ELCA STaR Ministry Alliance Forms At First Annual Meeting

NEWBERRY, S.C. (ELCA) -- The first annual meeting of the Small Town and Rural (STaR) Ministry Alliance of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) brought together some 100 people from throughout the ELCA. A key component was the formation of several "affinity groups," which will carry on the church's rural ministry by devoting attention to a series of specific interests.
The June 24-26 meeting, with the theme "Celebrating Rural Life," was held here at Newberry College, one of 28 ELCA colleges and universities. There are nine ELCA congregations in the city of Newberry and 29 in Newberry County, which has a population of 32,000 people, said Dr. Mitchell M. Zais, Newberry College president.
The site was chosen not only for its Lutheran church connections but because of its rural location and the economic success story represented by the city and college, said Sandra A. LaBlanc, director for rural ministry resources and networking, ELCA Division for Outreach, Des Moines, Iowa.
"The city of Newberry is a model of hope, and we are focusing on hope and celebration at this conference, while addressing some economic realities." said LaBlanc, an ELCA associate in ministry.
The nation's rural economy is changing, LaBlanc said. In many areas there is economic stress brought on by fewer mid-sized family farms, small towns and local institutions such as congregations, yet the overall rural economy appears to be improving, she said.
"As we're working through this change, many people are experiencing difficulties in terms of finances," she said. "One in five rural children lives in poverty. Twenty-five percent of homeless people are in rural areas. We have some dire and hidden poverty that exists in rural areas."
The STaR Ministry Alliance was conceived as an umbrella organization through which the affinity groups carry out ongoing rural ministry, LaBlanc said. They are composed of ELCA leaders and members that share the group's specific interest.
The groups will address many topics, including consumer ethics, theological education, advocacy and public policy, multiple-parish concerns, stewardship, worship, Christian education, health care, community economic development, crisis intervention, cooperative ministry, lay ministry training, anti-racism programs, church revitalization, seminarian recruitment, domestic violence, rural poverty and public education.
The gathering included typical rural worship experiences and workshops, while focusing attention on local food and the Evangelical Lutheran Coalition for Mission in Appalachia, Indiana, Pa. The 2005 STaR Ministry Alliance gathering is planned for July 28-30, 2005 at Bethany College, an ELCA higher education institution in Lindsborg, Kan., LaBlanc said.

Sample: Luther Communicated With the Masses
Keynote speaker Tex Sample spoke about how to celebrate "traditional culture" in small congregations and how these congregations can be effective. Sample, Goodyear, Ariz., is an author, ordained United Methodist Church minister, former seminary professor and coordinator of the Network for the Study of U.S. Lifestyles.
He told participants that they must work with the experiences of their church traditions. Martin Luther, a German monk and theologian whose writings led to the Protestant Reformation, is a significant example of a person who was able to communicate well with ordinary people.
"Luther translated the Bible into vernacular German and made it available to the masses, especially women," Sample said. Luther understood the importance of the printing press, and made it possible for many people to read Scripture, he said.
Small churches, such as rural churches, can learn from Luther's example, he said. Leaders should join the "indigenous practices of that church and take those practices seriously," Sample said.
"Luther was doing that -- taking the German people very seriously, and taking their practices of reading and communication seriously," he said in an interview.
Many people who were raised in rural settings are part of a "traditional oral culture," Sample said, meaning they grew up listening to stories, not necessarily reading books. And many were exposed to "relationship thinking," in which they learned by hearing stories about someone they knew.
"My hunch is that there are many rural churches which are in a traditional oral culture," Sample said. If you want rural people to remember something, "you'd better say it in a memorable way," relating it to someone they know and like, he told conference participants.
The overwhelming numbers of people living in rural areas have traditional beliefs, Sample said. They value family, cooperation, home, school, church, have a commitment to basic institutions, strive for respectability and fear moral corruption, he said.
Because of the changing rural economy and other social factors some people in rural congregations focus on "everyday resistance," Sample said. That means they resist things they don't like happening to their lives -- such as a decline in farm income or loss of a farm, he said. Often, these people believe their lives are out of control , he said.
"I want the church to be alert to legitimate concerns that damage families and institutions," Sample said. "Honor people and assure them they are not crazy. Another piece is to find ways to legitimately join it [the resistance]. It's important for the church to be a place where people say, 'they really are for us.' When people see the church as for them, they get the message that God is [for them]. And I believe that God is for us."
Sample also called on the audience to be aware that small churches sometimes get trapped into believing they're in "some kind of losing situation." The answer is in developing and maintaining a purpose and mission.
"Survival is not enough," Sample said. "The key is that the church find a mission."

Willemsma: Church Should be Committed to Justice
Using parables from 1 Samuel in the Old Testament and St. Luke in the New Testament, Tena Willemsma called on participants to strive for justice. Willemsma is executive director of the Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA), Charleston, W.Va. She is a member of Capon-North River Lutheran Parish, Wardensville, W.Va.
Willemsma noted that work in rural areas is being "restructured" into service-related jobs, she said in an interview. Jobs that rural residents' parents and grandparents had for most of their lives may not exist anymore. She also noted that 1 percent of today's farmers account for more than half of U.S. farm income, while some 90 percent are making less than $20,000.
Preservation of natural resources is not much of a priority for some people, she said, noting that in Appalachia timbering and coal-mining are significant industries. As a result many people are "alienated" from the land and don't have a "collective ethic that we're stewards of God's resources."
"It's about how much profit [one] can get," she said.
People of faith can do at least two things to improve their lives and the lives of others, especially in rural areas, Willemsma said. First, they can use natural resources -- land, water and air, for example -- to "advance mercy, justice and peace." Second, as people of faith they can commit to making a "just" society, where all have access to food, natural resources, education and health care. She encouraged congregations to use their land space to plant gardens and demonstrate energy conservation for their communities.
"These are things congregations can do to make a witness in their communities," Willemsma said.
She also said the start-up of the STaR Ministry Alliance's affinity groups gives "power" to participants.
"The basis is to organize, and organizing gives people<