Hi Rural Folks!
This is our first eNewsletter, which introduces a grassroots initiative for Rural Ministry in the United Church of Canada, which we have called the “United Church Rural Ministry Network” (UCRMN). See www.UCRMN.ca

Our goal is to have the collection of Rural Ministries initiatives (we have found out there are many Regional/Local initiatives) across Canada and sharing the information by eNewsletters and website. 

We look forward to having a newsletter monthly or bimonthly, and having online Conferences on rural ministry issues, starting in the fall of 2020. You are welcome to submit your stories of exciting Rural Ministries (please keep articles 300 to 500 words). Submit to editor@UCRMN.net

UCRMN will be a member of the Canadian Rural Church Network (CRCN) (which is made up of 11 different denominations across Canada). www.candianruralchurch.net

Catherine Christie, Eric Skillings, Donna Mann, Felicia Urbanski and Shelley Roberts

Mt. Forest United, Ontario, produces a daily reflection, written by church members.  Contributor for June 23 is Pauline Brown.  (The minister of Mt. Forest United is Sheryl Spencer)

                            From a Senior’s Viewpoint

As I sit here, an elderly senior, reflecting on this tragic pandemic and the resulting quarantine (house arrest), my eyes wander over to the giant puzzle at one end of the dining room table. It is intended to be something purposeful for me to do whenever I become bored while housebound. I can’t help but think how it compares to our journey through life. So many holes to fill, representing the deep, dark times in life that are so difficult to get through. Yet we have many wonderful times of rejoicing such as graduations, new jobs, and reunions. Then we fill in those holes with colourful fun. Do we get to complete life’s journey or do we get tired of the struggle (and put the puzzle away) or do we plan for our safety, so that we can continue life to its natural end? This epidemic is, hopefully, giving people the time to consider the best way in which to continue their life’s journey.

And speaking of time, how does a senior who had a busy social life adjust to staying at home all the time?  Like many other busy seniors, we have had to adjust our day planners. I find that I read more, use the computer more, bake more, eat more, sleep more, and become more relaxed. Physically, I am fine. Emotionally, I am stable. Mentally, I am okay (no real dementia, yet). Spiritually, Reverend Sheryl has done a fine job on that, with the daily Reflection articles, the Zoom Prayer Circle, the radio and You-Tube broadcasts of services.  HATS OFF TO REVEREND SHERYL!

While on the computer one day I came across an interesting article that seemed to have foretold the coming of this pandemic. (Although the author did not claim to have the ability to see into the future. Michel de Nostredame, a French apothecary, in 1551, wrote:

“There will be a twin year (2020) from which will arise a queen (corona) who will come from the east (China) and who will spread a plague (virus) in the darkness of night on a country with 7 hills (Italy) and will transform the twilight of men into dust (death), to destroy and ruin the world. It will be enough to destroy world economy as you know it.”

Enough of doom and gloom. I believe that God wants us to have a sense of humour. Just take a look at the funny-looking little “gentlemen” penguins dressed in their tuxedos.  Start thinking about the amusing animals you see on some of the “nature” videos. Also, I think that God must have made them different so that we could enjoy them along with Him. Read Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine. And also, Proverbs 14:10 about humour. 

Give me a sense of humour, give me the grace to see a joke, to get some humour out of life, and pass  it on to other folk.
Used with Permission. Submitted by Donna Mann.

        Rural Routes through the Holy:
        Recognize, Replenish, Rejoice

“Small is also bountiful.” - Dr. Marvin Anderson

PLEASE NOTE:  This is the original report written after our 2019 gathering by Reverend Doctor Catherine Smith, with an update at the end.

