Last month Rev Christina Morunga reported on a pilgrimage to Turkiye and Greece. As part of her travels, she attended an International Rural Churches Conference (IRCA) in the United States that inspired and enriched her ministry.

This year’s International Rural Churches Conference (IRCA) in Dubuque, Iowa in April was the smallest IRCA Conference to date, due to the difficulty many people experienced in obtaining a visa for the USA. However, the Conference was combined with the Rural and Small-Town Ministry Conference of USA so we had the opportunity of sharing with people from the Midwest and further afield as well as reconnecting with many friends attending the IRCA.

Hebrew Scholar Rev Dr Ann Fritschel led an amazing Bible Study of Isaiah 35. She looked at ‘Shalom’ being total wholeness and wellbeing, in touch with all the blessings God wants for creation; ‘Righteousness’ being a state of wholeness in the world as it is now, for the Hebrews there was no life after death. The theme of the Conference “Flourishing” is more than a personal achievement but that of all creation living in harmony that all might flourish. To make this happen we need to be good stewards of the land and sea, and serve, protect and guard God’s good creation.

The Bible is grounded in the triune God and God’s intention is for all to flourish wholistically. Ann used the analogy of Death Valley springing to life in the right conditions, and how after the pandemic we need to grieve and then sing a new song, knowing we have a future in God. This leads to us becoming a part of the new creation, joining in communal life and work with a mission to help one another. Isaiah speaks of ‘Vengeance’, as God ordering the chaos we have created in God’s perfect world and of Redemption in the language of kinship and identity to restoring God’s life-giving life in creation.

I was intrigued by Dr Gil Waldkoenig’s presentations on Soundscape Ecology and Theology. The spirituality of listening in God’s creation, telling and singing the story of the Gospel. He shared the history of the Moravian Christian community that originated in the Czech Republic in the 14th and 15th centuries and fled to the New World of USA in 1722. They lived their lives with continual, gentle, singing of scripture and Biblical stories and insights. It was in one of these communities that John Wesley “was strangely warmed”. The Moravians believed in the power of sound to shape community and to demonstrate connectedness with the Holy Spirit, whether they were in buildings or outdoors. They lived with the communion of saints, past, present and future as they sang from the collective memory, the sacredness of the ordinary.

We visited the “Four Mounds” estate which was gifted to the city of Dubuque, Iowa. The Council did not have funds for renovating the buildings so a trust was formed as a ‘not for profit’ training school with the students and adults paid as employees. They were taught the tasks involved in renovating buildings, starting with the 17 on the property. They then embarked on renovating homes in conjunction with the council, to be sold to first home buyers at a low price. They also renovated homes to allow people who have developed disabilities to be able to stay in their own homes. Along with the employment skills, the employees are given life skills, budgeting advice, counselling and support in employment options.

We visited “the Convivium Urban Farmstead” which has a three-pronged outreach. Food is grown, preserved and prepared in a renovated property with an old greenhouse upgraded to start a gardening project. This has extended to the yards of several homes and businesses in town. Crops grown support the community, a restaurant and a social meals programme. Students are taught to use the vegetables they grow, preserve excess and to run the restaurant that has become a popular eatery and successful business.

Dr Heather Major presented findings from her PhD thesis on the viability of rural churches in the Borders of Scotland, that correlate with the experience of many rural churches in the Western world. She questions why things are done the way they are and what possibilities there may be for becoming church in ways that may encourage greater interaction and mission.

We had African input from members from Kenya and Zambia. Keynote speaker, Dr Beth Elness-Hanson, has a Marie Curie fellowship to research ways to assist Maasai to maintain their nomadic lifestyle and find a sustainable way forward to prevent annihilation of their lands. Via Zoom we participated in a presentation on “Farming God’s Way” enabling Africans to utilise their land to produce food and improve their wellbeing.