Significantly, all the Rural Officers canvassed in the survey feel that local ecumenical working is of real importance for the health of rural mission generally. Several suggest that regional church encouragement for rural ecumenical projects is quite rare, even informally. Important are attitudes towards ministry and clergy staffing in rural areas, as articulated by one Rural Officer: My experience is of little joined-up thinking or coordination by different denominations in rural localities – especially in staffing. I believe this is essential, and yet different denominational authorities in our region barely talk to each other, let alone consult on rural appointments. The rural church suffers where different denominations and their ministers seem to work independently of each other.
The important needs identified here are: • A commitment to action at regional and local levels to ensure ecumenical cooperation when planning about rural ministerial staffing.
• Ecumenical material and emphasis should be available throughout ministerial training.
• Resources and training to encourage and develop ecumenical mission initiatives at the local level, and which include lay people and not just ministers.
Miscellaneous Representatives of the smaller denominations and from smaller churches within the larger denominations feel they need help and resources to carry out church and community profiling; especially where their congregation represents several different communities or where numbers of churches are grouped together. One Baptist pastor from the West Midlands says: I know that there are toolkits produced by the Commission on Urban Life and Faith for different denominations. But even the Baptist one is quite unsuitable for our situation. Is there one for small, rural churches? • The key need here is for a simple auditing tool for rural churches that takes into account rural church and community distinctives, and that can be used locally.
Several suggest that it will be increasingly important to provide church members with guidance and training in the use of ICT, given its increasing use for communications and delivery by churches, although tempered by internet access difficulties in many rural areas. A strategic Baptist leader indicates: If resources and training are going to be
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