A recent Church of England Report concluded that the following would give churches the greatest opportunity for successful rural mission and growth:

• Prayer is the basis of everything that bears fruit
• Be patient – things take time, and fruit does not develop overnight. Often long term engagement is                   required.
• Be positive and creative. Identify some good stories in your locality
• Use the gifts, skills and resources you do have, and don’t focus on what you don’t have
• Listen and pray about the needs of your local community
• Some projects are best done in conjunction with other organisations, so think ecumenically
• Don’t run initiatives simply with a view to bringing in new people to your traditional Sunday morning worship
• Create teams of lay and ordained people working together for new initiatives
• Enable, develop and encourage the ministry and mission of lay people
• Provide training and development for lay people
• Consider small steps – the one degree shifts can help people explore faith afresh
• Culture change is helped by lots of small actions, communicating often and with an expectation of change in different aspects of church life
• Strategies for multi-church groups should remain simple and not complicated
• Your church building can be a tool for mission, especially when working in partnership with the local community
• Review, take feedback, reflect and pray. Be prepared to adapt, change or stop.

Join us

If you have a heart for rural mission and share our vision, then we'd love to hear from you. Why not prayerfully explore ways in which you could share in this ministry, either as a church or individually.   

From time to time there will be opportunities to volunteer at regional events, so please do sign up. Thank you.