View from the pulpit

The Rev Neil Glover outlines the challenges of rural ministry and explains why God is ever-present.

I LOVE it here.

I love the view up onto the hills, when the sunlight catches a field or a crag. I love the changing shapes of the river, and being able to walk dogs with the lead off. I love that so many different kinds of people live here – the true natives (you only qualify if you were born in the Cottage hospital), the talented retirees who always dreamed of living in a place like this, the community organisers with their quilts, choirs, men’s sheds, dementia friendly town, plays, cinema, rugby clubs and parkruns, the estate workers in their tweeds, the farmers with their pickups and monster tractors and strange vocabulary of hogs, yows, tups and gimmers. Most of the time I love that you can’t get round the Co-op without a dozen conversations.

And in all of this there is the faith, which draws you out of narrow corridors to see the vast bigness of the presence of Christ. God is never elsewhere. Never elsewhere in a place like this, never elsewhere in any place.

The biggest challenge of my ministry is never feeling like I am doing enough (is any ministry not like this?). I don’t see my congregations often enough (a good run is one week in two, usually it is less). I have responsibility for four congregations and there’s always the feeling of not seeing folk as often as I’d like, that they do not get the best of me, that I do not see them in crisis let alone in simpler times. I couldn’t do any of this without my PA, Judy, who always spots when I am about to make some horrendous logistical mistake or forget to attend a highly important appointment. In all seriousness, I do not see how you can do any multiple charge, with all its rotas and meetings, without highly talented and committed administrative support. Without that support, I’d be doing even less and making even more mistakes.

Here, I think, are the big challenges of rural ministry.

• Offering inspiring worship to older established congregations whilst also connecting with young , especially when they often leave the area in their late teens or early twenties.

• Supporting smaller congregations when the burdens of governance are becoming ever heavier. I truly believe in keeping rural buildings open, especially where there is not another Christian site for miles and miles, that our buildings are sacred sites and holy spaces. How do we keep remote buildings well maintained and up to modern standards?

• Connecting with diverse communities, especially with folks who are struggling with isolation, poor mental health, addiction, low incomes, lack of transport or debt.

• Living in communities where people have known each other for years, and know each other in three or four different roles. Sometimes this is brilliant, but when fallouts happen it can be intense.

• Creating a culture where people not only come to worship, but are nourished, and inspired to grow as disciples. Many of the books on this have been written in large mega-churches – how do you make this work when the culture is different and the levels of resource so much smaller?

One of the biggest lessons to learn, especially when resources seem scarce, is to remember that somehow, in the divine economy, God always gives enough.

The Rev Neil Glover is minister at Aberfeldy, linked with Dull and Weem, linked with Grantully, Logierait and Strathtay.