Mission and Ministry
The Rural Life and Faith (RLF) project – running from 2009-2012 – has the twofold purpose of: mapping the provision of resources and training for rural churches, and gaps in such provision; and the development of a significant number of outputs that help to meet many of the key needs identified during the mapping process. The key purpose is to improve the training and resources available to rural churches. The results of the project research are freely available to all who are interested (see below).
The research has thrown up many significant areas that many rural church practitioners – both lay and ordained – identify as important for the ongoing health of rural churches and their mission. These include concerns about developing effective multi-church ministry, envisioning lay people, lack of important and helpful information, the ineffectiveness or even absence of much rural evangelism, lack of suitable examples to adapt across wide areas of rural mission or ministry, and dearth of appropriate training in rural ministry both pre- and post-ordination.
Resources already generated from the project include: (all updated online regularly)
“Where to Turn for Help”. This is a national directory of agencies, organisations, bodies and contacts that provide information or assistance in spheres related to the pastoral or community dimension of rural Christian ministry. Both online and downloadable, users can include local or regional contact details.
“Signposts for Rural Mission and Ministry”. This describes and evaluates a wide range of resources, materials & training that are already proving their worth to rural church practitioners, though many may not be widely known. Both rural-specific and more generic material are included.
“Library of Rural Good Practice”. This is a collection of case studies or examples of good practice across a wide range of rural church scenarios. Some focus on resources, others on training. They inform, encourage and promote the pursuit of similar opportunities elsewhere, or the wider use of those highlighted here.
“How Best to Use ...”. This includes detailed reflections, case studies, worked examples, resource material and training guidelines for the better use of certain key rural resources (e.g. Country Way, Making Connections). All this material will also be made available on CD-ROM.
Resources and other elements currently under development include:
* A package to envision, train and resource rural lay people in local congregations for evangelism and community mission.
* A central online information & guidance 'hub' for anything to do with rural church buildings - e.g. maintenance, funding, adaptation, community use
* An online peer-to-peer network for rural church practitioners to share examples, resources, and questions & answers directly with each other.
* Development of a general curriculum and programme for the sub-regional delivery of introductory rural ministry training.
* Simple materials training lay people to design & lead appropriate rural worship, alongside tools for auditing & assessing local worship and a suite of basic resources to assist in developing contextual local worship.
* A suite of simple resources assisting discipleship and faith development with specific rural content.
* A simple tool for small, rural churches - especially those that are isolated or those in groups serving multiple communities - to audit & prpfile their communities and congregations as guidance for appropriate community-based mission.
The Arthur Rank Centre (ARC) is committed to delivering such improved training and resources, in ways that are free at point of use and as accessible as possible for all those within rural churches. This means that many of the outputs will, in the first instance, be available through the ARC website. It also means that we are investigating delivery for those for whom use of the internet is a problem.
The Arthur Rank Centre would like to acknowledge financial support for the Rural Life & Faith project from the following charities:
- Allchurches Trust
- Henry Smith Charity
- St Peters Saltley Trust
- Maurice & Hilda Laing Charitable Trust
"Surveying the experience of contemporary practitioners and churchgoers”
You can read the Full Report by clicking here or downoad it by clicking here
You can download or read the Executive Summary by clicking here
You can read the Key Findings by clicking here
You can read the Press Release about the report here
This is the second of the two major reports from the Rural Life & Faith project. (The first, "Barriers to Adult Learning and Training in Rural Churches", can be found here.) Neither report stands on its own, but serves as the foundation for the development of further resources and training designed to address most of the key findings and recommendations. Find more detail on these further developments by clicking here.
This is the first of the two major reports from the Rural Life & Faith project. Based on both a comprehensive literature review and field research, it examines the major hurdles that exist for lay people in rural churches as regards their learning & developing in discipleship. Elements related to adult learning generally, the rural context and the church specifically are considered, and a number of key conclusions are drawn that will help the church more broadly help rural lay people become more engaged in ongoing learning & training.
A recent paper in the journal Rural Theology discusses in more detail some elements considered in this report. See Peter Neil "Approaches to Education in Rural Churches" Rural Theology Issue 8.2 (2011) p. 115-130.
To read the full report online click here
