The Challenge of Rural Evangelism

In a few months' time it will be 50 years since my first introduction to rural evangelism.  Easter 1963 was a time of profound spiritual experience for me.  I was seventeen and during the year before this God had been working in my life.  Looking back I know that this was in answer to faithful prayers made on my behalf by others.

Most of my teens had been spent seeking to get away from the church influence that had been so strong during early childhood.  However, God had found ways of speaking into my life even then.  As a member of a semi-professional boy band I had performed such numbers as "I believe" and "When you walk through a storm".  At the same time I came under the influence of an RE teacher, Robert Dingwall,  who showed how science supported scripture through archaeology and regular "Fact and Faith" science based Christian films.

At some stage in 1962 I began to realise how strong the force of sin was in my life.  Then an incident in a drunken party brought me face to face with the truth that in a way that mattered my life was out of control and heading for disaster.  I dug out the Gideon New Testament I had been given at school and started to read.  A tract given to me by a stranger in the street brought home the message of John 6:37 that I did not have to make myself acceptable to God, Jesus said I could come to him as I was.  In the privacy of my bedroom I asked God to accept me and come into my life.

Nothing dramatic happened at that time but as I look back I can see how God continued to work as I approached Easter 1963 when I was to be baptised by immersion, having confessed that Jesus was my saviour a few months before at a youth meeting.  But my lifestyle was still not what it should be and I had far more doubts and uncertainty than faith.  But that Saturday evening I attended a meeting of Hastings and District for Christ on Hastings Pier and heard an evangelist called Sylvia Smith (a member of The Evangelisation Society) speak about her faith and work and then to speak on the prayer of Jesus from the cross, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do".  That night the gospel migrated from my head to my heart, and I surrendered my life without reserve into the hands of God.

So it was that a radically changed young man was baptised that Easter Sunday evening singing with new enthusiasm "And can it be" and "To God be the glory".  Within just a few weeks of that weekend I knew myself called to be an evangelist.  Exploring that led me into contact with a small organisation that undertook village evangelism part time and by May 1963 I was part of the team as a trainee.  The organisation grew into a national ministry with a core evangelistic team, a network of associates, and a contextual training programme.  I grew alongside it my ministry developing and diversifying along the way.  From 1968 pastoral responsibilities came along and a teaching ministry also developed.  While the pastoral and teaching aspects have always felt right I have tried to stay faithful to God's call to be an evangelist and I have almost exclusively sought to express that in responding to the challenge to re-evangelise the rural areas of the UK.

This Wednesday and Thursday the Rural Evangelism Network will hold a conference for its members in Selly Oak, Birmingham.  It is to this event that I ask you to focus your prayers please.  Approximately one person in six in the UK lives in a small rural community or in an isolated rural dwelling. In the main the churches have small congregations, often overwhelmed by maintenance issues and with feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty when it comes to evangelism.  Many are saddened to find some Christians in the village who commute to nearby large thriving town churches.

The Rural Evangelism Network was established in 1982 out of a meeting of representatives of national Churches and rural evangelistic organisations.  This was a new and unique forum that sought to encourage the sharing of our insight and experiences in rural mission, and together to encourage good practise.  I drafted the first constitution and since its start until now have provided the administrative services.  Over the years it has run valuable conferences, produced workbooks on rural evangelism, and generally had a helpful influence.

This week around half of the member Churches and organisations will be represented.  It's Lent and getting people together for a national gathering these days is a challenge.  In my opinion the value of the Network has been diminished by several factors.  The conference seeks to call the members back to the original vision and develop a road map for realising its potential.  Rural communities and the church scene have changed much since 1963 but the underlying challenge is much the same.  Today there are fewer identifiable evangelists working in the rural areas and it seems we are all working with smaller budgets.  We used to say that UK rural evangelism was the Cinderella mission activity, and I guess that's still true today.  So how can you pray?

• Pray that we will discover a sense of God's presence among us as we come together with diverse visions and from various Christian traditions.
• Pray for a vision of what God is doing and wanting done in rural evangelism in the UK.
• Pray for discernment regarding the role of the Network within the wider life of the churches in rural Britain today and tomorrow. If it cannot fulfil a unique and profitable role then it would be better to spend energy elsewhere.
• Pray for the team that has been leading over recent years.  Two of these have now retired and a new team is needed to take the work forward.
• Pray about my own role.  I am not ready to cease activity but certainly do not want to hold onto ministries that should pass to others.
• Pray that in some way the 24 hours we spend together this week might serve to fulfil God's purposes for the millions who live in the rural areas and still need to hear the gospel and see it being lived out in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We need your prayers please.

Thank you.

Barry

Helping to prepare others for ministry

Dear praying friends,

I am starting to write this at almost midnight on Saturday 30^th June and I apologise to those who like to look it up on the internet on Saturday evenings.  I am sitting in a hotel room in Nottingham and my only link with the internet is via my mobile phone so I am not sure whether the connection will be good enough for sending out the emailed version.  So if this comes to you late please understand and forgive me.

