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Newsletter # 26 CANADIAN RURAL CHURCH NETWORK
Index of 26th Newsletter (CRCN)
RURAL ISSUES (Rural Poverty in Canada) Naming the Issues (Rural Volunteer Sector) ● Glimmers of Hope (Rural Volunteer Sector) ● Senate Committee Recommendations (re: Rural Volunteer Sector)
RURAL MINISTRY (life and faith) ● Our Church Buildings ● Recognizing Rural Volunteers ● Celebrating Despite Life's Contradictions ● In a Consumer Addicted World
WORSHIP RESOURCES ● Responsive Prayer - based on Psalm 46 ● Leaving Home ● Garden Clean-up ● Coffee Row
NEWS NOTES ● IRCA Meeting in 2010 ● New Rural Resource
RURAL ISSUES (Poverty in Rural Canada)
Central Concern: After an intensive 2-year dialogue with citizens across rural Canada, the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry has published a well-written, insightful report, and has made its recommendations to the Federal Government.
The 25th Newsletter of the CRCN tried to summarize the over-all report. This 26th Newsletter focuses on what the Committee has noted and recommended concerning the volunteer sector.
The appropriate legislatives bodies will act on these recommendations only if the report is kept alive. Rural people need to familiarize themselves with the report, and keep talking with political leaders and the media.
(To read the complete report see www.par.gc.ca go to 'Committees', 'Senate', Agriculture and Forestry Reports', 'Ninth Report')
NAMING THE ISSUES - Revitalizing the Rural Volunteer Sector
(notes from the Senate Report to the Canadian Government on "Halting Rural Poverty")
"In many urban environments, fire and police protection is assumed, as is appropriate and available child care. Convenient transportation methods and routes are a given. Health care providers are located around the corner and many times available 24 hours per day. Schools are located in most neighbourhoods and those students that must be bused typically have less than a 30-minute ride. In rural environments, we volunteer to man our local fire departments, and in terms of a police presence, that may be every couple of weeks, if we are lucky. In rural regions, we form neighbourhood and rural watch committees and are utilizing the Block Parent Program in record numbers, while that same programming in urban environments is going by the wayside. Health care providers may make a weekly visit, but more often we find ourselves organizing volunteers to make a trip to a community 30 miles to 60 miles away so our local residents, who are not able to drive, can see their doctor. Schools in rural communities are under review and many parents face a difficult decision in terms of bus times as they consider options such as home schooling." (from Community Futures Sagehill)
Evidence: ● "According to the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, some 78.1% of all firefighting personnel in Canada are volunteers; fully 91.2% of all fire fighting departments are volunteer departments."
● "Rural residents are more actively engaged than their urban counterparts in formal volunteer activities ... The proportion of people engaged in formal volunteer activities was highest in rural communities and declined in inverse proportion to community size..."
● Rural charities, agricultural societies, animal protection organizations, community halls, libraries and volunteer fire departments are staffed by volunteers.
● "Faith-based organizations often play a central role... 'The churches are great supporters and most of our 300 volunteers come from those local churches ... Without the churches and the volunteers it would be difficult to keep going.' (Loaves and Fishes, Brockville)
● "Members live out their faith as volunteer cancer patient drivers, shut-in and retirement home visitors, Meals-on-Wheels drivers, caring quilters groups, after school children's program leaders, school council representatives, volunteer firefighters, leaders of events that assist children with autism, friendship visits with lonely seniors still in their own homes, volunteer workers with victim's' services, leaders of cancer fundraising events, coaches for hockey and soccer teams, volunteers with Communities in Bloom and keeping a stretch of public road clean and litter-free. Churches often band together to offer a vacation program for children in communities where recreational programs are few and far between or are purely sports oriented, which involves both expense and athletic interest and aptitude." (Christine OReilly, Ontario)
● "Evidence suggests that rural residents are more likely to make donations to charities and non-profit organizations than urban residents, although the average donation amount tends to be somewhat lower."
● "The volunteers are getting older and they are getting tired because they are the same people year after year, given that no natural replacements are moving to town... For volunteers that help, the reality is that the only way they stop volunteering is to move or die." (Alberta Women's Institute)
● "The committee heard a considerable volume of evidence that rural depopulation and economic decline are putting increased stress on an aging, exhausted, and depleted rural volunteer base and, in so doing, threatening to erode or erase many of the services rural Canadians need and want."
● "Traditionally (people) in rural areas have been shielded from some of the most serious and harmful effects of poverty by formal and informal volunteerism. Women's unpaid work, at home and in the community, drives both the formal and informal structures of the social infrastructure." (P.E.I.)
