Rural ministry has a real attraction. Idyllic settings, close caring communities, unhurried lifestyle. Yet these very advantages have their costs. Isolation, lack of resources, complex relationships. Rural ministry takes place within a culture surprisingly removed from the norms of urban life. There are important aspects of country culture to understand and embrace before attempting to lead a rural congregation into change. <\/p>\n
Every community has its own \tstories. The past, present and future of any country church community is \twrapped tightly in a fabric of stories that get told over and over \tagain. These heritage stories shape the identity and self concept \tof the group. The continuity of these is particularly important for \trural churches. The most effective work in rural congregations comes out \tof hearing, learning and affirming the community’s own stories. \tFuture ministry needs to stand in continuity with the life-affirming \tstories of the past. The most important connection an incoming \tpastor can make is to sit with storytellers and understand the \thistory and identity the congregation they are called to. A \tcongregation will only journey somewhere new when it is confident \tthat those in leadership know its story and stand in line in its history. Important stories are not only of ‘golden ages’ but also of pain and trial.\u00a0 Sometimes the hearing and embracing of these stories by a new pastor may be the occasion for healing a painful situation of the past.<\/p>\n
In \tany rural community, the land takes on a character and value that is \thard for an urban soul to comprehend. Rural communities have a deep \tsense of ownership over their land and connection to its features. People refer \tto it as a ‘sense of place’. Where I live, all of us who have \tgrown up in the community know that we have a stake in the mountain that overshadows our lives. Every morning we open the curtains to \tlook at the mountain. We speak of it as if we somehow own it in a \tway that visitors, tourists or even occasional climbers don’t. You know when a \tnewcomer to our town belongs – they begin to talk like us. They \tbegin to love our mountain as we do and stake their own claim by \tcalling it ‘my mountain’. We smile at this because we understand \tthe feeling and we know the person is ‘in’. In a rural community \tyou are never ‘in’ until you align yourself with the community’s \tsense of connectedness and ownership of the locality. The new school principal in my town was ‘in’ \twhen he had climbed the mountain and spent some time looking down at \tthe town from that perspective. To integrate into a rural community \tyou have to say goodbye to whatever place you came from\u00a0 and \tembrace the new place (without comparisons, no matter how bleak the place is) to which you now belong. If you don’t want to \tbelong there, you never will. Locate the sense of place and particularly the symbolic aspects of the locality and \talign yourself with them.<\/p>\n
Rural churches are typically \ttribal in structure. They gather around several key families and \tpeople. There are important rules that operate within these \tsystems. Individual people have significant roles that permit or \tlimit what can be done. The congregation has built in ways of \tdecision making. There is a strong sense of community and an \tequally strong sense of being able to outlast ministers who tend to come and go. All this adds up to stubborn \tstability which is a strength as much as a weakness. Often the \tdocumented goals of the church (relevance, growth, friendliness to \tthe wider community) are the opposite of what actually takes place \t(traditional rituals, decline, isolation from the wider community). Formal (or written) rules and roles may be significantly different from informal rules, roles and processes.\u00a0 You cannot be an agent for change with carefully drawing out \t(exegeting) the rules, roles, rituals <\/strong>and goals<\/strong> which make up the system. Only when \tthey have been articulated and understood can they be very carefully challenged and \taddressed. Once you have some understanding of how and why \tthis congregation functions, its time to begin building for change.<\/p>\n <\/strong>One of the realities of country \tlife is that key people are often under-resourced with ideas and \tinformation. Existing church leaders need to be exposed \tthoughtfully to new ideas and materials. Rural people usually \trespond positively to seeing ideas in action. Take them on exposure \ttrips to conferences and other churches. Give them videos, tapes \tand articles. Mentor and equip them. Home grown leaders are \tthe critical factor in bringing change. They will lead it themselves far more \tsuccessfully than any incoming pastor.<\/p>\n <\/strong>Young people are \timportant in any community but in rural communities they occupy a \tspecial place precisely because many of them will leave. Churches \tknow that they have them for only so long and they are highly \tvalued. Often families fear for as they leave for further education in urban centres. Some pastors \thesitate to invest heavily in young people knowing that most will \tnot stay long term in the church but this is a serious mistake. \tRural churches need a deep conviction that they are called to \tprepare and send out healthy, integrated, dynamic Christian young \tpeople. Any minister who makes this a priority will be loved and \trespected in a country church by families and the youth alike.<\/p>\n <\/strong>Country \tpeople relate to each other between Sunday’s far more than urban \tpeople. They regularly meet while shopping, working, socialising; \tthey wave to each other when driving by. They know what is happening in other’s lives to a \tsignificant and surprising extent. This is both a disadvantage in \tterms of gossip but an advantage in terms of care and support. \tHealthy and effective pastoral care brings a noticable connection into rural people’s \tlives. It builds community. Get a caring team of people mobilised \tto respond pastorally and practically to the congregation’s and the community’s needs. \tCountry people and even the unchurched are used to looking to the church \tfor help when urban people typically find it in other places. A \tparticularly important pastoral window of opportunity is ‘crisis’. \tCountry people rally immediately at a crisis – people come out of the woodwork \tto help when someone’s home burns down, a child is seriously injured \tin an accident, a mother becomes ill or there is a serious work accident. It is part of the country \tspirit to do whatever you can to be there and help when professional \tassistance may be out of reach or hours away. The minister who is \tright there in the heart of the community’s response sends a key \tmessage of care and support to the community. People notice who \tturns up and who stays away when the chips are down. Helping at \tthese times breeds a deep sense of loyalty from country people. \tCrises are powerful ways to connect right into the core of rural \tfamilies in a way country people understand and appreciate.