Volume 5, Part 2, 2007
In this issue:
- The pastoral imperatives in rural ministry: helping rural people discern God's activity in their midst
- Pastoral fragments: discovered remnants of a rural past
- The vicar and the vicar's garden
- Visitor experiences of St Davids Cathedral: the two worlds of pilgrims and secular tourists
- Church closure and membership statistics: a Methodist perspective
- Book reviews
The pastoral imperative in rural ministry:
helping rural people discern God's activity in their midst
Bill Bennett
Every priest/pastor, every rural congregation, faces the question: What is Christian good news to the people who live in our rural community? Most recognise the presence of the formal organisation of 'church', and the church buildings, halls or homes where Christians gather for worship. But opening up issues of spirituality and faith from where people are at in terms of their busy daily lives as farmers and as families who comprise the local community, is an ongoing task of consciousness-raising. How might people comprehend what their care of land and livestock means, or what being a member of the rural community involves? This is a mission, a theologising process, of helping people become aware of the opportunity of making sense of the world in which they live. This evangelising experience enlivens both people and priest/pastor.
Pastoral fragments:
discovered remnants of a rural past
Trevor Kerry
The article records the discovery of pages from an unpublished manuscript of an autobiography by Jean Blathwayt, daughter of the rector of Melbury Osmund, Dorset, the Revd Francis Blathwayt, who held the living from 1916 until 1929. The intention of the article is to extract elements from this fragment that throw light on life in the rural rectory during the 1920s, and to examine these against the broad social and religious context of the period. Jean's work is also located in the context of what is known from other sources about the family of the Revd Francis Blathwayt. An attempt is made to assess the value of the manuscript from an historical perspectove, to link its concerns with a theory of the rural church and to explore briefly its insights into rural theology.
The vicar and the vicar's garden
Mervyn Wilson
Rooted in personal experience of and theological reflection on Anglican parochial ministry in suburban, urban and rural contexts, this paper explores the power of the garden and of the gardener as a model for ministry, the garden as a place for salvation, the garden as a place for coming to terms with the ecological imperative, and the garden as a paradigm for the ultimate.
Visitor experiences of St Davids Cathedral:
the two worlds of pilgrims and secular tourists
Emyr Williams, Leslie J Francis, Mandy Robbins and Jennie Annis
The remote and rural St Davids Cathedral in west Wales receives a steady flow of visitors throughout the year. In order to develop its ministry in this field, a sample of 514 visitors completed a detailed questionnaire designed to explore their experiences of the cathedral, together with a measure of their personal church attendance. The data demonstrated clear differences between the experiences of pilgrims (defined as visitors who attend church services weekly) and the experiences of secular tourists (defined as visitors who never attend church services). The implications of these findings are discussed for cathedral ministry more generally.
Church closure and membership statistics:
a Methodist perspective
Lewis Burton
The present-day weakness of churches in England is displayed not only in the decline of church attendance and affiliation, but also in the closure of church buildings. In a recent issue of Rural Theology Carol Roberts and Leslie J Francis have examined the incidence of church closure as it affects the rural churches of the Church of England over the period 1970 to 2000. This article is a Methodist response, examining from available statistics the decline in membership related to church closure in British Methodism over the same period. Using data from a single Methodist District, a comparison is made with church closures in four Anglican rural dioceses.
Book reviews
Percy, Martyn and Markham, Ian (eds.): Why Liberal Churches Are Growing, by Jeff Astley
Hull, John M: Mission-Shaped Church, by James Francis
Fleming Drane, Olive M: Spirituality to Go, by Andrew Village
Davies, Douglas J and Guest, Matthew: Bishops, Wives and Children, by Sarah Burton
Graham, Elaine; Walton, Heather; Ward, Frances: Theological Reflection, by Stella Mills
