More than a hundred delegates, some coming from as far afield as Bristol and Derby, have taken part in a diocesan conference on church growth in rural areas.
Led by the Bishop of Ripon, the Rt. Revd James Bell (pictured right), the ‘Growing Rural Churches’ conference took place in Harrogate but attracted participants from every area of the diocese, along with several delegates from outside.
In his keynote address which combined principles with practical suggestions, Bishop James challenged church leaders to work and pray with others, to draw more attention to the person of Jesus Christ , and to be ‘intentional’ in sowing the seed beyond the confines of the church. He spoke of rural ministry as being one of hospitality and of ‘presence’ – of ‘being out and about’. Rural churches he said, should be holding services every Sunday and said that lay worship leaders were coming forward to be trained in leading services. “The priority for us in this generation, “ he concluded, “is to become a missional church and that means ‘sowing’, and it means ‘reaping’, and it means giving energy and time to ‘keeping’”.
Other speakers included Jerry Marshall (pictured left), the Director of the Arthur Rank Centre, the home of the National Rural Offices for the Church of England, Methodist and United Reformed Church. He encouraged delegates to take an entrepreneurial approach by taking risks and new initiatives.
The conference heard from growing churches and examples of new initiatives from the Ripon Episcopal area – the Revd John Chambers and Gillian Lunn talked about the development of an all age family event, ‘Fun-Key’ church at Richmond, while Revd Caroline Hewlett spoke about Forest Church in Swaledale.
More information on rural ministry and mission here http://www.westyorkshiredales.anglican.org/rural