Decline in Rural Ministry Reveals the Need to Connect with the Community

More than one of the most important churches in the United Kingdom has reported a decline in church attendance. This threat is not, however, only faced by the churches in cities and towns, as reported by Christian Research for Rural Ministries.

Rural Ministries in the UK was quite influential in times of wars during the middle of last century. Many people in adversity have taken refuge through the church. Nowadays however, it has been found that churches in rural areas are losing members twice as fast as churches in towns and cities. The decrease in attendance was recorded at 42 per cent, with children and young people comprising the majority of the loss in worship attendance.

The General Secretary of Rural Ministries, a 40-year-old partnership of independent evangelical churches, Eddie Vass, confessed that he was not surprised at the figures.

Even the Anglicans churches, the denomination which makes up 57 per cent of rural churches has encountered the problem. The Anglican rural ministry is diminishing and churches are beginning to combine their activities, and many share one minister or pastor.

Mr Vass expressed his grief at the fact that churches nowadays have overlooked the importance of connecting with the community, even though reaching out to the community is a great factor in church growth.

He described the prime days of the rural churches, "In the old days if the church door was open people would come in. It was part of their background.”

However, nowadays, most of the rural church buildings look old as time has passed by. Whilst the Anglican churches have invested a lot in maintenance and preserving these cultural and historical assets, they have come to forget their links with the community.

Looking at the Bible regarding the early churches, Apostle Paul described the church as the body of Christ, “The body is a unit, though it is made of many parts; and though all parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptised by the one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greek, slave or free...” Also, Apostle Stephen confessed in Acts, “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by them...”.

'Rural Ministries' has spent more than half a million pounds aiding churches with building maintenance over the last 10 years. Mr Vass has pointed out the problem, “it is time to focus on ministries and people rather than buildings”. The call of Mr Vass will ring true for many Anglican clergy and churchgoers in rural benefices.

Mr Vass still remains optimistic about the rural ministry, "The Anglican Church has a tremendous opportunity because it is part of the community and most people consider themselves Anglican," he said.

Mr Vass is now active in connecting different denominations to bring a revival in rural churches. He cited examples of a recent mission partnered by URC and Anglican churches in Cumbria which saw 50 converts, while a Lincolnshire church has seen 43 converts in the last six months.

He suggested that the larger churches in towns can offer a support system like taking a rural area under their wing, "Having a monthly prayer group or house group in a rural area with a view to a church plant. It can work if there is support."

Mr Vass said that similar stories could be told from all over the country. He called on town and city churches to play an active supporting role in the promotion of the rural church.

In a practical sense, the decline of churches is also due to the movement of people, as people work and study in the cities and they have cars, population in the villages decreases, leading to a very natural drop in churchgoers. This phenomena is very common in large cities such as New York, and is one that the Church must consider seriously to overcome.