By Gillian Vine
Twenty-five years ago, rural ministry looked a hopeless case. Country areas depopulated, schools and other services disappeared and a sense of hopelessness pervaded many parishes as numbers – never high compared with their urban counterparts – declined.
The challenge for those running rural parishes was to engender a feeling of hope.
“We had to face the question of what a church exists for in rural areas,” the Rev Dr Robyn McPhail says.
“Viability’s not about money; it’s about mission. A church won’t die [if it’s] looking outside its walls,” Dr McPhail says.
She believes helping communities to change and being a catalyst in that change is part of a rural church’s role as a specialist in practical Christianity.
In her 10 years at St John’s Methven (she moved to Kerikeri late last year), Dr McPhail was committed to developing the Rural Ministry Network, whose resources included a newsletter that enabled people to tell their stories, share resources and maintain links to offset feelings of isolation.
The concept was not new to Canterbury, which in 1984 had hosted the first Trans- Tasman conference on rural ministry, in Darfield.
Last November, a rural church conference was held at Weston, North Otago. The subject was “Equipping for change: planning for growth”.
The Rev Nancy Parker’s Waireka-Weston parish hosted the conference, which attracted 80 people from Ashburton to Gore, plus some 40 from the host parish.
Mrs Parker and John Daniels, South Island mission co-director were the keynote speakers, while the 17 workshops covered topics ranging from Alpha for small churches to one called “Help! I’m in charge of the youth group”.
Mrs Parker says there was “plenty of inspiration” gained from the “very positive” conference, as well as the sharing of practical solutions.
“The most important thing for our people was discovering that what they do is worth sharing,” she says.
Although Sunday worship is still very important in a rural setting, “often the best work of the church is done during the week”, she says, echoing Dr McPhail’s belief in the need to look outside the church walls.
Rural communities are regaining numbers but the core group in churches is older people. “Young people are only there for two to four years, then they move on,” Mrs Parker says.
For Marion Partridge, session clerk of Maheno-Otepopo parish in North Otago, the conference was “stimulating” and well-run.
She returned from the conference with two phrases to share: “have passion for the local church” and “pray like mad”.
“It’s an exciting time for rural parishes,” she says.