<\/p>\n <\/strong>This one will bring some \tcriticism but its a must. Every country community has a range of \tsocial groupings. Some of these surprisingly rarely intersect. Some church people \tmay not generally be involved in some sports groups, service clubs, \tcommunity groups, community leadership or leisure pursuits. There \tmay be pubs and clubs that they normally never attend. \tCongregations need to connect with all the social networks of their \tcommunities if they are going to be effective in outreach. \tMinisters need to informally connect across as many of these groups \tas possible – the opportunities for ministry are often startling. \tChaplaincy is an excellent model for this kind of ministry. A rural \tminister can connect powerfully with schools, rural industries, sports groups, even \tlocal municipal councils.\u00a0 The minister who connects well with many groups will have abundant opportunities to assist families when they have need or are facing spiritual questions raised by life issues. \n <\/strong>One of the great gifts to rural \tchurches are the people who turn up in town often for only a short \ttime. In some cases these are young professional people on rural \tplacements – teachers, doctors, lawyers or businessmen and women. In other cases they are \tmoving in to stay having made a lifestyle choice to live in the \tcountry. It is critical for country communities to welcome and \tembrace newcomers. Rural communities are usually very good at this \tand easily make people feel welcome when they first arrive. It is a \tharder task to effectively integrate them into the life of the \tchurch. They often bring encouraging gifts and wide experience. It \tis important for pastors to pace the integration of new people \tcarefully, not overloading newcomers with responsibility but not \thanging back too far and failing to embrace them and use their gifts \tappropriately. Newcomers need time to assimilate the church’s \tbackground and history and connect with the people. In a short \ttime, newcomers can often make a very important contribution as \ttraditional congregational members can be surprisingly open to them \tand connect to them deeply – in some cases ‘adopting’ them a \tlittle like their own children and even parents who may live away.<\/p>\n <\/strong>As alluded to \tabove, country people are used to knowing what is going on. Almost \teverything that happens in the life of the church is important to \tthem. It is crucial for rural parish leaders to be good at \tcommunication, verbally, via the parish newsletter, on the phone, through the prayer chain and now via the internet. Secrets in a country town can be \tdestructive. It is well worth cultivating healthy communication \tnetworks and using them well. The issue of gossip does need to be \taddressed but the answer is not less communication – it is insisting \ton integrity, honesty, appropriate confidentiality and relentless goodwill in speech about other \tsituations and people.<\/p>\n \n <\/strong>Conflict is unavoidable in small \tcongregations. The best answer for it is to prepare well up-front. \tEquip leaders and congregational members for having a healthy \tdisagreement and working through it. Teach forgiveness, conflict \tmanagement skills, communication skills and about personality \tdifferences. Conflict can be handled well and be creative for a \tchurch but it must be prepared for. Speak and teach expectantly \tabout ‘when’ not ‘if’ we have our next conflict and you will take \taway the fear that close knit communities have of a fight or split. \tUse every small opportunity to equip people with conflict skills and \treinforce the idea that conflict is creative and can be handled \twell.\u00a0 The benefits of this are huge, they pay off not only in the church but in families and in the wider community.<\/p>\n <\/strong>An unusual aspect \tof congregational life in many country churches is the role played \tby visiting preachers or teachersand sometimes missionaries the church has supported. Churches often form a deep \tattachment to particular people who have encouraged, advised and \tassisted them regularly in the past. Over time and several visits, \tthese preachers take on an almost apostolic role in the life of the \tchurch. The power that these people have can be a threat to a new \tminister arriving in the church. But this need not be the case. \tThe apostolic visitor can be an important agent for change and \tgrowth in the life of the church. Sometimes this person can say \tthings that a resident minister can not. It is important to \tunderstand who these individuals are and get to know them and their \thistory with the church. Build healthy relationships with them as \tthis is good for everyone: them, the church and the pastor.<\/p>\n \n In spite of all the positives \tof rural ministry, a rural congregation can be narrow, \tclaustrophobic and frustratingly conservative. It is important to \thave a way to be able to regularly get out of the communityand the locality and take \ta break from the intensity of rural life. Rural life lacks \tanonymity. Ministers and their families need times of escape from \tthe pressure especially if they are not used to ”fish-bowl living’ in a rural community. A \twell thought out self-care strategy is essential for rural ministry. \t Have a good mentor to debrief with and take regular days off. On \tretreat days get outside the community and look at it from a \tdistance.<\/p>\n Rural ministry has much in common with ministry anywhere but it takes place in unique culture. Incoming pastors cannot be effective until they understand, enter and work within the unique environment of the ‘place’ God calls them to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 12 principles for effective ministry in rural parishes tim dyer, john mark ministries (tas) Rural ministry has a real attraction. Idyllic settings, close caring communities, unhurried lifestyle. Yet these very advantages have their costs. Isolation, lack of resources, complex relationships. Rural ministry takes place within a culture surprisingly removed from the norms of urban life. … <\/p>\nResource the \tleaders<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Love, \tnuture and mentor the young people<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Establish and \tsupport a pastoral care ministry team<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Socialise across \tthe boundaries<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\nIntegrate \tnewcomers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Communicate \teverything to everyone<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Prepare for \tconflict<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Engage visiting preachers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Get out of town \tregularly<\/strong><\/h3>\n