L. Shannon Jung and Mary A. Agria, Editors, Rural Congregational Studies: A Guide for Good Shepherds. Abingdon, 1997.
Companion volumes:
Referenced in: Small Church Leadership
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is a one-of-a-kind resource, designed primarily for seminary students, but still of value for non-seminary educated practitioners. Using a similar rubric as the standard text on congregational studies, Studying Congregations, the authors organize this book around four dimensions of understanding congregations, but from a distinctively rural perspective:
- Context – the demographic features of a rural ministry setting
- Identity – the unique style and characteristics of individual congregations
- Programs – the activities through which the congregation expresses its mission and ministry
- Process – the dynamics of decision making, leadership, and polity that knit the congregation together.
This is a substantive and fairly objective assessment guide, as one would expect from the authors’ roles as seminary professors. It is also aligned with the Center for Theology and Land, contending for alternative agriculture and economic, political, and social justice for rural communities, and pushing against agribusiness, etc. Most of the suggested exercises and assessment tools are aimed in this direction, which does not discredit them by any means, but it is important to know what one is getting. Those from more conservative or evangelical traditions will profit more from using this book simply to better understand the rural ministry context, especially if they do not have previous experience in such settings.
One may also profit from the companion volumes, Rural Ministry: The Shape of Renewal to Come, and Discovering Hope: Building Vitality in Rural Congregations.
From the Publisher
This handbook will orient seminary students and pastors who are doing ministry in rural congregations. It focuses on the nature of congregational life in such a setting, showing ways to deal with the issues and challenges peculiar to rural culture. The authors tell how to best engage in evangelism and mission in the particular locations in which these congregations find themselves.
Rural Congregational Studies: A Guide for Good Shepherds outlines features of different rural settings that affect life and church life. Each chapter contains a section of “resources” (sidebars, ideas, programs, and so forth) that tie it to the chapter theme.
About the Author
L. Shannon Jung is Director and Mary A. Agria is a Rural Development Specialist at the Center for Theology and Land, a joint project of the Wartburg and University of Dubuque Theological Seminaries in Iowa. Also edited by J. Shannon Jung is a companion volume, Rural Ministry: The Shape of Renewal to Come and Discovering Hope: Building Vitality in Rural Congregations.
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