CW80: A countryside sanctuary

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Based in the beautiful countryside of the Vale of Glamorgan, the Amelia Trust Farm is a pioneering and successful Methodist mission project. It was the brainchild of Bob and Ethel Huggard who wanted to support disadvantaged young people in mainstream education who found it hard to learn in a traditional classroom setting. In 1990 the Huggards donated land to create a rural lung and a countryside sanctuary for everyone to enjoy, and named the Farm Trust after Bob’s mother Amelia.

CW80: A Servant Church – hospitality, friendship and compassion

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Broad Chalke is a small Wiltshire village with big ideas and a caring heart. It lies in the Chalke Valley, midway between Salisbury and Shaftesbury, and is blessed with a beautiful medieval parish church of considerable size. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to use for anything other than large services and events, and doesn’t have the flexibility for more informal community gatherings.

CW80: Accessible Welcome

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Rachel has been a wheelchair-user since her late teens. For her, access to a building is not just about whether you can get in or not. ‘If you can’t get into a building it can feel like you’re not welcome in it. Every little adaption made to a building shows that the people inside care about you.’

CW80: Attracting Attention – the Easter Discovery Trail

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Trebullett Methodist Chapel, just south of Launceston in Cornwall, has a small congregation of about twenty people. Several community-based activities take place in the chapel hall but we wanted to let the wider community know that the chapel is there for anybody and has a message which is as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago.

CW80 Online Exclusive: New housing area in Coventry Diocese

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Since 1926 the rural eastern edge of Rugby has been marked by the 1170-acre Rugby Radio Station. Although formally considered a ‘brown-field’ site due to its technological heritage and 57 radio transmitters, the site has retained a predominantly rural character.

CW79 Online Exclusive: IRCA Conference 2018

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‘A great experience – this was my 5th IRCA Conference and it was, by far, the one that gave me most to bring home.’ Roger Greene

Rural churches around the world are in good heart and have great confidence for the future. That was the message from the International Rural Churches Association (IRCA) Conference held in Lincoln New Zealand in April 2018. For six glorious autumn days, some hundred people from around the world, including a group from the UK, met to share stories and experiences and reflect on what it means to be the presence of God in our rural communities.

CW79 Online Exclusive: Make your own poppies

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This resource contains knitted, crocheted and plastic bottle poppies.

CW79: RAF100

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In 2018 the Royal Air Force celebrates its 100th birthday. Up and down the country there are links between churches and former airfields but standing in a quiet church now it is hard to imagine the bustle and noise that was once such big part of the lives of these buildings…

CW79: ‘Remember Me’

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‘Do this to remember me.’ Jesus at his last meal with his friends (Luke 22:19)

‘Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.’ An anonymous thief a few hours later (Luke 23:42)

What happens as we gather in groups, up and down the land, to remember those who have died? Does it change us? Do we live differently, think differently, relate to other people differently, as a result of remembering? What does it mean for us to remember?

CW79: Remembering our routes

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In a recent BBC Radio Scotland broadcast, Martin Palmer of the Alliance for Religions and Conservation commented that ‘Every major religion has seen an increase in pilgrims of between 200 and 400% in the last 20 years.’ Pilgrimage in Scotland is recreating long distance walking routes that connect churches and other holy sites associated with historic shrines, bringing new life to rural communities whose local services and amenities have either disappeared or need to be sustained.