Centre for Rural Community Leadership and Ministry
Mission & Vision
Our central purpose is rural ministry leadership development. CiRCLe M will equip rural clergy and lay leaders to help their churches be catalysts for the development of healthy rural communities in Canada. It will develop and coordinate instruction, research, mentors, materials, and conferences towards this purpose. It will work to build bridges between rural churches and other institutions/organizations concerned with the well-being of rural communities including: church structures of various denominations, rural community development programs (both academic and government-based), government rural health initiatives, the Canadian Rural Church Network, and other partners.
WHAT IS OUR VISION?
Imagine...
- a place where clergy and lay leaders could get training that was specifically geared to rural contexts
- if rural congregations were well-equipped to work with businesses, schools, health care facilities and other churches to address the needs of their communities.
- that rural church leaders had useful tools to help change the “palliative care” pastor-as- personal-chaplain of a dying congregation” mindset into a vital mission-oriented perspective
- that there was solid research being done on the ways in which rural churches are already catalysts for hope and health in their communities
- a place that helped denominational structures to recognize and value rural churches
- that remote aboriginal churches could get training for their leadership in an accessible distance format
- that denominational seminaries had a resource they could draw on to give their students a solid theoretical and practical introduction to rural ministry
- that clergy new to rural settings had a trained rural mentor to help them learn the possibilities and pitfalls of rural ministry
- a place where the best practices and resources for rural ministry that have been developed in all Christian denominations and parachurch organizations could be gathered and shared