rent-now

Rent More, Save More! Use code: ECRENTAL

5% off 1 book, 7% off 2 books, 10% off 3+ books

9780826467652

Ministry in the Countryside: Revised Expanded Edition A Model for the Future

by
  • ISBN13:

    9780826467652

  • ISBN10:

    0826467652

  • Edition: Revised
  • Format: Paperback
  • Copyright: 2003-05-15
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
  • Purchase Benefits
  • Free Shipping Icon Free Shipping On Orders Over $35!
    Your order must be $35 or more to qualify for free economy shipping. Bulk sales, PO's, Marketplace items, eBooks and apparel do not qualify for this offer.
  • eCampus.com Logo Get Rewarded for Ordering Your Textbooks! Enroll Now
  • Write a Review Icon Write a Review
List Price: $41.95 Save up to $0.04
  • Buy New
    $41.91
    Add to Cart Free Shipping Icon Free Shipping

    PRINT ON DEMAND: 2-4 WEEKS. THIS ITEM CANNOT BE CANCELLED OR RETURNED.

Summary

Some years ago, 'Faith in the Countryside', the report of the Archbishop's Commission on Rural Areas (Acora) was launched at Lambeth Palace. It was widely accepted as a good document, and a worthy companion to 'Faith in the City'. But while it seemed to put the rural Church on the agenda, it failed to come up with acceptable ministerial solutions. Andrew Bowden's book offers a model for future rural ministry which is practical, positive and a much needed follow-up to the Commission's report. He recognises that although rural dioceses have taken new initiatives, rural clergy and congregations need an overall vision and a practical strategy. This excellent handbook is as significant as the report itself for the future of rural ministry. It is now reissued with an expanded text to take recent developments fully into account.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xii
The Story Since 1994 xiii
Changes in rural society
xiii
Political changes
xiii
The future of farming
xvi
Other rural businesses
xix
The centralization of 'service provision'
xx
The demography of the village in 2002
xxi
Changes in the rural Church
xxiv
The rural Church at national level
xxiv
Work stemming from the Arthur Rank Centre
xxiv
Other national organizations and rural forums
xxvi
Ecumenical committees and initiatives
xxvi
The Church and rural society
xxviii
Village community life
xxviii
Involvement with secular agencies
xxix
Local ecumenical co-operation
xxx
Church buildings
xxx
Ministry to visitors
xxxi
Village schools
xxxii
The ministry of the Church in rural areas
xxxiii
The factors of change
xxxiii
The experience of local ministry in rural areas
xxxvi
Ordained local ministers
xl
The role of the stipendiary
xlv
The role of the diocese
xlvi
End piece
xlviii
PART I THE RURAL COMMISSION 1(44)
1 The Initial Response
3(4)
2 The Contest - Our Inheritance
7(9)
The social inheritance
7(3)
The Church inheritance
10(3)
The parson
13(3)
3 The Context - The Countryside Today
16(16)
The social context
16(4)
The development of the rural lobby
20(3)
The rural Church
23(5)
The revival of morale
28(4)
4 The Commission
32(15)
The genesis of the Commission
32(2)
The work of the Commission
34(3)
The follow-up to the Commission
37(5)
Conclusion
42(3)
PART II THE VISION 45(8)
5 The Vision
47(8)
The local focus
48(1)
The benefice team
49(1)
The stipendiary
50(1)
The diocese
50(1)
Conclusion
51(2)
PART III TESTING THE VISION 53(184)
6 Introduction
55(14)
The evidence
56(3)
The ecumenical evidence
59(1)
Evaluating 'success' in the rural ministry
60(6)
Attendance statistics
60(3)
Assessing morale
63(3)
What is 'rural'?
66(3)
7 The Rural Church in Crisis
69(14)
Numbers
69(5)
Future numbers of stipendiaries
70(1)
Criteria for deployment of: stipendiaries
70(1)
The Sheffield Formula
70(2)
The ecumenical factor
72(1)
Non-stipendiary assistance
73(1)
Money
74(7)
The escalating cost
74(3)
Why they won't pay
77(2)
The principle of payment for ministry received
79(2)
Theology
81(2)
The people of God
81(2)
8 Local and Catholic
83(12)
What lay people say they want
84(6)
Attitude to having a woman as vicar
85(1)
They want a vicar they know
86(2)
Localism as the bedrock of rural religion
88(2)
Catholic as well as Congregational
90(5)
Congregations need each other
91(1)
The Free Church experience
92(3)
9 Models of Ministry
95(31)
The 'supermarket model'
95(2)
The Free Church evidence
96(1)
The deanery parish
97(3)
Comparison with the Methodist Circuit
99(1)
Minster ministry
100(3)
Bishops-in-little
100(1)
The French evidence
101(2)
Minister ministry Mark II
103(3)
Groups and teams
106(7)
The benefits of groups and teams
107(2)
A changed context
109(1)
The problems of working in groups and teams
110(2)
Parishioners want their own vicar
112(1)
The multi-settlement benefice run as one parish
