Who believes?
Newchurch in Pendle nestles on the west side of the Pennines in East Lancashire. It is renowned among walkers for Pendle Hill, a gritstone capped landmark. It also attracts visitors intrigued by the Lancashire witch trials of the early seventeenth century. The village is part of a benefice, with the villages of Barley and Roughlee, a number of hamlets and outlying farms.
I arrived as vicar in 2001, the year of the National Census. For the first time the census asked a question about religious affiliation. The statistics caused some excitement in Christian churches because 71.8% of the population of the UK described themselves as Christians. There has been criticism of the question as flawed, but for whatever reason, the overwhelming majority of British people have clung to their Christian heritage. The figure for Newchurch in Pendle was even higher – 82.1%, but it doesn’t translate into church attendance.
The disparity has led me to ask some questions about the mission of the rural church. Why is there not a closer correlation between how people identify their faith and their participation in worship? Could it be that parishioners hang on to Christian beliefs, but see the institutional church as irrelevant? Is it the case, as a University of Lancaster research project in Kendal argued, that people are turning more to new age spirituality than organised religion?
And should we adapt our mission to meet people where they are, and become a listening, sharing and serving church? I wanted more than anecdotal evidence, which is where the Centre for Studies in Rural Ministry (CSRM) came in.
CSRM has been instrumental in helping me devise a project to survey the beliefs and attitudes of a rural population. The research will, I hope, throw light not just on patterns of attendance and reasons for non-attendance, but also on what people believe. It is a major and exciting undertaking, one I could not have done on my own.
Being part of the course gives me the guidance of the staff who focus questions and raise issues which take the work forward. The
residential seminars happen three times a year in the peace of St Deiniol’s Library. It’s a busy couple of days as course members present papers for discussion. It’s an opportunity for us to contribute to each other’s work with our critique. It’s not all work – mealtimes and a drink in the pub enable me to get to know people, clergy and lay members of the church, from other parts of the country, and to engage with the work they are doing in rural ministry. I always come away affirmed not just in my own work, but in what God’s Spirit is doing around the country.
John Hallows
Barrowford & Newchurch in Pendle
See back cover for further details or e-mail
jeremy.m@onetel.net
SUSTAINABLE COUNTRYSIDE – THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY
A Conference for all engaged in Christian ministry, mission and care for rural communities and countryside
The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire 12 - 14 MARCH 2008
Keynote speakers:
Sir Donald Curry • Rev Prof Timothy Gorringe Rt Revd Alan Smith, Bishop of Shrewsbury
Cost £175
For more information contact 024 7685 3060 or email
conference@churchesruralgroup.org.uk
www.churchesruralgroup.org.uk/conferences
www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk
15
belonging and believing
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