● "In some communities the volunteer shortage is undermining essential services such a firefighters. 'I see farmers and fishermen ... who are going out West to work in the oil fields to make money to buy groceries for the family... There is a volunteer fire chief who has left home, left his community and gone out West to earn a living to help pay for the family..."
● "As we lose professionals in rural communities, we lose advocates for the people who need us. It also results in a smaller number of people who can take on leadership roles. We see this much in this community where our volunteers are getting older and older." (Ontario)
GLIMMERS OF HOPE - Revitalizing the Rural Volunteer Sector
(notes from the Senate Report to the Canadian Government on "Halting Rural Poverty")
Warner (Alberta) Hockey School The citizens of Warner made opportunity, when their school was threatened with closure, to develop a program for the Girls' Hockey School. The community now has a 20-year plan to attract 350 students and branch out into other sports. The new activities could generate $1 million in annual economic activity and help make this small prairie town bloom again.
Stan Rogers Folk Festival - Canso, Nova Scotia 2/3 of the community volunteers to put on the annual Stan Rogers Folk Festival, which is attended by 900 people. "Canso is the place where messages about the war, the Titanic and all sorts of things first came". It now has a Call Centre, and many of the positions are occupied by single mothers.
Lumberjack Heritage Festival - Kapuskasing, Ontario Volunteers work year-round to plan the community's major tourism event for this other-wise forestry-dependent community.
A Greenhouse in Every Community? - Iqaluit, Nunavut This project was seen to be a way to contribute to 'community wellness', a healthy alternative people could get involved in. Provides locally-grown fresh fruit and vegetables, contributes to the community's sense of self-reliance, expects to eventually contribute to the Nunavut economy. Wants to be a model to show other northern communities how they can develop similar projects in local areas.
Micro-cash Input Helps Rural Nova Scotia "We had a program where we took $1,000 and went to a dairy. They said kids are not getting milk, and the dairy said 'We'll give you 30%.' They took that $1,000 and that was 30%, and then the family paid 30%. Families paid only one third of the cost of milk for their children. That seems like a minor thing, but it was a huge thing for those families."
SENATE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS - Revitalizing the Rural Volunteer Sector
(notes from the Senate Report to the Canadian Government on "Halting Rural Poverty")
It is recommended that the Federal Government fund a national foundation dedicated to supporting community-related activities in rural Canada and introduce tax measures to reward volunteer time ... It also recommends that money be made available to a micro-credit lending program.
Senate Committee Recommends Measures to Assist Rural Volunteers
1. Rural Extension Officers for the Volunteer Sector
"Often in rural areas, being able to connect with the right person is important. It would be really wonderful if we had, whether we call it a one-stop information or some place we could go. Most communities still have a library. If we could go there we could be pointed in the right direction for the phone number or whatever. It used to be the country seat that would have had the health authority, the district agriculturalist, the home economist, everybody. Now from my area, it is a long-distance phone call somewhere if we can figure out where to call. Many people just never access information because of the difficulty to figure it out. That would also allow government to connect better with small communities." (Canada 4-H Council)
RECOMMENDATION: that the federal government should help the Foundation for Rural Living expand it Rural Development Officer program ...
2. Set Up A Dedicated Non-Profit Investment Fund for Rural Canada
"The future of investment into rural Canada's volunteer and charitable sector will depend on more than increasing the technical ability of these groups to seek outside funding. It will also depend on raising the profile of rural Canada and developing funds dedicated to its needs ... (In Alberta) there exists a gross funding inequity in rural charitable initiatives... You might want to consider establishing a rural foundation for Western Canada... The booming Alberta economy has done little to address the urban-rural discrepancy, despite the fact that Alberta's resource wealth and much of its labour is largely in rural areas of the province." e.g. in Calgary large oil and gas companies submit up to $1 million to the United Way. (This rural foundation money could, as an example, help rural youth to develop the artistic skills that are often difficult to nurture in a rural environment.) "If we can get the start-up costs and some of the infrastructure supports, we will be able to put small investments of cash and make big changes to some of our families dealing with health crises, or with particular gifts and seeking out opportunities." (Lethbridge)
RECOMMENDATION: that the federal government create a national foundation dedicated to supporting community-related activities in rural Canada ...
3. Reach Out, Recognize and Reward Rural Volunteers
"It is important to recognize the work and dedication of volunteers. We need to do everything we can to recognize and thank people who are giving of their time and not just throwing a toonie or a five-dollar bill into a basket. It costs much more for people to give of their time, energy and skills. Anything we can do to encourage, enhance, recognize and pay tribute to our volunteers is time, effort and money well spent." (O'Reilly, Ontario)
RECOMMENDATION: that the federal government immediately create a tax credit to recognize and reward volunteer work, especially for emergency service personnel.
