Dean of Canterbury

Overview

For more than 1400 years, God has been worshipped at Canterbury Cathedral and, to this day, its vision is ‘To Show People Jesus’. It is Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, a daily place of prayer, worship and pilgrimage, as well as a World Heritage Site.

Canterbury Cathedral is seeking a new Dean with a deep and contagious love for God and God’s church, and who is committed to mission, evangelism and engagement. They will be an experienced leader, who can confidently and creatively lead the Cathedral forward with a sense of joyful hope for the future.

The next Dean will also have a passion for the Anglican Communion and for developing and promoting Canterbury Cathedral’s place at its heart.

Further information about the role is available on the dedicated microsite:  https://jobs.churchofengland.org/deanofcanterbury

Post Introduction

Canterbury Cathedral is first and foremost a working, living church and community, offering a warm welcome to all visitors, groups and individuals. People from across the world feel a huge connection to this place and hold Canterbury in special regard. It is a place of worship, a place to meet, a sanctuary, a haven, a celebration, a place of joy and occasionally sadness, but most of all it is alive with the people who make the Cathedral what it is today.

Canterbury Cathedral fulfils a multitude of different roles and people work or visit here for a whole host of reasons, but key to releasing its potential is a commitment to the flourishing of the whole community through collaborative leadership supported by good governance and effective management.

The mission statement of the Cathedral is ‘to show people Jesus’ inspired by the account in John’s gospel where visitors from far away coming to the temple in Jerusalem say to one of the disciples ‘We wish to see Jesus’. This is a deliberately wide and inclusive statement and it acts as a guide to our prayer life and a benchmark for our actions.

Further information about the role is available on the dedicated microsite.

Main Responsibilities

To lead the life and work of Canterbury Cathedral, and to share with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Dover and other senior colleagues in the oversight of the Diocese of Canterbury.

Opportunities of the role will include:

• To bring a revitalised, visible, unifying spiritual life and leadership, vision and purpose.
• To work to ensure that the Cathedral, its leadership, mission, evangelism and engagement are fully integrated into all aspects of Diocesan life, working in partnership in proclaiming the Gospel.
• To minister pastorally in rebuilding the Cathedral community, recognising the past, but bringing a sense of joyful hope for the future.
• To recognise and grasp the significant challenges facing the Cathedral, particularly in terms of finance and governance, but also realising the enormous potential. To build on the work started in implementing the Cathedrals Measure, striving to ensure that sound governance and accountability are in place.
• To build, expand and diversify the existing platform of relationships and partnerships, making sure that the Cathedral is a force for good in the City, Diocese, County and Communion. That it is seen as a welcoming, open and accessible place for all, for the whole body of Christ, for all faiths and none.
• To grow the Cathedral community to be younger and more diverse.
• To exemplify outstanding leadership in the Anglican Communion’s Five Marks of Mission:
  • To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
  • To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
  • To respond to human need by loving service
  • To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation
  • To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth
• To recognise and appreciate the rich heritage and fabric of the Cathedral as something that needs careful and constant stewardship to be sustainable.

The Ideal Candidate

• A gifted preacher and teacher in mission with a deep and contagious love for God and God’s church, for showing people Jesus and helping them to grow as confident missionary disciples.
• An experienced, confident leader and pastor who is emotionally intelligent, visible, communicative, unifying, empowering and encouraging. A courageous leader who is collaborative, decisive, unafraid to challenge and to be challenged. An undefended and humble disciple of Jesus, committed to personal development and eager to reach their full potential.
• An innovative, entrepreneurial and creative leader in mission with the ability to navigate and promote the spiritual with the commercial.
• Committed to growing the Cathedral community to be younger and more diverse.
• Has a heart for the Anglican choral tradition whilst also welcoming and embracing different styles of worship and ways of being Church. Can fully inhabit, and be fed by, the corporate daily rhythm of Cathedral prayer.
• Gifted in developing partnerships, someone at ease in the public square, passionate about social justice and able to break down barriers. Who understands and can maximise the Cathedral’s convening power, who loves community engagement, working with others and is able to move seamlessly between intersecting worlds and relationships.
• Understands the need for good governance and effective implementation. Strong financial and commercial awareness. Experience of leading, motivating and empowering staff teams. Someone who is strategic and looks to the long-term with the ability to instil and inspire a strong sense of momentum and purpose.
• A passion for the Anglican Communion in all its diversity and for developing and promoting Canterbury Cathedral’s place at its heart.

About Us

Canterbury Diocese is the oldest diocese in England, stretching from Maidstone to Thanet, the Isle of Sheppey to the Romney Marsh. It comprises 350 miles of coastline with historic ports and seaside resorts, alongside rural communities, market towns and commuter-belt urban developments. Affluent areas often sit alongside pockets of major deprivation, offering an exciting and challenging mission context.

Canterbury has had a strong tradition of welcoming refugees, since large numbers of Huguenots came to the city in the sixteenth century. Indeed, the Cathedral's Huguenot Chapel is still a place of regular active worship. The commitment to welcoming refugees is strong in the Diocese and led by a Refugee Officer. Canterbury is also a thriving university city whose population more than doubles during term time. This population includes international students and large numbers of students from other parts of the UK who contribute considerably to the cultural diversity of the city. The Cathedral has strong links with the universities, for example, hosting degree ceremonies regularly. There is a strong LGBTQ+ community in Canterbury (Canterbury Pride is the largest annual celebration in Kent) which the diocese supports in many ways including through the work of its recently commissioned LGBT+ chaplains. 

At the heart of all that the Diocese does is a vision of transformation for themselves and their communities: no one can encounter God and remain unchanged. In the Diocese of Canterbury, they want to increasingly become a Christian community transformed through encounter with Christ, growing and overflowing to transform and bless the families, homes and communities they serve: Changed Lives, Changing Lives.

Further information about the role is available on the dedicated microsite:  https://jobs.churchofengland.org/deanofcanterbury