Churches relations officer, Overseas links liaison

Christian Aid is owned by 41 sponsoring Christian denominations. You will work alongside other Christian Aid colleagues to pioneer a new service to support one of these denominations with its overseas links. Churches’ links to poor communities around the world provide a golden opportunity for their members to get involved in the movement to end poverty. The new service will utilise Christian Aid’s experience and expertise in development to assist churches in making these links as effective and equitable as they can be. As you pilot this service for the first time you will help Christian Aid demonstrate how powerful an actor the Church can be in the world and help influence a generation of Christians to find their place in the movement to end poverty.

Vital to the effectiveness of the post holder will be their ability to grasp the vision of this new way of working and inspire, direct and facilitate inputs from a wide range of colleagues from across Christian Aid’s organisation to make it a reality. Equally important will be the ability to build effective relationships at all levels of the partner denomination.

You will be a dynamic self-starter with experience of delivering complex projects or of working in a pressured client or account management role. You will bring excellent negotiation and influencing skills and be able to operate with confidence with senior church leaders and in a church context. Your interest and knowledge of theology and church structures will help you inspire and motivate a wide-range of stakeholders about the part they are called to play in ending poverty and injustice in our world. You will be committed to working with the full range of churches with which Christian Aid works.

Please show your suitability for this post by giving answers to the following questions: Using the guidance notes may help you formulate your answers.

Leading and managing change

Describe a time when you played a key role in supporting a successful organisational change process. How did you help convince others of the need for change and support them through the transition?

Delivering goals and objectives

Describe a project you supervised, from initiation to completion, that required you to use your negotiation and influencing skills to secure inputs from a wide range of others not directly under your authority and deliver the required results against a challenging timeline.

Building effective relationships

Give an example of a set of stakeholder relationships that you have proactively built and successfully maintained in order to further a partnership or promote the interests of an organisation or cause.

Writing for a faith audience

Describe a situation in which you used your knowledge of theology/the Church and your writing skills to inspire a Christian audience to support an idea or cause.

We value the contribution each person makes to the success of our organisation. That’s why you can expect a wide range of rewards and benefits, including a generous holiday allowance, a season ticket loan, and flexibility that will ensure you enjoy a good work/life balance.

As this post is UK based, non-EC nationals will require current and valid permission to work in the UK.

Download the role profile (28 KB pdf)

To apply for this post, please download an application pack and email your completed UK & Ireland application form to: recruitment@christian-aid.org (quoting the reference number). Alternatively, your completed application form can be printed out and posted to us at:

Christian Aid
35 Lower Marsh
Waterloo
London SE1 7RT

Please note that CVs will not be accepted.

Job reference: 249/MA

Closing date: 12 noon, Monday 27 February 2012

Interview date: Tuesday 6 March 2012

Christian Aid values diversity and aspires to reflect this in our workforce. We welcome applications from people from all sections of the community, irrespective of race, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief.