Sanctuary & Racial Justice Officer
£30,940 pa plus excellent benefits
Canterbury
Are you passionate about shaping churches to become more welcoming and accessible to newcomers, strengthening local expressions of sanctuary and helping to embed racial justice principles into ministry and practice?
We’re looking for a Sanctuary & Racial Justice Officer to build inclusive communities by helping parishes across Kent become more welcoming, accessible and culturally aware for refugees, asylum seekers and newcomers.
Reporting to the Strategic Lead for Sanctuary & Racial Justice, you’ll coordinate existing Welcome Hubs in Canterbury and help launch new hubs in Folkestone, Ashford and Dover. Working with churches, volunteers, councils and community partners, you’ll strengthen local sanctuary, deliver racial justice training and develop practical tools that embed justice into everyday ministry.
This is an exciting, hands-on, people-centric role with so much variety - part community development, part volunteer leadership, as well as a mixture of training and partnership working.
We’re looking for someone with experience of supporting vulnerable people and working with volunteers, a good understanding of racial justice in practice and strong organisational and communication skills. You’ll be confident working across communities, able to manage multiple priorities and be motivated by seeing people and parishes flourish.
You’ll need to be a practising Christian, have the right to work in the UK, have a full, clean driving licence and the ability to travel across Kent and comfortable working flexibly, including occasional evenings and weekends.
The Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance employs this role on behalf of the Social Justice Network (SJN), a UK-based charity that works to promote social justice, inclusion and support for vulnerable communities. One of SJN’s key initiatives is the Sanctuary & Racial Justice Programme, which works with local authorities, charities and community groups to support and integrate refugee families into their communities.
The Social Justice Network aims to bring people together. Issues such as low income, debt, lack of skills, poor mental health, forced displacement and isolation are closely interlinked, trapping individuals and communities in cycles of poverty. Our vision is for all churches, in every community, to work together to tackle these issues through action, prayer and giving.
Our Sanctuary & Racial Justice Programmes help individuals and families rebuild their lives after forced displacement. Services include Welcome Hubs, Arts and Wellbeing activities, ESOL classes, employment support and casework. We focus on fostering long-term, meaningful connections with local church communities to restore stability, dignity and belonging.
It is a genuine occupational requirement that the post-holder is a practising Christian, committed to the faith. This is essential to support and encourage parishes in living out their faith through social action and to engage authentically with the Diocese’s vision and principles in the Sanctuary & Racial Justice Programme.
All appointments are subject to acceptable pre-appointment checks inclusive of Right to Work in the United Kingdom, References and relevant background checks applicable to the role.
Benefits
Fixed term contract for three years
- 35-hour week
- 11% employer pensions contribution
- Generous life insurance.
- 24 days annual leave + Christmas closure and Bank Holidays
- Birthday Leave
- 1 Wellbeing day per annum.
- 21 hours of volunteering leave
- Central Canterbury location
Closing date: 6 March 2026
Interviews 16 March 2026
Notes
**IMPORTANT INFORMATION, HOW TO APPLY - PLEASE READ**
How to apply:
1) The full role profile including details of responsibilities, salary and person specification which will help you inform your application can be found in the documents below.
2) In the documents below you will find our application form which you need to download and complete in MS Word before you start to apply online. You will need to upload this when applying for the role.
*You must complete our application form, CV's alone will not be accepted*.
3) It is important that you do not begin any part of the the online application process until you are ready to submit your completed application form as per point two above.
Regrettably, any submissions without a completed application form will be rejected.
If you have any problems with the online recruitment process, please do not hesitate to email recruitment@diocant.org or call 01227 459401 asking for People Services.