New Wine calls rural church leaders

New Wine held a conference for rural church leaders on 10th and 11th February 2009 at Hothorpe Hall, Leicestershire.  Barry Osborne from the Rural Evangelism Network was invited to address this..

The New Wine website states the organisation's vision as "to see the nation changed through Christians and churches being filled with the Spirit, alive with the joy of knowing and worshipping Jesus Christ, living out his Word, and doing the works of the Kingdom of God."

Few Christians would dissent from such a vision but the challenge for rural churches is implementing such a vision.  For this reason it was good to meet with these leaders from rural churches.

Many urban and suburban churches have been renewed in their life and witness through the moving of the Holy Spirit.  But such charismatic renewal usually has a significant impact upon the nature of the congregation.  Sometimes this has led to others being attracted from beyond the immediate area.  In some rural churches this has led to alienation from the local community.  But does this have to be the case?

Some experienced rural clergy would also see the conservative nature or rural churches and communities as also presenting an impediment, while the prominence of the church socially within the community and the general lack of anonymity will also raise issues.

So is it possible to be charismatic without compromise, Spirit filled and sensitive to cultural constraints?  These are just some of the questions that this valuable conference explored.