On looking at the life of Jesus, Elizabeth Clarke, rural officer for the URC and Methodist churches, based at the Arthur Rank Centre, believes that is clear that Jesus comes from a rural context. She shares more:
It wasn’t until I began reading the Gospels while living in the countryside that I began to see just how rural they are. Growing up in the city, I hadn’t really made that connection. The word ‘village’ appears about 27 times across the 4 Gospels and the plural ‘villages’ about 8 times, dependent on translation.
In the parables that Jesus tells, there are seeds and sowers, barns and lilies, and many other pictures of rural life that reflect the communities in which he spoke. Jesus took ordinary, everyday events and used them to speak of God and the Kingdom.
The episode that took on a new dimension for me in the rural setting was the return of Jesus to Nazareth (Mark 6 :1-6 and Luke 4 :16-20). In this story, we see Jesus return to his home synagogue. All begins well as they enjoy him reading the scroll, and you can almost feel their pride in ‘one of our own’. However, when he begins to question them there is outrage, ‘who does he think he is?! I‘ve known him since he was a baby!’
In this, we have a reflection of what life can be like in small, rural communities; everyone knows everyone else and, in a settled community, there are many inter-relationships. The life of faith, like everything else in rural settings, is lived in a goldfish bowl. You need to ‘walk your talk’. Any hypocrisy will be noted quickly.
It can be quite difficult to speak out in rural communities as there is nowhere to hide if disagreements occur. In terms of Evangelism, we need to equip rural Christians to understand and talk about their own faith journey naturally, rather than think about evangelistic events.
Just as Jesus took the ordinary things of his day to speak of God, the rural church can make the most of the seasons and the rhythm of the local community to do the same. Taking worship outside the church to farms and other community spaces can reach people who might not come into a church building. For example, a harvest festival in a barn or carols in the pub.
Being a disciple in a rural community has challenges but also great opportunities, but only if we know how to look at and listen to our communities. Context is everything.
Visit the Arthur Rank Centre’s website or contact Elizabeth for more information on how rural churches can be encouraged and equipped for mission.