4. Ease the Regulatory Burden for Rural Volunteers
It was explained "how the well-intentioned regulations imposed by provincial and municipal public health offices can affect day-to-day volunteer activities in rural Canada: 'I would also point out a little detail that rural people often get caught up in. When the women from our local community hall bring sandwiches to firefighters in a disaster situation, the sandwiches are turned away because they are not made under public health regulation. Our firefighters went without a meal because of that rule. This is approaching silliness.'" (U. of Alberta)
There is also an issue of frustration, with simple fundraising raffles, bingos and others things falling under the Criminal Code of Canada now.
RECOMMENDATION: that the proposed Department of Rural Affairs investigate the extent to which federal and provincial regulations and laws may be inhibiting volunteer activity in rural Canada.
5. That the proposed Department of Rural Affairs develop and implement a leadership training program for rural communities
Closing Remarks
"Rural policy needs to recognize the diversity that characterizes rural Canada. Rural policy needs to facilitate not dictate. And rural policy needs to help those who can demonstrate they want to be helped. With these principles firmly in mind and the hard work of Canada's almost six million rural Canadians, we believe rural Canada can be a place where a generation from now, the population has increased and health, education, income and other outcomes are on par with the rest of Canada."
(Notes on the Rural Poverty report written by Joyce Sasse)
RURAL MINISTRY (life and faith) Our Church Buildings. Are they a blessing for the sake of the world, or a burden?
Just a few years ago members of the United Church's Architectural Resource Group decided the church needs encouragement to reduce energy use in its buildings. That decision in 2006 culminated in the creation of a twenty-six page resource entitled, Greening the Church: Reducing Your Church Building's Ecological Footprint. "Reducing your energy bill" and "Improving your building's energy efficiency" are just two of the chapter titles. Two appendices also provide the reader with explanations about greenhouse gases and climate change along with a current list of resources from the United Church and other organizations.
Across Canada, our church buildings come in a variety of sizes and shapes. They are used by many for an impressive variety of purposes. We who occupy these buildings have both the privilege and the responsibility to ensure these buildings are safe, welcoming, and beautiful.
As staff-person that relates to the work of the Architectural Resource Group (ARG), I join with them in hoping you will take the time to consider ways in which your church buildings can be improved. Even small amounts of money or the smallest members of your church can make noticeable positive changes. The resource, Greening the Church, is full of practical steps to help people get started with making positive changes now.
ARG members are volunteers serving congregations across the country. More details concerning this volunteer assistance may be obtained by going to the web-site and order Greening the Church from the Resource Distribution Centre as well as read more about ARG and other related resources by following these web links: go to the section entitled Church Buildings by first going to the link - Worship and Renewal/then go to Renewal and Development/ then to Church Buildings. You will find several articles concerning church buildings there. www.united-church.ca
We welcome hearing stories of renewal of church buildings, so if you have a story to tell, please share your story so we can also share it with others. (Written by Michelle Hogman, United Church national office)
Recognizing Rural Volunteers
I had a neat experience yesterday that I wanted to tell you about.
In the small town of Stirling, Ontario, there is a wonderful agricultural museum. There are four buildings, with a fifth on the way next summer. The people who have built the museum from scratch say that they did it without any government money, and they are extremely proud of that. It represents four counties.
It is a fairly young museum, and three years ago, they began inducting people into their Agricultural Hall of Fame. Yesterday was their induction ceremony for 2008, and I was there because one of the people they were honouring was Dad. They inducted 6 people into the Hall of Fame yesterday, four who have passed on, and two who were there to receive their honour in person.
The six inductees were: - a fellow long dead, but a pioneer in the late 1880's in establishing a thriving canning industry in Prince Edward County. - an apple grower - a professor af agriculture at the the Ontario Agricultural College - an innovator in crop farming - two dairy farmers
To hear of their collective accomplishments was very affirming of the contributions of farming folk to community life. The other thing that caught my attention was that three of them were very involved in their churches,. Even in this part of the country which is so influenced by the big urban centres, the church is central to the rural areas. It is changing of course, but it still makes my heart warm to hear these examples of the strong connection between good faith and good farming. (Written by Elaine Kellogg, long-time participant in the CRCN)
Celebrating Despite Life's Contradictions
What if, for one week, stories of artists and their endeavours led in the media headlines?
After years of being bombarded with front-page political reporting, I suspect the mood of the country would change for the better. We would need a week for the artists to really get their stride as they invite the rest of us to rediscover levity.
