David Webber’s article on the rural church and Calvin Brown’s on lay missionaries obviously hit on an issue for people living in the Peace Country of Alberta.
Before I had even opened the cover of the Record, I had a couple of people call me about the articles; there was conversation over lunch after church; and a non-Presbyterian friend that I didn’t even know read the Record also commented on the articles. All of this is interesting as rarely does any article in the Record initiate so much conversation around here.
Both articles speak to a need in the church to address the issues of rural ministry in Canada. Lack of ordained ministers in rural Canada creates a challenge in worship and receiving the sacraments that those in urban centres never, or at least rarely, ever have to consider. At one point it seemed as though the church might be going in the right direction with a paper that was sent for study on presbytery-approved pastoring elders a few years ago. Many were disappointed when we heard that the study was shelved as a number of presbyteries and sessions said there was no need for such ministry in Canada.
It was an option that for us held promise and after such a dismal response I wondered if anyone cared about us, and for that matter who really understands our needs. The two articles directly speak to the need to do ministry differently in rural settings and often these ministries do not fit neatly into the polity of the church. There is a need for change and allowing lay missionaries to administer communion is only one of the issues that needs to be addressed. The direction of the 2009 General Assembly in instructing the clerks and named committees to create “legislation, guidelines, education and requirements” for lay missionaries to serve communion is a positive step forward. It is my hope and prayer that those entrusted with this task do not create a response that continues to impede ministry in rural settings with legislation and requirements that are impossible to implement and abide by.
