THE rural church should beware of being hampered by an idealised picture of the past, and look with confidence to God’s future.
 

That was the message from a conference for multi-parish benefices held in Oxford in January. The conference – which brought together around 100 people from the dioceses of Oxford, Coventry, Gloucester and Worcester – was called Through a strange land and focused on the theme of exile.
‘We’re in a difficult place,’ said the Revd Olivia Graham, Parish Development Adviser for Oxfordshire, who was on the planning group. ‘That can feel like exile. What does it mean to be aliens and strangers in the world? How do we have that confidence where we are about living in God’s light?’
 

The morning offered a theological reflection on the past, the present, and the future. The Rt Revd Gordon Mursell, Bishop of Stafford, spoke about the theme of exile in the Bible. ‘All of life is an experience of leaving home, from the moment a baby cries when leaving the womb,’ he said. ‘The Bible understands that exile, the working out of “leaving home”.’
 

Christians, he said, were all in voluntary exile. ‘In the Bible there is a constant struggle between the nomad and the settler. Those who were nomads become settlers and are driven out again. Exile was always accompanied by a lack of control and a profound sense of loss, and there was no going back. You can’t go home; you can only go forward,’ he said. And while shared memory is important, he warned that nostalgia was dangerous.

‘We need to adapt in exile, but not to conform. We need to live into the future that you’d love see God create.’
The Revd Dr Richard Cooke from Coventry Diocese and the Revd Canon Dr David Hoyle from Gloucester Diocese both reminded delegates that the nostalgia in rural areas for a vicar for every parish was misplaced, based on an idealised Victorian view of the countryside. ‘Ministry is difficult and the pressures are immense,’ said Dr Hoyle. ‘But we need to be a bit more confident that the narrative hasn’t changed too much. Let’s not create a mythical past that we’ve lost or think that we have to reinvent a whole thing.’
 

In the afternoon there was more practical input on resourcing ministry. Helen McGowan from Divine Inspiration in Coventry diocese spoke about ways of making rural churches more welcoming. The Revd Elizabeth Moxley, Rector of Aston Clinton with Buckland and Drayton Beauchamp, shared her experience building community in three rural parishes. Finally Martin Cavender, Director of ReSource, spoke about what he felt the Holy Spirit was saying to the churches.
The Revd Stephen M’Caw, Rector of Steeple Aston with North Aston and Tackley, said that the day had provided an excellent stimulus. ‘The morning speakers were positive, thought-provoking, and had a great confidence in our Christian faith,’ he said. 

‘Helen McGowan’s advice about making our churches welcoming to the casual visitor - pictorially illustrated with good and not so good examples - was a moment to reflect on how we were doing in this important area.’