churches. Some aspects of this are not exclusively rural, but they are often reinforced by the nature of rural communities (and the churches found within them), and the tendency towards conservatism that has been identified in rural churches more broadly. One key element is the teacher or provider, often the ordained leadership, being inexperienced and generally untrained in adult learning, and being unaware of a breadth of enabling skills. The corollary is the situation of recipients who have never learnt how to learn, and are unaware of the range of possibilities available. Both are reinforced by rural church conservatism and an attachment to traditional teaching: often manifest as scepticism of participative learning methods. At its simplest, this might be addressed by introducing a broader range of resourcing and learning styles, alongside the adoption of some forms of personalised learning strategies. This, though, will almost certainly require, in addition, explicit training of both facilitators and learners in more appropriate methods.


8.4 Computer-Based Learning (CBL) and the Internet


Increased adoption of CBL and internet-accessible learning represents both opportunity and problem for rural churches. On the one hand they make resources and material easier to access and make communication easier within rural areas. On the other hand they create dependence on a service (broadband access of suitable speed) that is not available to a significant proportion of potential rural church users. There are innovative examples of such resourcing and learning available, some of which take into account limitations on broadband access (e.g. the URC’s Operation VOLE). None overcomes every potential difficulty of isolation or individualisation (e.g. Foundations 21); but they point the way to the wider provision of resources in forms accessible for rural churches, and the creation of a critical mass of learners independent of geographical proximity. This should be supported.


8.5 Empowerment and Involvement of the Laity


A final point is involvement of the laity in rural churches. The disempowerment of the laity is a major barrier to their own involvement in learning or training and to the development of their church communities more broadly. This is not just a rural church concern, but circumstances make the rural situation critical: clergy deployment in rural churches is decreasing; rural churches are working together in ever-larger groups; the laity are acquiring increasing responsibilities in the absence of clergy. Therefore leaders, facilitators and trainers may increasingly have to come from among the ordinary church members, which may not sit well with either clergy or laity. Training and resources to develop lay


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