113(3)
Parochialism - good or bad?
114(1)
Joint worship
114(2)
The multi-parish benefice
116(4)
The practice of the absence of the priest
117(1)
Satellite parishes peopled by second-class citizens
118(2)
A vicar in every village
120(2)
The past resurrected
120(1)
The past transformed
121(1)
Local group and benefice team
122(4)
A practical example
124(2)
10 Setting Up a Local Group
126(29)
The job description
126(3)
Are candidates available?
129(3)
Lay ministry already happens
130(1)
Why does lay ministry not thrive everywhere?
131(1)
Individuals or groups
132(1)
Selection of group members
133(3)
Testing the parish
133(1)
The Lincoln method of nominating candidates
134(1)
The role of the bishop
135(1)
Why the process of nomination is so important
136(1)
What sort of person is needed?
136(2)
A cautionary tale from America
136(1)
Needed: people who will work together
137(1)
Will the village accept them?
138(4)
Opposition to lay ministry
138(2)
The case of St Mary's, Comberton
140(2)
Making sure the village is happy
142(4)
Pastoral care
142(1)
Community involvement
143(1)
Care for the disadvantaged
143(1)
Care for the natural environment and buildings
144(1)
Relations between the group and the congregation
145(1)
Training the local ministry group
146(4)
Training as a group
147(1)
A possible curriculum
147(3)
The geographical boundaries of local ministry
150(2)
A group in each settlement
150(1)
A group in each benefice
151(1)
Welding the local group on to the benefice team
152(3)
11 Local Non-stipendiary ministry
155(12)
A theology of local ministry
155(4)
Canon Royle on local ministry
156(1)
Bishop Baker on local ministry
157(2)
Implications for the local group
159(1)
Implications for Readers and lay pastors
160(1)
Implications for local non-stipendiary ministers
161(2)
Local non-stipendiary ministry - training and selection
162(1)
Implications for non-stipendiary ministers
163(2)
The choice -local or apostolic?
164(1)
Involvement in group training
164(1)
Implications for retired clergy
165(1)
Local non-stipendiary ministry - a first-class ministry
166(1)
12 The Role or the Stipendiary
167(17)
A new job description
168(2)
Holy
170(1)
Learned
170(1)
Local
171(1)
Apostolic
172(1)
Profile of the rural clergy
173(1)
Their attitude to lay ministry
174(1)
Can they cope temperamentally?
175(5)
The relevance of the age of the rural clergy
175(1)
The relevance of temperament
176(1)
Clergy stress
177(1)
Problems perceived
177(1)
Rewards enjoyed
178(2)
Postscript
180(4)
There is still a job to be done
180(1)
Autobiographical
180(4)
13 Diocese and Deanery
184(11)
The need for a rural strategy
184(2)
Supporting stipendiaries
186(1)
The training of stipendiaries
187(2)
Continuing Ministerial Education
188(1)
The diocese and members of the group
189(1)
The diocesan strategic reserve
189(1)
Bridging the gulf between diocese and village
190(3)
The problems of synodical government
191(1)
Money, appointments and buildings
192(1)
What then of the deanery?
193(2)
14 The Ecumenical Dimension
195(12)
The decline of the Free Churches in rural areas
195(4)
What went wrong?
196(1)
Theology
196(1)
Political context
197(1)
Worship
197(1)
The need for a trusted stipendiary to make difficult decisions
198(1)
The rural Free Churches today
199(2)
The Free Church contribution to the rural ministry debate
200(1)
Ecumenical co-operation
201(2)
Councils of churches
201(1)
Ecumenical co-operation in small villages
201(2)
Examples of co-operation
203(1)
The village with only one church
203(4)
Shared oversight and the village Local Ecumenical Project
204(3)
15 Church Buildings
207(8)
The significance of buildings
207(3)
Coping with maintenance
210(3)
Fabric funds which work
210(1)
Reordering village churches
211(2)
The conservation lobby
213(1)
Other church property in villages
213(2)
16 Regular Sunday Worship
215(8)
Worship in every church every Sunday
215(2)
How many churches have no Sunday service?
216(1)
Will people worship elsewhere?
217(1)
Should services be at a regular and convenient time?
217(7)
Stipendiary availability
218(1)
Fewer communion services
219(1)
Lay-led short services
220(3)
17 Mission and Evangelism
223(14)
Constraints on evangelism in rural areas
224(5)
Popular religion
226(1)
Implicit religion
227(1)
Popular beliefs
228(1)
Community church Mark II
229(1)
What strategy for evangelism is likely to work?
229(2)
Communal not associational
229(1)
Local and personal
230(1)
Starting where people are
230(1)
An agenda for rural evangelism
231(6)
Pastoral care
231(1)
Care for community life
231(1)
Vibrant worship
231(2)
Teaching
233(1)
Direct evangelism
234(1)
Indirect evangelism
235(2)
Bibliography 237

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Rewards Program