The Center for Rural Ministry hosted their sixth annual conference at Grove City College.
By Maya O’Dell · Contributing Writer
Photo by Garrett Heath / The Collegian
The campus was filled with worship and encouragement this past weekend as pastors and church staff from around the area gathered at the Center for Rural Ministry’s annual conference.
The conference was held on campus September 11 and 12, and welcomed attendees from rural churches across five nearby states.
Coming from a myriad of denominations, these ministers of the body of believers sat under keynote speakers and workshop sessions on an array of topics concerning the conference’s overall theme, “Rooted: Cultivating Faithful Presence.”
Faculty and staff, Grove City College students and Center for Rural Ministry (CRM) partner ministries also gathered to glean from conference presenters.
This year’s keynote speaker, Scott Sunquist, was from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he is a professor of missiology.
The conference also featured plenary speakers Joel Seymour, the super regional leader for Vineyard USA, Bill Sukolsky, a CRM pastor liaison, and assistant professor of biblical and theological Studies Charles Cotherman. Workshop tracks were also offered in a variety of spheres, including Community Formation & Resilience in the Early Church and Rooted Youth Ministries.
Churches in rural areas face many challenges unique to their place. Pastoring as a profession and calling can be lonely and isolating, and pastors in a rural church context face not just the challenges of their body but the challenge of lacking a community of support that may provide wisdom and encouragement for facing those challenges in a biblical and godly way.
The CRM conference offers a way for these pastors to build friendships with their fellow laborers. Adelia Matson, the CRM administrative director, pointed out that one of the most impactful ways CRM can bless the conference attendees has been to recognize and celebrate the work God is doing in rural contexts.
“I think one of the best things that happens is that rural pastors are encouraged that small places matter and that it doesn’t just matter to us and to each other and even to the ministry, but it really matters to Jesus,” Matson said.
Whether conference attendees were Grove City College students looking to widen their Kingdom perspectives or local rural pastors seeking encouragement in the God-given calling placed on their families and them, the conference had something for attendees.
Anastasia Brown, a student fellow with CRM, said her father, a rural pastor in the area, has been immensely blessed by the friendships he has been able to form and continue because of the annual conference.
“It’s always, at its root, this opportunity for pastors to connect and be encouraged,” Brown said.
Along with the blessing of relational connection, Brown emphasized the beauty of speakers and attendees coming from different denominational backgrounds.
“It’s across denominational lines entirely. And the speakers and everyone who’s attending, it’s such a spectrum,” Brown said. “And the thing that brings us together is that we’re involved in rural ministry.”
Another student fellow, Madelyn Taliaferro, echoed this sentiment, extending it to include the benefit for college students who attend the conference.
“Being at the annual conference has given me a greater appreciation for churches that don’t necessarily teach the same things that I grew up with, and it was really encouraging to see a group of people unified, in Christ, but also with their specific calling in their place, not necessarily their denomination or church tradition,” Taliaferro said.
