Central in Clifton, Bristol.

The post is subject to satisfactory references.

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

The closing date for applications is midnight on Friday 28th March 2025. However, this vacancy will close once we have sufficient applications. 

Please contact Rachel Riddall, Senior Leader at Woodlands Central at rachel.riddall@woodlandschurch.net if you have any questions about the role.

If shortlisted, interviews will take place at Woodlands Church on the afternoon of Friday 4th April 2025.

For an application form please contact our HR Administrator Jenny Hanley at hr@woodlandschurch.net.

Please send your completed application to Rachel Riddall at rachel.riddall@woodlandschurch.net and our HR Lead Julia Shrimpton hr@woodlandschurch.net.

Volunteer Opportunity: Children's Team Administrator

The Woodlands Church Family (WCF) is a vibrant, growing family of churches with eight sites located across the city of Bristol and a vision to plant more. As we’ve grown, so too have our teams, and we have an exciting volunteering opportunity within our Children’s Church team at Woodlands Central.


JOIN THE TEAM

We are recruiting for volunteers to join our Children’s Church team to support and underpin some key administrative work for the team at Woodlands Central. We’d love to hear from you if you’re interested and Children’s team admin is something that sounds like an area you’d be interested in helping with!

Key areas of work include:

  • Volunteer rota checks for acceptances/declines and highlighting gaps where more volunteers are needed.

  • Processing all new children’s church volunteers through the recruitment process.

  • Processing new children into groups on ChurchSuite.

  • Transfer Sunday registers of attendance to ChurchSuite records.

  • Assist with setting up meeting dates and sending out invitations.

  • General administration as delegated by children’s church leaders e.g. booking a venue space in the building, sending prewritten emails to groups e.g. for one off events.

Personal attributes and key skills

  • Strong administration skills with an eye for detail

  • Good written communication skills

  • Administering confidential information in line with our Data Protection Policy

  • Team player

Our volunteer roles require a commitment to be a follower of Jesus and a worshipping member of the Woodlands Church Family.

Could you commit to around one day a week to support this ministry? Ideally it would be helpful, if you have availability during the day, to meet with the children’s minister on a Monday between 11.30am - 12.30pm to run through weekly tasks but there is flexibility as to when the rest of the hours/tasks are delivered in the week. You’d be very welcome to join us at our Children’s team meeting too.

Support in volunteering role
You’ll be given in-house training on Data Protection and the use of our ChurchSuite database if needed.

You are also welcome to join in with our wider Central team time on Monday mornings from 10am - 11am where we gather to worship, pray, share good news and have input from key members of the team.


Hannah Dunmall
Assistant Children’s Minister

INTERESTED?

Please contact our Assistant Children’s Minister Hannah at hannah.dunmall@woodlandschurch.net for an opportunity to meet and discuss the role further.


Wholeness Course Starts 25th Feb

Wholeness: Explore Identity

Explore how our lives can be established on the sure foundation of our God given identity. This is a course with stories of breakthrough, teaching, including our ‘Spiritual spring clean’ and opportunities for receiving prayer.

Our next Wholeness 1: Explore Identity course will be taking place over 6 weeks beginning the 25th February and running on Tuesday evenings from 8pm - 10pm at Woodlands. To sign up follow the link below.

To find out more about the wholeness course head to the webpage here.


Hear some Testimony’s from the Wholeness Course

Refresh Group for Mums and Little Ones

On Thursday mornings at 10am in The Crypt, we offer new mums and babies the chance to meet up, share a cuppa, refresh and pray with one another.

This group is specifically aimed at supporting the well-being of new mums and their babies.

If you have young children of different ages, check out our Tiny Treasures Toddlers group that meets on Wednesday mornings at 10am in term time.