1. INTRODUCTION The Rural Life and Faith project has surveyed the experience and ideas of ministers, leaders and members of rural churches, strategic regional church leaders and training or resource providers. This provides a detailed picture of what is found most useful in enabling the mission and ministry of rural churches; what the significant gaps are in the provision of training or resources; and how training and resources are delivered.


Survey Methods and Respondent Categories The survey was conducted using questionnaires for self-completion (mostly online), individual interviews (either face-to-face or by telephone) and a smaller number of focus group discussions involving lay members of rural congregations. The individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with people from the West Midlands and the North East of England. Four groups of respondents are included: (a) ministers or leaders of local rural churches (the largest group of respondents) (b) lay congregation members from local rural churches (c) strategic leaders and training or resource providers from regional church bodies (d) representatives of training institutions or bodies


Range of Rural Contexts and Denominations Included Both the ministers and lay people included in the survey represent a broad range of rural situations: from peri-urban communities, through market towns, commuter rural and large villages, to small hamlets and dispersed settlements in deeply rural areas. These are from virtually every part of rural England, with a small number of online respondents from Wales and Scotland. Similarly, a broad range of denominations are represented in most groups of respondents, except those from training institutions or bodies. Lay people, ministers and strategic leaders or training providers from the Church of England, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, the Baptist Union and the Congregational Federation from the West Midlands and the North East have been interviewed for the case studies. The case study interviewees represent at least 21 different regional church bodies across these five denominations within these two geographical regions. Alongside these five denominations, other denominations (Roman Catholic, Salvation Army, Church in Wales) and some independent churches were also represented among those completing online questionnaires.


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