Editorial

This issue of Rural Theology features an extended review by Malcolm Grundy of a recent book published in the USA that argues for a research-based approach to rural ministry. The subtitle of this book expresses its aim of ‘moving from anecdotal assumptions to data derived opportunities’. The review locates this approach alongside earlier relevant studies conducted within the UK and argues that many emphases within the book are relevant for stimulating further reflection on this side of the pond.

Three of the other papers published in this issue of Rural Theology illustrate the same theme by focusing on ways in which recent empirical studies illuminate specific areas of ministry and mission. The opening article was stimulated by recent debates initiated by an informal working group of Anglicans called Relational Church UK. The group posited that fostering a relational culture was good for faith development and for church growth. This prompted David W. Lankshear and Leslie J. Francis to re-visit their survey of over 30,000 churchgoers in the Diocese of Southwark to test that thesis on data, thereby seeing if they could move the claim from anecdote to evidence.

The second paper, by Ann Casson and colleagues, drew on Bishop David Walker’s model of four ways of belonging to God through the Anglican Church to test the contribution of Church of England rural primary schools for encouraging a sense of belonging. The data suggested that, while rural church schools may not be contributing to a sense of belonging through activities, they are contributing to a sense of belonging through events, people, and place.

The third paper, by Richard Vroom, arose from his personal response serving as a priest shaped in the Catholic tradition within rural parishes in Wales. He set out to test the thesis, shaped in the light of psychological type theory, that rural churches shaped in the Catholic tradition would attract more intuitive types than is the general case in Anglican churches. The data supported this thesis.

Working within a very different discipline, Peter Hollindale draws attention to the Christian poetry of Andrew Young (1885-1971), who stands in the long and honourable tradition of the rural parson poet. I hope that this paper will encourage a renewed interest in the work of Andrew Young and also stimulate other rural poets to contribute their work to this journal.