Mission and Discipleship
Council |
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RURAL STRATEGY TEAM
Overview
The Rural Strategy Team has been established by the Mission
and Discipleship Council of the Church of Scotland with
ministers and lay people from Scotland’s rural areas.
Rev Bryan Kerr is the convener of the Rural Strategy Team
and invites you to learn more about the team's work with
rural communities and congregations throughout Scotland.
Bryan Kerr
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"I'm always pleased to hear from
individuals with an interest in rural ministry and
new ideas for the working groups. You can contact
me through the Mission and Discipleship office
in Edinburgh if you would like to get in touch about
any of the items on this page." |
The team's remit is:
- to affirm, support and resource rural churches;
- to provide a task group to organise a regular Church
of Scotland rural Cconference;
- to establish an informal reading group of suitable
individuals engaged professionally in farming, fishing,
tourism, forestry and other professions/industries
which bear on rural life, who are willing to read
and comment upon research papers and government consultations,
to inform responses invited from the committee or
to alert the committee to new initiatives;
- to seek opportunities to discuss, publicise and
clarify the Church’s role in building healthy
rural communities in Scotland, with the media, local
government, national government, industries, professions,
charities and influential individuals. This to be
done in consultation and co-operation with other denominations
and faith groups;
- to examine and assess the extent to which rural
ministry has certain specialist skills, whose development
may be encouraged and supported by the provision of
training. In so doing the committee will liaise closely
with the Department of Ministries, the Arthur Rank
Centre and other institutions currently offering rural
ministry training.
The first meeting of the Rural Strategy Team took place
in October 2006. Click
here to find out about the 2006
Rural Church Conference, taking place in November,
and how you can listen to the
highlights of this event online.
A voice for rural Scotland
Syre Church, Strathnaver |
For the last decade, work in urban
poverty and social isolation has been a priority
for the Churches in Scotland in response to need
identified by the national census and local government
indicators of deprivation. |
During the same period, voices have called for a similar
commitment to social inclusion, employment, affordable
housing and transport in the vast rural areas of the country,
but these have not been able to carry the same substantial
statistical backing.
However, a series of initiatives by the Scottish Executive
Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) has
resulted in a consultation strategy document – The
Rural Development Plan 2007 to 2013 – setting
out a new approach to meet the need for sustainable rural
development, and seeking to ensure investments which generate
public benefits for Scotland. The churches were invited
to respond to this document and were pleased to do so.
With families of faith in every community - where they
are held in goodwill - the Church has a role as honest
broker in such debates and currently engages with the
issues through a series of initiatives, projects and working
groups.
The Scottish Churches Rural Group
The Scottish Churches Rural Group (SCRG) was formed in
2005 as an associated ecumenical group of Action of Churches
Together in Scotland (ACTS) with membership drawn from
the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church,
the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, the
Congregational Federation, the Roman Catholic Church,
the United Free Church of Scotland, the Salvation Army
and the Religious Society of Friends. The group works
to facilitate pastoral support for churches in rural communities,
to exchange and facilitate discussion, to work ecumenically,
to comment upon rural policy proposals and to act in partnership
with key individuals and organisations addressing the
rural issues of Scotland.
| The group has addressed issues in
agriculture, fishing, crofting, migrant workers
and rural ministry. Currently a task group is being
formed to plan the appointment of a full-time rural
officer and explore the establishment of a Rural
Centre for Scotland. |
Rural Scotland
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SCRG also includes in its membership people in significant
appointments within secular organisations whose work influences
and contributes to the rural agenda; for example from
the Agricultural and Rural Business Programme of the Royal
Bank of Scotland, The Scottish Agricultural College, Scottish
Natural Heritage and the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent
Institution. The group seeks consultation with the Rural
Commission, Carnegie UK Trust and The Arthur Rank Centre.
The Church of Scotland Rural Working Party
Established by instruction of the 2005 General Assembly
of the Church of Scotland, this group has been tasked
to design an audit tool to help rural congregations assess
the needs in their community, and to support their engagement
– in the context of Christian mission - with statutory
and voluntary bodies to address these needs. The working
group draws its members from around the country and is
currently conducting a pilot trial of the audit tool in
Shetland, Highland Perthshire, Douglas Valley, Argyll,
Dumfriesshire and Inverness-shire.
Loch Morlich in rural Inverness-shire
A range of individuals with professional experience in either
rural ministry or other related areas, are being approached
to write themed studies to accompany the audit tool, and
the working group hope to have the completed resource
available for the General Assembly of 2007. The working
party has consulted widely particularly with The Arthur
Rank Centre and with other similar resources such as the
Methodist Church’s Presence
and the Anglican Church’s Seeds
in Holy Ground.
The Royal Highland Show, Edinburgh
The Royal Highland Show (RHS) provides a window on rural
Scotland. Estimated at 172,000, the attendance at this
year's show was the highest on record since 1965. 2006
saw the inter-denominational church stand in a new location
adjacent to the Royal Highland Agricultural Society of
Scotland administrative headquarters, the members' enclosure,
the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Young Farmers.
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This prominent site ensured a heightened
profile which brought larger numbers of visitors
than before, and served as a gentle reminder that
the Christian churches are an integral part of rural
life. |
Those who visited the stand included directors of the
show, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church
of Scotland, the Right Rev Sheilagh Kesting, the Bishop
of Edinburgh, key exhibitors of livestock, stands, and
many families. Perhaps most importantly many came to celebrate,
enquire and reflect upon the wonder, joy and beauty of
all that God provides to the heart and soul of rural life.
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