The visit of Dr Jill Hopkinson to Hampshire Rural Group on 17th October at Kingsclere was an important event in our group’s life and a very interesting day. It was delightful to meet her and engage with her insights as National Rural Officer of the Church of England. She shared something of her work based in the Arthur Rank Centre as an advocate of the rural church to the national governmental agencies.In the morning session she led a discussion on “Today’s Rural Context”, with special reference to Hampshire. This led us through definitions of the rural. 60% of CofE parishes are rural, with 40% of the worshippers. Around 20% of population of England lives in the countryside, with 100,000 each year moving from urban to rural England. Public services are less available in the countryside and generally declining. We discussed the recent announcement of Post Office closures. Rural people tend to regard their communities as more supportive than those in urban areas. Surprisingly, people living in villages and hamlets have less regular social contact than those living in large towns and cities. A recent survey of rural residents listed the church as the fifth most valued service, behind the pub, village hall, local shop and primary school.
In the afternoon, Jill presented the research project she had undertaken with Coventry University, leading to the report published in 2006 on “Faith in Rural Communities”. The aim of the research was to establish evidence for the place of the church in contributing to rural communities. We know from our own experience that church members are often very active in village life, involved in village organisations and supporting the needy. The study concluded that ‘faith communities’ do indeed make a significant contribution to the vibrancy of rural society – perhaps a surprising outcome for the government agencies.
Copies of the slide presentations around which Jill based our discussion are available to download from the Arthur Rank Centre website from this page: (1) "Today's Rural Context" Presentation, Slides and Notes, (2) "Faith in Rural Communities" Presentation, Slides
Jill left copies of leaflets which I am happy to send out to anyone interested:
The State of the Countryside 2007: Analysis and Action – information and a form for the Day Conference at the Arthur Rank Centre 3/12/2007 (Arthur Rank Centre, Commission for Rural Communities)
The State of the Countryside 2007 – Summary (Commission for Rural Communities)
Arthur Rank Centre 2006 Review
Faith in Rural Communities – Summary Report (DEFRA, Coventry University, Arthur Rank Centre, Church of England)
Comment
We need to make strenuous efforts to link between the national picture which Jill presented and our own experience. Her task is to persuade government of the rural difference, and indeed the very existence of the rural church. The language for this task is set by government, and so based on what is measurable both in urban and rural contexts. Rural areas are measured by the same standards set by urban England. The government’s Public Service Agreement Targets aim that a certain percentage of all households (urban and rural) should be within set distances of specified services – GP practice, bus stop etc.. Rural areas have seen a significant decline in the provision of many services over many years, both of public (health-care) and private enterprise (shops). Rationalist, finance-driven policies have got us into this, but will not help us out of it. Services will become ever more centralised, and village services yet leaner and more dependent upon urban provision, and so more difficult for vulnerable groups to live in. Yet rural communities are often very enterprising in addressing their own problems, rather than waiting for a handout from elsewhere.
The rural church has eschewed the language of what is measurable, though of course it can be judged in terms of payment of parish share and attendance statistics, numbers of churches and parishes. Jill’s paper on Faith in Rural Communities looks at the activity of the rural church and its members. What is much more difficult to register is the connection between worship, following Christ and a moral life lived out within a village, which does not draw attention to its actions, but quietly ‘gets on with the job’. The rural church has often failed in its calling over the centuries, but has not often ‘succeeded’ when it has been self-conscious about what it is doing. Its best relationship with its parish is ‘organic’, with worship at the heart. This would lead to a different outworking of mission from that of the urban church.
Martin Coppen
