Pip and Jim’s Church Ilfracombe

Pip and Jim’s Church has a long history of being involved in work with children and young people in Ilfracombe, with times when we have had a booming youth work and outreach to young people in the town. We have a small youth group of around 12 (11-18 year olds), with a slightly larger kids group and now want to expand this ministry at Pip and Jim’s - both in terms of discipleship and mission. We feel that it is the right time for us to provide a training placement, working with the vicar and children and youth teams. Pip and Jim’s is a founding member of ICE Ilfracombe, the ecumenical Christian youth work in the town, and our vicar is a trustee. The trainee would spend some time each week working with ICE Ilfracombe’s projects with Ilfracombe Academy: with the ICE Ilfracombe youth worker and also our vicar who is the Prayer and CU Chaplain; and at Delta the school drop in cafe. We expect to relaunch the church’s own youth club outreach at some point in the near future and are developing a Youth Room in our Community Centre to that effect.

Pip and Jim’s is in the Church of England. Our vicar is Revd Mark Ruoff and our associate vicar is Revd Tandy Ruoff. We are the largest and fast growing church in the Combe to Combe Benefice of three churches in Ilfracombe, Combe Martin and Berrynarbor, with an average Sunday attendance of 60 adults and 20 under 16s. Nearly all of the trainee’s work will take place in Ilfracombe and will be within walking distance of Pip and Jim’s Church and the Community Centre as well as the host family. Occasionally the trainee might be invited to participate in something with one of the partner parishes in the Benefice as part of a special request and in agreement with the Pip and Jim’s line manager.

Our vision as a church is to see revival in our town and area of North Devon. We believe that God wants to reveal the love of Jesus Christ to every person and we have a particular heart and vision to reach and work with the ‘rising generation’ of children and young people in our community. As a church we have a 3-fold purpose; Worshipping God, Making Disciples and Extending the Kingdom in which everyone is involved. We want to help kids and young people learn to worship and know the One who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we want to help them to grow as disciples and make disciples themselves, sharing the Good News with one person at a time and we want them to have a vision for the Kingdom – learning to serve and be influencers for the King in their generation!

Our vision for the trainee is that while they are with us in Ilfracombe, they will increasingly grow into their God-given potential, as they serve in this placement, as they explore their unique calling and as they develop in their amazing giftings. We are a community of people who have served the Lord locally and across the globe, with different mission agencies and ministries across all generations and in various communities and believe we can offer the trainee much in the way of encouragement in their journey with us.

Ilfracombe is a seaside town on Devon’s stunning north coast, and Pip and Jim’s Church sits right on the seafront and harbour area in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. During the summer months Ilfracombe is busy with tourists who come for the scenery, walking the coast path, surfing, sailing and other coastal sports. Some of the best surfing beaches in the country - Woolacombe, Croyde and Saunton Sands - are nearby!

However, Ilfracombe is also the most deprived community in Devon, and in the top 10% nationally (Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019). Pip and Jim’s is currently planning the £600,000 West Wall Revive Project for 2025. Our project goal is to ‘breathe new life’ into our historic West wall. We are not looking to just preserve; we want to transform the space into a vibrant café area so we can support our community more effectively in this needy area.

We are growing as a church week by week and have a expanding group of between 30-40 children and youth in the church, plus dozens more in a wider fringe who we engage with, through various ministries from our Toddler Group to schools work. We see this role is primarily aimed at working amongst the secondary school age, however there is an expectation that the trainee will serve across the spectrum of children and youth and enable the transition of young people from our kids to our youth work and also enable some of our older teens to begin to prepare to go on to further and higher education.