Organist (Director of Music) St Augustine’s, Tooting, SW17

St Augustine’s, Tooting, South London is seeking to engage a self-employed organist for three months to play for their 11am Sunday Eucharist (and occasional weekday evenings). There is potential for this to develop into a longer-term freelance arrangement.

St Augustine’s worship in the Anglican Catholic tradition, with a growing joyful, generous and inclusive congregation. Our weekly worship includes either 5 hymns or 4 hymns and a sung psalm. The Eucharist is sung according to the Thorne setting, with a Caribbean Alleluia, but we would be interested in developing the number of known musical settings. We also appreciate and include opening music and a concluding voluntary, as well as some incidental music throughout the Mass to cover movement etc.

Our Eucharist is at 11am and lasts approx 75 minutes, but we are aiming to develop our pace and content and to be open to those who are new to the faith, and hope to move to a 65-70 minute Mass format. We ask our organist to arrive at least 20 minutes before the service, and they are invited, (but not expected) to remain for coffee at the end.

There will be some email liaison with required with the Vicar, assistant curate, associate priest and parish administrator to agree music each week. We enjoy our worship and fellowship together, and are seeking a musician who would enjoy being a part of our community rather than seeing participation as merely contractual.

We have a T. C Lewis organ which was built in 1875, and enlarged to a three manual in 1893. It was installed in St Augustine’s in 1996. We also maintain a regularly-tuned piano. There is currently no church choir, but the diverse congregation are enthusiastic singers, and we would be keen to develop the choral tradition of the parish. We use the Hymns Old and New hymn book, but are open to developing our repertoire and also to being creative about the use of the organ alongside other instruments. (We are open to new musical initiatives, and in 2026, hosted a summer series of musical recitals).

Ministry at St Augustine’s is offered by a team of clergy and lay ministers as we operate within a united benefice. The ability to work alongside different people is essential. We are seeking somebody with a cheerful disposition and are not requiring a musical maestro. If you enjoy leading others in music and worship, we’d love to hear from you.

Our intention would be that the post should develop to become a longer term contract, moving from Sunday morning organist to director of music, as we pray the church grows. The opportunity would particularly suit an organist or director of music who was at the beginning of their career. We are a black-majority (GMH) inclusive congregation, and are aware that those of Global Majority Heritage/United Kingdom Minority Ethnic (GMH/UKME) are currently under-represented, and we particularly encourage nominations from those that will increase this representation.

Subject to the church diary, the organist is entitled to use the organ for personal practice.

£85 per session.

Audition & interview required. Successful candidate will be required to undertake a DBS check, supply 2 x references and undergo Safeguarding training.

Closing date for application is 30 Sept 2026. Please send a CV to: [email protected] or call 07385 181103 for an informal chat.

St Augustine’s has a car park, and is about 5 minutes walk from Tooting Broadway Tube station. We are located on a number of bus routes. The church is accessible to wheelchair users, although there is one step up from the Nave to the Lady Chapel’s organ console.