Life becomes somber when clouds of ambitious sobriety, thrift and industry darken each day. Negativity and cynicism grow like mould in dank places.
But if a rebirth of the spirit of fantasy and festivity were to infect the country, we might dare to dream again and find creative flashes that would fill us with vitality and hope. We might even rediscover feelings of generosity for the future.
In medieval Europe, where the social difference between the peasantry and their over-lords was enormous, there were jesters and there was the Feast of Fools.
Jesters could appear at any time and say just about anything under the guise of humour. They pointed out ridiculous contradictions made evident by those with power. They were critically astute individuals who weren't afraid to appear ludicrous when they sought to right a wrong.
The Feast of Fools was a day set aside for frivolity - when the roles of the peasants and the over-lords were reversed.
Throughout the year, as peasants suffered injustices, I can imagine them taking note. When opportunity came to mime their superiors, their message had to be clear, concise, and delivered with enough humour to insure they didn't jeopardize themselves.
The power of art - be it with the brush or the pen, with music or drama or dance, with sculpture or fabric design - can touch our emotions, clarify our thinking, and raise us to newer levels of insight.
We might even discover that life is worth celebrating despite its contradictions. (Written by Joyce Sasse)
In a Consumer-addicted World
People are becoming more and more aware of environmental issues, of the need to conserve our resources, and of the imperative to stop contaminating earth, air and water. But how do we get ourselves in position to think boldly and act effectively?
Faith Communities can be key players in this regard.
For Christians, their Biblical mandate is to respect creation and offer glimmers of hope in even the gloomiest of situations. In the context of worship, invitations can be offered regularly to name pertinent concerns and remember those affected. Through prayer, song and reflection, understanding emerges. Churches can model responsible behaviour through the way they use energy, administer their business, select their programs, and handle recyclables. Energy audits, thrift shops, neighbourhood gardens, and family-oriented activities come to mind.
We need the critics as well - people who aren't afraid to remind us that, despite our intentions, our actions may not be acceptable. When we rant against a consumer-addicted world, for example, how does the local merchant hear that message? Do they have to compartmentalize the spiritual and the secular in their lives? Or is it easier to opt out of the religious scene? Has the church overlooked the opportunity to encourage dialogue with local merchants, farmers, business people and political leaders? This could lead to finding ways to enhance life within the community.
Our community is soon to become a "Wal-Mart Community", and there are as many opinions about the matter as there are citizens. Even while the decision has been made to have the corporate giant in our midst, the need for local folks to talk together and work through this process together is more important than ever.
Will the churches be there to help us find ways to live as caring stewards of the world around us? (Written by Joyce Sasse)
WORSHIP RESOURCES
Responsive Prayer - Based on Psalm 46
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble." We come before you today, Lord, as people who know the meaning of anxiety and insecurity. (silence)
"Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." We lay before you the fears we have for our homes, our farms, our incomes, and the survival of our communities. (silence)
"Though the waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge." We lay before you our feelings of frustration and helplessness. We lay before you our broken dreams. We turn to you as the ever present source of strength in the whole of life. (silence)
"There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the City of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. God shall help her; and that right early." God brings peace into our lives, and we find life's stresses eased, and it's perplexities resolved. God is ever present. God's healing and help is constant. (silence)
"Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge." In silence and reverence, we need to again hear God and receive the healing gift of God's love. Thanks be to God. Amen
Leaving Home
As I watch parents helping their kids prepare to leave for college, I think of Norman Rockwell's wonderful painting titled "Breaking Home Ties".
Set in the early Thirties, father and son are seated on the running board of the old family car, watching for the train. The picture tells a wonderful story of expectation and hesitation.
The lad, not too comfortable in dress-up clothes, is eagerly looking for the train. The father, arms resting on his knees, fiddles with his sweat-stained straw-hat. You can almost taste the tears he's holding back.
Most touching is the collie resting his head on the knee of his young Master, all too aware big changes are pending.
What can one say by word of comfort? I think of the Biblical story told in the Book of Ecclesiastes. It tells of the old Philosopher reflecting on his life journey.
If you spend your whole life keeping your nose tied to the grindstone, he tells his students (and all of us), what do you have to show for your labour? You end up feeling there is nothing new under the sun.
That was why he went out to explore the whole world in his search for wisdom.
How good this venture was, for it enriched his life. He learned how to separate what was foolish from what was worthwhile. He learned that things weren't all black-and-white: "there is a time for birth, and there is a time for death ..." and you can learn how to take these in your stride. He learned that in one life-time no one can understand all of God's ways.
He advises all of us to relax, explore and enjoy life and appreciate the marvel of gifts God has given.