A busy week has culminated with a weekend of activity with students on the Congregational Federation’s Integrated Training Course.  It started at 7.30pm on Friday and part of my responsibilities was to lead the opening worship.  I had felt that the Lord wanted me to speak on “Why are you here?” and encourage the very mixed group to reflect on how we engage with God’s purposes.  The question was one of three questions that three Dannite spies put to an isolated un-named Levite who had got himself engaged as a private priest and compromised with idolatry.  I think he could not have given the questions much thought as he was later taken by the same spies and turned into a tame priest for their purposes and still embroiled in idolatry. 

A similar question was put to Elijah after he had fled in fear from Jezebel and saw no point to living, feeling that he was the only one who feared the Lord.  How wrong he was and how blind to the fact that God was still enacting his purposes to bring his people back to himself.  We reflected on the twin dangers of drifting aimlessly and/or allowing discouragement to rob us of victory and joy.

On Saturday morning and afternoon a colleague from an urban context and I jointly engaged in a shared discussion on rural and inner-city ministry and mission, while the audience of tutors and students interacted with us with considerable enthusiasm.  This covered two 90 minute sessions and worked well.

Now I am putting the finishing touches to the service plan for the morning meeting here in Nottingham with the students, tutors and members of the local church.  The theme I have felt led to is one that looks at excuses.  We use far too many as we seek to justify ourselves before God.

I hope you managed to catch the 5 seconds of me conducting the choir on Channel 4 on Monday or Tuesday.  It was a shame that the piece they recorded of the choir singing in beautiful harmony ended on the cutting room floor and showed instead a rather rough rendition of a carol!  Still the film would have given a little idea of what a lifers prison experience is – though many of us felt it failed to tell much that would have been of value.

On Tuesday I took the school assembly at Yelvertoft before going into prison.  Then that evening I travelled to London ready to speak at the Salvation Army Training College on Wednesday.  After the morning and afternoon sessions I sat a while and talked about scripture with a special advisor to the House of Lords.  Then it was on a train again heading for East Sussex.

Many reading this as an email attachment will know that my first 25 years of Christian ministry were partly spent in a rural evangelistic mission.  After I left the organisation certain matters came to light that ultimately led to the founder/director of that mission serving a prison sentence for shameful acts.  After the court hearing I did what I could to help the trustees understand how the organisation’s culture and management had contributed to multiple acts of abuse.  Resulting from this a friend who had been one of the co-writers with me of Time for Action had been invited to become a trustee and had ultimately become the Chair of Trustees.  Two weeks ago I received a phone call in which she asked if I would join her and the only other active trustee in seeking to sort out problems into which the organisation has more recently found itself.  I was soon to realise how critical the situation was, calling for some urgent decisions and actions.  So it was that Wednesday evening and most of Thursday was spent exploring the scope of the problems and exploring how the problems might be resolved.

So it was a very full week yet again, and I am sure that were it not for your prayers it would have been even more challenging.

Praise God

·        for safe and smooth travel, especially in a week when the weather made travel difficult for thousands;

·        for the attentiveness of children and staff at the school assembly;

·        for yet another good session with prisoners in Gartree;

·        for a really positive time with Salvation Army cadets as we tackled the difficult subject of sexual abuse in a Christian context, how to reduce risk and support victims;

·        for the commitment of trustees and staff in the mission I am helping;

·        for the wonderful fellowship at Nottingham with students and tutors and for my fellow guest speaker who shared the two Saturday sessions.

Please Pray…

·        for the life of Yelvertoft School and the team from the local churches as we take assemblies.  Pray that young hearts will see Jesus in us and be drawn to him.  We cannot use these occasions for preaching or evangelism, but we share the good news through our relationship with the children and school;

·        for the members of Gartree Male Voice Choir.  A prisoner (R) who was recently transferred back to Gartree and who was and is again a member of the choir has served almost twice the length of his tariff (minimum sentence) and is perplexed why he is in this situation.  For most of the prisoners the choir is the most positive part of their weekly life;

·        for the Salvation Army Cadets who this weekend will be commissioned and go out as new officers to various SA churches;

·        for wisdom for the trustees of that mission organisation;

·        for the Congregational students as they explore their vocations and work through the training programme;

·        for my work in prison on this Tuesday;

·        for an important discussion in which I will be involved on Wednesday;

·        for meetings on Friday and Saturday in Nottingham when some of those on the training course will come before the Pastoral Care Board, with some hoping to be approved to become ministers.

Prayer is so important.  We dare not serve God and his people in our own strength.  Please pray for me and Doreen; it will be good to have more time together this week.  Pray that God will continue to sustain us spiritually, and in every other way.

Thank you.

Barry