Thank you for your interest in the Diocese of Bristol, its churches and schools. If you’re looking for a new challenge and are seeking new opportunities, you’ve come to the right place.
Explore our vacancies by selecting the different categories in the menu to the left, click on the buttons below or scroll down for the links.
Click here for Clergy vacancies Click here for Curacy vacancies
Click here for Parish vacancies Click here for Diocesan Support Services vacancies
Parish and Other Vacancies
Please follow these links for local parish vacancies and other vacancies not included in the list below.
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The Diocese of Bristol is the Church of England across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Wiltshire and Swindon.
The Diocese covers a diverse and contrasting range of contexts and brings together over 200 churches, 70 church schools, a range of chaplaincies and networks of faith seeking to be a church for and serving all people in all places. Around 18,000 people worship regularly in our churches and 18,000 children and young people are educated in a church school.
All vacancies are listed below. Please follow the links for Job Packs and application forms.
The Diocese of Bristol is committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. If you are successful in obtaining a post with the Diocese of Bristol it may require an Enhanced DBS check. This will be clearly stated in the Job Pack and will be paid for by the DBF. Any information received from the DBS will be treated in the strictest confidence.
We wish you well in your job search and look forward to receiving your application.
Meet just some of our amazing colleagues and read their stories:-
The Rev L
ee Barnes - Lee joined us in October as the Adviser for Curacy and Adviser for Fresh Expressions of Church. He has responsibility for overseeing curacies which involves the training and support of people being prepared for ordained ministry (curates) and those who develop their formation in a local church context (training incumbents). Lee’s other role is in encouraging new and different ways of engaging people with the Christian faith by forming new Christian communities (transforming church) that provide a place for those who are not interested in more formal and traditional approaches to church. Lee is passionate about seeing others grow in whatever God has called them to (transforming lives) and loves seeing new ideas come to life which make a difference both in the lives of others and in transforming communities – whether in small or big ways. This passion comes from Lee’s experience in being involved in leading churches and pioneering new spaces and places for people to engage with faith and spirituality – from rural to city contexts – a background working with marginalised communities, including ex-offenders and those without a place to call home.
Lee has really enjoyed being part of the team and has loved the energy and commitment that people are bringing to their different roles with a shared passion to make a positive difference across the diocese. Together. Lee has found people have gone out of their way to make him feel welcomed and have been gracious as he works out how everything works (and he is still learning!)
Alongside these roles, Lee enjoys being the Co-Chair of the Church at Glastonbury Festival which is where many of his interests come together in one place. Lee is also a Spoken Word Poet and can be found in times of rest in the housing cooperative that he started with friends this year, gathering people from different walks of life together or watching any Nordic Noir or listening to 90s punk.
Jillian Downing
Jillian joined us in June 2024 as Racial Justice Officer after leaving her previous job as Diversity and Inclusion Business Partner for a Financial Services firm in London. Jillian is responsible for bringing the Diocese’s new Racial Justice Strategy to life, which aims to support, educate and transform our parishes so that they reflect and foster equitable, understanding and inclusive spaces where all – especially those from marginalised communities – are welcome, seen, heard and respected. From designing trainings and educational conferences to engaging with communities through contested heritage research and cultural awareness events, Jillian enjoys the variety and impact Racial Justice work has to offer.
“As an African-American, it’s a privilege really to be on this side of the pond to engage with this work from a UK lens, and more specifically, from the lens of the Church. On a personal level, I got into this work because I’m passionate about uplifting others; I saw my grandfather, a devout Baptist, do this for his community as one of the first African American dentists in Columbus, Ohio back in the 1950’s, and it’s a legacy I want to build onto.”
While Jillian has worked in the Racial Justice and Diversity and Inclusion field for the last few years, previously she had an exciting and fulfilling career in Public Relations and Communications in New York City where she met her now husband. Jillian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and a Masters of Science in Occupational Psychology.
In her spare time, Jillian loves doting on her fuzzy child, a small tabby cat named Siobhan, exploring her new hometown of Bristol, reading, and Facetiming her friends and family back in the US.
Tara Nelson – Tara joined us on Halloween, thankfully from nowhere scarier than the rural county of Herefordshire. Tara’s role spans Individual Giving – raising funds from small gifts from individuals for
projects within the TC.T strategy, and supporting parishes with the same, to Supporter Care – seeing to it that all who donate to the work of the Diocese of Bristol and its church communities are thanked, and that the Diocese’s data is clean, organised and secure.
Tara enjoys her work with the Diocese enormously. The buzz and variety, getting both to support parishes and practise her profession is what makes the role click for her – “every day, we support the work of hundreds of tiny charities, each with incredible histories of good work and stewardship … meanwhile, the ambitions of the Diocese at large, and the TC.T strategy, makes every day exciting, inspiring and highly unpredictable.”
Before joining us, Tara’s work had ranged from a food bank to a Verger in a Cathedral, taking detours through tech startups and a brief stint as a film composer.
In her spare time, Tara makes avante-garde webcomics about guinea pig-owning assassins in space.
Clergy and Diocesan Support Services Vacancies
Transforming Church.Together Strategy Diocese of Bristol Employee Terms and Conditions
