ft Number 22
May 1991
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
Hope f or the countryside A NATIONAL survey of life in the countryside is being undertaken by the Rural Community Councils to coincide with Census Day on April 21. A report based on its findings may well reveal a rather hopeless picture of villages short of affordable housing, transport, shops and jobs. The Church of England's own report Faith in the Countryside, published last autumn, also suggests that rural life can be far from idyllic. Apart from highlighting social problems it showed that a shortage of clergy in rural areas coupled with a general decline in church attendance has meant that it is much more difficult for a village church to be at the centre of community life and that young people in particular are often alienated from it.
Encouraging Our own research for this rural issue has, however, been encouraging, and has convinced us that the rural Church - at least in this Diocese - is in a reasonably robust state. A tiny church at Little Linford which faced closure 20 years ago is now self-supporting, and has developed a much needed ministry of welcome. The school at Grazeley which, with only 70 pupils, might well be considered uneconomic is a real bridge between the community and the church. There are Christians running a whole food shop in Cholsey, and Christians driving a bus to get their children to Sunday school at Sutton Courtenay. The elderly lady we interviewed, far from complaining about being lonely, said that she liked the 'newcomers' and much
Two-year-old Joshua Lynch pictured with the bush planted to celebrate his baptism at St Leonard's Church, Little Linford Photograph by Frank Blackwell. (see page 15, Parish Profile).
Bishop Bone: long distance walker THE Bishop of Reading, the Right Revd John Bone, should know more about the Berkshire countryside than anyone else in the Diocese by July 14. That is the day he hopes to complete an epic walk of several hundred miles around his Archdeaconry. His journey, which starts on Sunday June 2 in his home village of Sonfling, will take in urban as well as rural areas and cover all ten deaneries within his area. Long distance walking is not new to Bishop John. This Easter he crossed Cornwall from north to south, and only cancelled a planned pilgrimage from lona to Lindisfarne in 1989 because he was required to be at his own consecration as a bishop. "I have got a horror of getting stuck behind a desk; and have always put into my diary opportunities for going out and meeting people beyond the Church. Bishop John hopes that the walk will raise the profile of the local
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church at both deanery and parish level, and also provide an opportunity for the public to see and walk and talk with a representative of the Church. He also hopes to emphasise the unity of the ten deaneries in his area by linking them in "a pilgrimage of prayer", and finally to encourage Church people in their Witness in the Decade of Evangelism. As an Area Bishop he has a number of formal duties to attend to and will take a week "off" at the end of June for a residential staff meeting, the Diocesan Synod, a licensing and an ordination. Bishop John's wife, Ruth will provide the "backup" and act as a mobile office. She will also be responsible for delivering his cope and mitre when required for confirmation ceremonies. She has also made him a special purple top to go with his rucksack and pastoral staff, so that he will be easily recognisable. There will be a timetable and map of Bishop John's journey in the June DOOR.
Sharing the Good News in the Decade of Evangelism
preferred the more up to date 'handclapping' family services which have brought young families to fill her church on Sundays. Living in the country can be hardest on the young but for our Young Door writer, the church offered a social as well as a spiritual life, and as for the vicar's wife so often portrayed as a plastercast figure, ours turned out to be a person in her own right.
Optimism The DOOR's view of the countryside may well have erred on the side of optimism. But PCCs throughout the Diocese are currently being asked to discuss and comment on Faith in the Countryside prior to its discussion at the Diocesan Synod in November. Some of the responses are bound to be negative ones for undoubtedly the Church in the countryside is going through a period of traumatic change. However, as parishes begin to take stock of themselves they may need to remind themselves that there is not only a great deal of faith in the countryside but also much cause for hope. Our call is to neighbourliness, to love, to compassion and mutual care. Our hope then is that our theology of creation, of person and of community will be persuasive, and will encourage departure from those other views of the environment and of the individual, which are currently producing so many problems for our earth and our societies. (Faith in the Countryside, 2.48).. • Inside the DOOR: from Ambridge to Little Linford Countryside topics on pages 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 and 19.
On a hilltop under the shadow of the high Himalayas, a cooperative makes rugs for one village These rugs are pure cotton, unbleached and not dyed, so they belong with any colourscheme. Quality is excellent; prices very attractive. Our shops consistently feature these and other home accessories from Africa, Asia, South America
one village) TheWorid Shop '
WOODSTOCK OXFORDSHIRE REGENT ARCADE CHELTENHAM FROM CO-OPS & COMMUNITY ENTERPRISES WORLDWIDE