The Means of Grace and Rural Ministry

I spoke a few weeks ago at the 2010 Convocation on the Rural Church, a gathering held for rural pastors in the North Carolina and Western North Carolina Annual Conferences that took place on August 23-25 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The theme for this year's convocation was, "The Grace of Rural Ministry." My own plenary lecture on Monday of that week was entitled, "The Means of Grace and Rural Ministry." In my lecture, I try to weave themes of the necessity of proper formation for mature discipleship, both individually and communally, together with a look at the effects of disciplined participation in the means of grace on persons and congregations.

I mention that because I noticed that audio recordings of the Convocation addresses have been posted online. You can access my presentation or those of any of the other presenters at this link. The audio has been posted to iTunesU, which makes it easy to download to your iTunes application.

The Convocation on the Rural Church is held annually and is sponsored by the Duke Endowment, the North Carolina Annual Conference, and the Western North Carolina Annual Conference. But it is coordinated and produced by the Thriving Rural Communities program at Duke Divinity School, which is led by the Rev. Jeremy Troxler.

Jeremy is an outstanding young leader in the United Methodist Church, who is doing a great deal to make sure that rural ministry is not forgotten within our connection. Check out the work of the Thriving Rural Communities program at this link. Besides doing so much for rural Methodist ministry in North Carolina, its published online resources can serve as an aid to rural ministry everywhere.