Mission partners for rural churches

THE LIST BELOW SHARES DETAILS of some national organisations who partner with rural churches to develop their mission and ministry.

You can find out more by clicking the link for each organisation – this will take you to their website.

• Agricultural Chaplains Association – for everyone serving Christ in a rural or farming community.
• Arthur Rank Centre – An ecumenical national charity, which resources, trains, and advocates for rural Christians, rural churches and the communities they serve. Their vision is of confident rural Christians, encouraged to engage in effective mission and ministry. See their range of worship resources, their Country Way magazine and their Rural Ministry Course.
• CCX – Here to help all seeking help with church planting, rural as well as urban.
• Farming Christian Link – A support organisation run and supported by Christian volunteers from mainstream churches throughout the UK who are involved in farming or have links with farming and rural activities.
• Heartedge – Have a new rural resource.
• Hope Together – Generally great resources for evangelism, including some specifically rural ones.
• Lightwave Community – Contemporary missional community across the county of Suffolk with a particular heart for the countryside. Part of the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. See their downloadable small group notes.
• Myriad – Train lay teams for small-scale church-planting suitable for rural areas.
• New Wine Rural Network – Support for churches and ministers affiliated to New Wine.
• Rural Fresh Expressions is a network of fresh expressions practitioners in the countryside.
• Rural Ministries is a growing network of rural churches, pioneers and practitioners. RM exists to inspire, empower, and support denominations, churches, pioneers, and “those with just a glimmer of an idea who are called to live in rural communities across the UK”.
• Roots – Resources for worship and children’s work friendly for small church needs.
• Rural Missions equips and encourages rural churches to share the gospel and serve their local communities in creative, practical, and sustainable ways. They provide resources, training, and support to help rural Christians engage missionally in their unique rural contexts, at no cost to the church.
• Village Hope’s aim is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to encourage evangelism in the villages and rural communities of Britain. The support they can offer will vary from village to village.