By reaching out, trying our wings, whatever our age, the burden of living can become a joy. (Written by Joyce Sasse)
Garden Clean-up
Some people garden to feed their families. I garden for the sheer delight of working with the soil.
As I watch the mystery of growth unfold, the birds and insects, the soil and humus and rain together play a magnificent summer nocturne. And, of course, in my South Albertan garden, I'm constantly tested by the wind.
The challenge is to try to find something special for each season. In Spring there are tiny crocus, winter onions and last year's parsnips. Oh for the crisp texture of radish and lettuce enjoyed while looking at the bright daffodils and the random faces of the Johnny-jump-ups.
It's never thought to be an over-investment of work once we've cooked a few beet greens and peas, but I do marvel at how the market gardeners' produce makes mine look so tiny and insignificant.
Now we wonder when the first killing frost will expose undetected cucumbers, and rid us of the pesky aphids. How much do we protect beautiful blossoms and slow-to-ripen tomatoes? There's already been evidence of snow in the high country.
Indian Summer lures me on, maybe even to take the fishing pole down to the pool where the whitefish congregate.
There is a sadness because the freedom of the warm days will soon end. But there is also the mystery of the soil becoming a living tomb, full of seeds and spores and roots, and of cricket eggs and moth cocoons hiding under cover until the time is right to reveal themselves in new ways.
Even in the snow, and beneath the naked trees, I sense a guarantee that nothing stays the same from one year to the next. But life will carry on.
It helps me as I pass through yet another metamorphosis to know the Promise, wrapped in mystery and wonder, that all of this is the Creator's Gift. (Written by Joyce Sasse)
Coffee Row
One of the delights of being retired is having the time, on a fairly regular basis, to join the coffee gang at the local cafe.
What I've learned to appreciate is their caring as they share news about who's in the hospital, their concern as they discuss the delayed harvest, their humour as they swap stories. This is the forum where matters of concern are debated long before final votes are made. Diversity of opinion enriches our time together.
When I went through my chemo-therapy last year, this group fed me socially and spiritually. It was like finding manna in the desert.
As early as the Seventies, Carl Dudley gave wise advice to small congregations and small communities. In an era when "justice" and "equality" were key phrases, this Professor of Church and Community (McCormick University) pointed to a more important reality.
In small communities, he said, it isn't about treating everyone equally. Local people know that! It's about treating people as the individuals they are.
That takes effort. It means getting to know the members of the community, getting to find ways to bring out their strengths and work around their warts. It means taking the time to establish relationships with each other, and make those relationships work.
In the Gospel story of the woman who was about to be stoned because of an act of indiscretion, in fulfillment of the Law, Jesus intervened. He changed the focus. Instead of looking solely at 'her sin', he invited those who stood with stones in their hands to consider what they were about to do. Is this not a person? Possibly a victim? Does that justify your harsh judgment? "Let the one among you who is totally innocent of indiscretion cast the first stone."
Stones were dropped. The crowd dispersed. Wisdom prevailed. (Written by Joyce Sasse)
NEWS NOTES
IRCA Meeting in 2010
I am writing to remind you, or inform you, that the International Rural Church Association, which met in Brandon, MB, last summer, will be gathering again in 2010, in Europe. Lothar Schullerus, the president of IRCA, has invited a Canadian delegation of 10 people, and as people interested in rural ministry and participating in rural ministry and community, I would like to ask you to consider representing Canada at the conference.
The Canadian Rural Church Network will be responsible for the Canadian delegation going to Europe (and we will be meeting in 2008 in Ont., affiliated with the Queen's Symposium, and in 2009 in the west), so if you or anyone you know would be interested in going to IRCA 10, please contact me. The conference is about a week in length, and the last two cost $500. When the people came to Canada from other countries, we offered host families to provide them with up to a week of Canadian rural life. Some of you receiving this letter were among the hosts. Perhaps that opportunity will be offered by the European churches in 2010.
If we expect 10 people to go, there will also have to be some fundraising, or seeking sponsors (agencies, churches, etc) to assist with the costs for people.
Please consider this. These conferences have been, for those who have participated, wonderful experiences, and really eye-opening in bringing together Christian rural leaders from around the world. Hoping to hear from you. Blessings, Catherine Christie (CRCN, Circle-M and IRCA)
New Rural Resource
For your information, I want to inform you that the congregational resource I have written, entitled "Alive and Kicking: Revitalizing Rural Ministries", is now posted online as a PDF at http://www.united-church.ca/renewal/congregational/resources It is thus available to download, or can be ordered from UCRD for a cost of $5.00. (CH10522). (Marvin Anderson, marvin.anderson@utoronto.ca)
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