Rural proofing mission shaped church
The report A Mission Shaped Church is inspiring and is enabling the emergence of that mixed economy of church life where fresh expressions of church are encouraged alongside inherited church.
The report demonstrates how, in 21st century Britain, community is increasingly described in terms of hubs, networks and flows rather than traditional neighbourhoods. How far is this description helpful and how far should it determine and shape the mission of the rural church?
I believe that in rural proofing the concepts of Mission Shaped Church rural practitioners will want to lay more stress on the traditional importance of place and neighbourhood. Whilst both are under threat in rural Britain they remain significant to indigenous rural communities and are important factors in influencing people to relocate to the countryside. Of course rural people live within flows and networks that sweep them into a myriad of significant relationships beyond their village. Within the village itself there can be a number of flows and networks merging and weaving together or running alongside each other. But a proper sense of place and of village community remain vital factors contributing to the well- being of rural people.
Where a sense of place and neighbourhood is lost then different people and groups can face social exclusion, and disadvantage remains unrecognised. Rural poverty is notoriously difficult to measure because it is not clustered but dispersed and often hidden. The isolation of those who suffer rural poverty means that they are unable to enjoy the flows and networks that characterise the lives of their affluent neighbours and therefore they are swept to one
side and marginalized. A church that does not recognise this will be a church that fails the poor.
So how can we promote and sustain an effective Christian presence in villages? I offer five pointers:
By encouraging a sense of place. The engagement of "incomers" with their new community is often shallow. The Church can help people to deepen their engagement. Traditionally the rural church has been at the heart of the celebration of "place".
Celebrations of Harvest Festival, Rogation, etc. have been significant in nurturing a sense of place and of belonging. However, we now need to re-contextualise our celebrations to the realities of contemporary rural life.
By remembering who and whose we are. A church that remembers to whom it belongs will always be a church that engages in God's mission of self- giving love. It will model a community of true mutuality where people have the opportunity to be enriched by each other. The church works in partnership with other agencies but should always be ready to challenge the tendency to professionalise community action – a process that may undermine social capital.
By living out its faith in authentic discipleship. The church gathers thankfully around the Lord's table and around the
scriptures. Here, in communities that are ideally open to everyone, its members celebrate the gospel story, interpret their experience, and join in prayer. They laugh and cry together and sometimes argue and disagree. In all this they learn the art of forgiveness and demonstrate the reality of the gospel of reconciliation in a divided world.
By creating visionary structures that enable the development of a mixed economy of Christian presence. The time honoured parish system will, in rural areas, be abandoned at our peril but it has to be re- shaped ecumenically. The primary focus for mission strategy has to move away from the
independence of the local church to larger ecumenical groupings. Only in such larger units of mission can fresh expressions be developed and sustained alongside inherited patterns of church.
By developing appropriate patterns of leadership. Inherited patterns of parish ministry are increasingly unsustainable yet the role of the ordained ministry remains vital. The ordained minister will increasingly be one who enables local ministry by teaching, envisioning and empowering the local Christian communities in their care, enabling lay people to fulfil their role as Christians in the world.
Rev David Emison Chair, Cumbria Methodist District
Editor of Presence
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www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk
rural church life
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