IRCA 2022 Round the World

Networking for prayer and conversation

with video, worship and presentations

7-8 March 2022 

Because we are unable to meet face to face this year for our regular Quadrennial Conference, the IRCA Leadership decided to set up a 24 hour opportunity to connect and pray together as rural churches around the world. We will be online on ZOOM for the whole 24 hours which means that anywhere in the world you can join at a time that suits you.

The Lutheran Seminary’s Center for Theology and Land in Dubuque, Iowa, USA is hosting its regular annual rural ministry conference and our plan is to link up to their opening sessions. (This Seminary is where IRCA 2022 was originally going to be held, now postponed to 13-20 April 2023.) The Rev Dr Mark Yackel-Juleen, Director for Small Town and Rural Ministry at the Center and Chairperson of IRCA will open the ZOOM session at 1500GMT. Following this will be Bible Study led by Dr Craig Nessan and the Keynote Speaker Rev Melanie Mullen. Heather Major from IRCA’s Leadership Group will lead us in a time of prayer and connecting and then we will head off around the world, an hour at a time, in different countries moving west around the globe.

People from anywhere in the world can join us on ZOOM during the 24 hours: you can come and go as you wish. Click here for the detailed programme and REGISTER to be ready to receive the ZOOM link prior to the start.

Connecting Communities in Prayer

Ruminations

The latest edition of the Australian rural ministry magazine Ruminations is now available. Click here to access from this website. Or go to source where you can also access earlier editions.

The theme for this Spring/Summer 2021 edition is “RENEWING”. In his introduction editor Mark Faulkner says, “Each of our contributors have, completely independently of each other, reminded us that renewing is a particular occurrence that takes place outside of the ordinary. It is in Sabbath. grief, loss, seeking, honesty, separation, and discernment that the seeds of renewing can be planted. Renewing, as our authors tell us, comes with an element of surprise and is a gift to us, even a divine blessing and does not come without work, struggle, effort and yet is a human responsibility.”

Take a read and be inspired. However different your context may be, there will be something that connects for sure. For that is the nature of the gospel.

Gleanings of a Prairie Pastor

Joyce Sasse has penned this collection of rural community memories and writings which is available to download as an e-book. It contains the fruits of her many years as a rural minister with the United Church of Canada, with themes that will relate to many, in terms of the rural context or of being a pastor to people, as they are and where they are.

Click here to access the ebook.

IRCA-Europe Conference 2021

Postponed from from 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, IRCA-Europe will gather at the end of May and work together on the theme of “Sourdough for the Land”.

Rural Church representatives are invited to Sibiu/Hermannstadt in Romania from 31 May to 3 June 2021.

In the words of the organisers:

The biblical image of the sourdough bears in this days a stronger importance than ever. In times when we talk about reconstruction and resilience it is important to see what the role of churches in general and the importance of rural communities in particular can be. This will be the theme and main motivation of our conference in Sibiu. As Christians we carry the responsibility not just for our own families, our direct environment and our communities in which we are active, but also far beyond these.

According to that, we want to value the days in Sibiu by informing about the activities of the european rural churches, listen to a presentation about the contribution of churches for a sustainable Europe and also place on our agenda the engagement of the Orthodox Church in Romania upon the preservation of the environment.  At an appointment in Rășinari we will get an inside view in the illegal logging of the forests and the local mayor will speak about the sustainable alpine pasture in this area.

Our programme is embedded in morning and evening prayers, in listening to the word of God and in the praise and gratitude for Him keeping us alive until now. This unifying force of the Christian faith and Christian hope gives us strength not just for our work in the different regions of Europe, but also across all borders.

IRCA-Oceania Questionnaire 2020

Unable to gather in Queensland, Australia this year because of the pandemic, the Leadership Group of IRCA-Oceania has put together a questionnaire seeking stories and ideas from the people who might have gathered and indeed from all who are the heart and soul of rural churches in the Oceania region.

The theme of the planned conference was “Bringing Hope in Challenging Times”, a theme which became even more relevant when Covid-19 hit. We’d like to be able to share our stories of hope, as well as share the challenges we’re facing and how we have responded and continued to be church for our communities.

If this is your region of the world, you can download the questionnaire here and send it to the email address at the end of the form.

Verse of the day God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. – Psalm 46:1 (NIV)

Voice of the day What we all need to do is find the wellspring that keeps us going, that gives us the strength and patience to keep up this struggle for a long time.  – Winona LaDuke

Prayer of the day Creator God, we are in dire straits. Show us the best path for us to take at this time so our energies and strength will be directed by You. We cannot do this without You.  – Sojourners Reader From Verse and Voice, https://sojo.net/daily-wisdom/verse-and-voice-03312020