From June 26^th – 28^th, 2019, hopes were realized for a gathering of those touched by or touching rural ministry within Regions 14 (Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters) and 15.  This was thanks to an Embracing the Spirit Grant through EDGE, the hard work of those in the Bayfield-Little Shemogue Pastoral Charge with which I am in ministry, and the wise, respectful, and lively leadership of Dr. Marvin Anderson.  We learned a lot and laughed a lot.  We took risks, among them wringing out the heaviness of our hearts in a ritual of lament.  Some spoke who said they’d never be able to speak, and some became still in those profound moments when it might have felt easier to keep talking.  

Individually, in the early morning or in pauses between meals and conversations, we visited the still space upstairs in the sanctuary where various prayer stations waited for us.  We worshiped and told stories; we were filled with good food; we listened to Maritime music, and some of us danced - which seemed the natural expression of the energy released by our coming together.  This is an energy present in so many rural places, an energy and a wisdom which for so long has been de-valued that it is often unrecognized even by those who themselves live in rural places and worship in rural churches.  

In these two days together, we began to excavate and affirm and celebrate, to recognize, replenish, and rejoice in the way those on rural routes move through the Holy and the way the holy moves through us.  Of course, one gathering does not undo the years of Christendom indoctrination through which the church judges itself, often unconsciously, as effective or worthwhile by how closely it mirrors the Western cultural model of success or greatness.  Unbinding from that takes long slow work, time which many rural congregations in their present ways of being don’t have.  But this was a window opened.  The Spirit blew through.  Something is coming of it. Something for those in places of rural ministry and perhaps something for the denomination.  

“My biggest learning”, one person wrote, “is that if you want to know what rural ministry is about, ask those who live in it.”  How striking. It hadn’t occurred to some in these places that they were the experts on the context in which they lived.  And yes, that staying the same is not the aim; that when deeply listened to, they could drop some of their defenses.  That they could, participate in the World Café process; that they had things to share; that they are not alone.  They are a variety of communities and denominations coming together, growing the circle where old hurts are shared and healing possibilities emerge.

It was not the intention of this gathering to end with a five-point plan for rural ministry.  It was the intent to begin to open up together to ways in which “they might remain grounded in and able to share the Gospel”.  It was to reduce the sense of isolation, to hear from one another what is working well and what is lamented or longed for.  It was to build confidence, hope, and to open imagination.  Finally, it was to create a cohort to shape what was generated in the gathering in ways respectful of and responsive to rural realities. 

The cohort has been formed.  As initiator of the original gathering my hope is that we will:

• Organize a second gathering next year.
• Create a network of communication that includes ministry personnel and lay leadership in rural congregations in regions 14 & 15 for the sharing of resources.
• Consider alternative ways in which the needs of rural congregations, for worship, spiritual/faith formation, pastoral care and the work of justice and compassion might be met.  (This is a large subject which I address in my original application to EDGE and which I continue to reflect on and write about.)  We often think in terms of re-aligning or clustering pastoral charges but we might change lenses and think in terms of how we understand ministry.  We can envision ministry positions in ways “that would allow a group of people to call on resources to nourish the roots of the Gospel in their community even if there is no longer a ‘church’ in the conventional sense”. 

Other ideas will emerge within the cohort, but I name the above three as central, consistent with the original grant application.  Together we experienced worship, education, community-building, spiritual formation, laughter, trust, and a sense of ‘look who we are’ and ‘look what we can do’.  I am so glad to have been part of this and I look forward to what continued travels through the holy on rural routes may bring.

                         2020 UPDATE

The cohort Rural Routes through the Holy (Rural Routes for short), applied for and was awarded an Innovation Grant to assist in preparing for the 2020 Rural Routes through the Holy event.  It was to be held this past June at Camp Ta-Wa-Si in Port Elgin NB, but because of COVID-19 we have postponed our gathering until 2021.  In the meantime, our survey went “live” in June of this year and we have some responses to help us plan for the 2021 event.  We would like more, so we will be making it available again in the fall of 2020.  Rural Routes looks forward to staying connected with the UCRMN.  May God’s blessings be on all our efforts to support rural ministries in Canada.

Submitted by Kerry Howarth