Volume 3, Part 1, 2005

There has been considerable debate in recent years about the future of agriculture and food production in Britain. The challenges of foot and mouth disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, tuberculosis and genetically modified crops, and the changes to the Common Agricultural Policy have all contributed to these discussions. Some look to an extension of intensive specialised farming, some to a re-discovery of organic production, and others to farm diversification or environmental conservation as the likely solutions to the uncertainties of a global market. Rural churches and officers have also been involved in addressing such questions, attempting to make connections between our faith traditions and the realities of a competitive, economic world.

Changes within society in recent years have created difficulties of various kinds for churches in England. Both the Church of England and the Methodist Church in Great Britain have found difficulty in staffing their churches as once they did. A survey of all the clergy in pastoral appointments in the Diocese of York and all similarly employed ministers in the York and Hull Methodist District seeks to document the differences in practice and contrasting provision of ministry to rural churches offered by these two denominations.

Over the last twenty years the use of statistical analysis to inform church studies has developed apace. Increasing numbers of empirical studies are concerned with the ‘rural church’. A key problem with regard to these studies is the definition of ‘rural church’. A variety of approaches has been taken in respect of studying ‘Rural Anglicanism’: the single diocese approach, the five-diocese approach, and the ‘average diocese’ approach. This study takes data for seven rural dioceses and examines changes between the late 1950s and early 1960s and the year 2000, in relation to indicators of church vitality. These indicators relate to churches, clergy, laity, membership, and seasonal practice. Differences between the dioceses are noted, and questions for further research are raised. The data suggest that ‘Rural Anglicanism’, as reflected in rural dioceses, is complex. As autonomous administrative units, the dioceses may have considerable say in their destinies through diocesan policies. It is argued that to think in terms of the many faces of ‘Rural Anglicanism’ rather than one ‘Rural Anglicanism’ may be more appropriate.

Change is a particular focus of conflict in the rural church and rural society. This article explores whether theological reflection on the issue can be of help. Theologians are often more concerned with changes in theology than with how theology can help to make sense of other changes. Social ethics is at least one discipline where they advocate change. Biblical studies suggests that ‘movement’ is a useful alternative term to ‘change’ with its notion of direction and purpose.

When 4,879 visitors to rural churches were invited to assess the holiness of the church they were visiting on a five point scale, 68% reported that they perceived the church to be holy. This perception of holiness was correlated with three specific features of the church, namely the opportunity provided for private prayer, the availability of information about church services, and the presence of flowers in the church. These features may appear to be far removed from classical definitions of holiness, but we do well to listen to the views of ordinary people and can learn much from the ordinary theology they express.