Rural Ministry Town Halls
a place to talk about the joys and struggles of Rural Ministry
FREE
Rural Ministry Town Halls
Gather Together and Build a Network of Support
Who we are:
Rural can be defined in different ways. If you define yourself or your church as rural, please join us!
What we do:
- Share joys, insights, and successes
- Share challenges, disappointments, and failures
- Ask questions and raise concerns
JOIN US FOR A SPECIAL SERIES - Theological Banquet - via the Rural Ministry Town Halls
Dates/Times/ Sessions:
Wednesday March 26, 2025, 1-2pm ET - Learn about the upcoming Theological Banquet!
********Theological Banquet Begins - April 23, 2025 ********
Theological Banquet, LeaderShift, and Growth Department
As a leader, you are engaging others in discerning next steps for the community of faith, setting direction for everything from the budget to the book study. There is an expectation that you are equipped to discern the direction “God is calling” your community to go. This is all the more challenging because of the various beliefs people hold about who God is, God’s activity in the world, and what the church is for. By offering a language and lens to explore the variety ways people of faith experience the activity and call of God among them, the Theological Banquet turns that diversity from potential conflict into deep appreciation for one another and for what the Spirit is making possible.
Wednesday, April 23, 1-2:30 pm ET – Theological Banquet: Beginning with Lived Faith - Session #1
This session will introduce what is meant by reading the faith of the church from the ground-up, from the way faith is lived. Five different ways of living our faith are identified: evangelical, ecclesial, missional, ecumenical, and spiritual, thereby introducing the reality of theological diversity.
Wednesday, April 30, 1-2:30 pm ET – Theological Banquet: Uncovering Implicit Theologies - Session #2
This session contrasts the most distinctive features each of the five ways of living our faith. We’ll explore the unseen assumptions or implicit theologies each one carries. By asking a series of questions, we’ll learn about what is understood about God, faith, the church and how God engages in the world through each of the five lens of our faith.
Wednesday, May 7, 1-2:30 pm ET – Theological Banquet: Snapshot of Five Theologies - Session #3
This session will focus on understanding how these five implicit theologies might look and sound, and how they might appear and shape out faith communities. By the end of this session, participants should be able to identify the lens or expression of lived faith that they most identify with.
Wednesday, May 14, 1-2:30 pm ET – Theological Banquet: Appreciating Strength & Owning Our Shadows - Session #4
In this session we will introduce the strengths, shadows and antidotes of each of the five theologies. We will discover the particular gifts each of the five theologies offers to our communities of faith, what “good gone bad” looks like for each of us, and explore how the corrective to each shadow lies in the lived faith of another. In doing so, we will come to understand how critical diversity is to the flourishing of faith within and among us. Janet Gear will be joining us for this session!
Wednesday, May 21, 1-2:30 pm ET – Theological Banquet: Read to Lead, Reading Implicit Theologies and Leading with them - Session #5
This final session is designed to give us an opportunity to practice recognizing and reflecting on the theologies of the spoken, printed and sung word of each of our faith communities.
Wednesday, May 28, 1-2:30 pm ET - Theological Banquet: Debrief - Session #6
This will give people an opportunity to share strengths of the program. For those unable to attend the Theological Banquet, you can learn about how this resource might be used in your congregations. Also, this will be a chance to reflect on what other resources would be helpful for your congregations!
Wednesday, June 25, 1-2:30 pm ET - Looking Ahead (Regular Rural Ministry session)
Please join this session to help identify the major themes/topics for the coming year! What conversations would be helpful? Are their experts in a particular area we could invite? Are these stories that you are hungry to hear? Please come and share your thoughts, needs, and questions!
Speakers
The Rev. Bronwyn Corlett is honoured to be serving in the position of Rural Ministry Coordinator. As a team member of the Growth Department, her focus is on renewal of existing communities of faith, and exploring new expressions of ministry. Bronwyn is from Toronto but has a great appreciation for rural communities that make up over half of the churches within The United Church of Canada.
Janet Gear is a McGeachy Senior Scholar, United Church of Canada Foundation. Janet preaches, teaches and leads retreats within and beyond the Pacific Mountain Region of the United Church of Canada. Raised in Vancouver, she has supported the life and work of the United Church and ecumenical partners primarily in three areas: education for ministry and leadership, spirituality and social justice, and theology and faith. Resources
The Theological Banquet video series and handbooks are available for leaders to offer this workshop to their communities of faith, or a group of communities over several weeks or in a day-long format. Contact LeaderShift to access this resource https://leadershiftuccan.org/the-theological-banquet. Janet Gear is can be available for consultation to groups who have completed the workshop as they consider the implications of their discoveries. Bronwyn Corlett is available for consultation and support as the denominational Rural and New Ministries Coordinator. Please do not share the resources from each of the sessions. These are available for purchase through LeaderShift.