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About the Lay and Ordained Rural Leaders retreat course

Rural church leadership can be challenging and isolating but also fruitful because God is here and is already at work in the countryside.

Sarum College runs a rural pathway to train ordinands and lay ministers. We aim to build on this work by creating a Rural Ministry Learning Community which includes those already ministering in rural parishes.

This first gathering is an opportunity to garner ideas and suggestions for what next.

During this 24-hour retreat we will take time to talk and listen to God, to think, to ask questions, to nurture our imaginations and to hold a space that is about worship, learning and creativity, rather than diocesan strategies, administrative tasks or skills based professional development. We will give time to nurture our relationship with the divine and enable spirit inspired ideas, dreams, creativity, concepts, theology, sleep, laughter and mutual support.

The retreat begins and ends with lunch at Sarum College. We can join the worshipping community of Salisbury Cathedral at evening and morning prayer and communion. Sessions will include sharing scripture together and reflection on the energising and draining aspects of rural ministry.

There will be opportunities to hear what is current in rural theology and practice and to share any personal areas of interest or study we may have.

Alison Webster will help us explore how churches might work well with their communities, discussing a community organising model. We will allow time to generate ideas about a rural learning community. But there will also be space for silence and rest and opportunities for socialising and conversation.

If you are interested in becoming part of a rural learning community and having a voice in shaping the future of this new initiative, then this space might be for you.

Book Event

In person ticket #2429 £125

This course will be held onsite at Sarum College. The course fee includes lunch and refreshments.

Available Tickets: 8

The In person ticket #2429 ticket is sold out. You can try another ticket or another date.

In person residential ticket #2429 £195

This course will be held onsite at Sarum College. The residential ticket fee includes includes accommodation in a single en-suite room meals and refreshments during the course. If the ticket you wish to purchase is showing as not available, please contact me on bclover@sarum.ac.uk, as we may be able to accommodate your request.

Available Tickets: 10

The In person residential ticket #2429 ticket is sold out. You can try another ticket or another date.

In person residential ticket with B&B the night before #2429 £250

This course will be held onsite at Sarum College. This residential ticket includes includes accommodation in a single en-suite room meals and refreshments during the course. This ticket also includes B&B the night of the 4th March 2024 If the ticket you wish to purchase is showing as not available, please contact me on bclover@sarum.ac.uk, as we may be able to accommodate your request.

Available Tickets: 2

The In person residential ticket with B&B the night before #2429 ticket is sold out. You can try another ticket or another date.

Details

Dates & Times

05 - 06 Mar 2024

1:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Tutor(s)

The Revd Jo Neary

Alison Webster

Course code

2429

Other Notes

A 24-hour retreat for lay and ordained rural leaders.

Please be aware this retreat includes evening sessions on the 5 March 2023.

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What our students say

PhD Research Programmes

Visual Artist Claire Reed

The complex and sometimes fractious relationship between contemporary art and religion has intrigued me throughout my art career, informing my direction as an artist. It has led me to work in sacred spaces with their immediate and wider communities, to study an MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture at Sarum College, and recently to become artist–researcher at Leo Baeck College of Jewish scholarship and learning.

My aim is to examine the extent to which this creative approach might generate fruitful inter-religious theological insights within a Jewish and Christian ministry training context.

Sarum College combines an open-minded embrace of the imagination and the arts with a supportive, questioning and diverse community. Crucially for me, the Sarum-Winchester PhD programme is one of the very few UK university programmes to offer a hybrid thesis in art and theology in which the creative process and resulting art output along with a written critical component are presented for examination.

This PhD research is a key part of my development as an artist engaged with theology and inter-religious dialogue.

Read full article

Stimulating and Challenging

What is Successful Ageing? led by James Woodward

I enjoyed the course immensely from beginning to end – the seamless interweaving of knowledge, ideas and research and the linking with belief and faith.

The content was stimulating, challenging, thought provoking and I was greatly appreciative of the contributions and questions from other participants, your considered and sensitive responses and integration with your presentations.

Thank you!

Netflix, Theology and Pastoral Practice

Peter Butchers on his MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture student experience

How do cultural tropes, like those found in Black Mirror, help bridge the gap between what academic theology espouses and what the everyday Christian believes? In his research as a student on the MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture, Peter Butchers explored platonic philosophy, digital theology and eschatology, and pastoral practice around death and dying.

Rewarding Sabbatical Stay

The Revd Greg Syler, is Rector of Ascension & St. George’s, Resurrection Parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC USA, spent part of his ministry sabbatical at Sarum College in spring 2022.

His account of the experience begins: ‘I loved spending nearly three weeks of my ministry sabbatical at Sarum College earlier this year.

Not only did I rest, and rest well in the comfortable care of the Sarum College staff, I experienced very significant renewal and fresh insights.’

The Road Not Taken

Sarum Graduate Mike Truman

January 2022

Five years ago, I told my Warden of Readers that I would not be renewing my licence when it expired in 2019, as I thought my faith was becoming too unorthodox for a Church of England licensed lay minister. As someone who knew me well, she challenged me to actively explore what I did still believe. Thus started the journey that ended last August with the dissertation completing my MA in Theology Imagination and Culture (MATIC) at Sarum College.

Clergy Study Breaks

The opportunity for clergy to get away occasionally from their own context, to have an overnight stay in the beautiful setting of Sarum College and all that the Salisbury Cathedral Close offers is hugely valuable. All the clergy I have suggested who have spent 24hrs at Sarum College have benefit greatly from the experienced mentoring where they can talk, reflect, think, plan and pray.

The support and encouragement they receive is excellent and has a positive on their on going ministry. This is something the Diocese of Rochester encourages and supports financially in preparation for their clergy preparing for Extended Ministerial Development Leave (Sabbatical).

— Canon Christopher Dench, Diocese of Rochester Director of Formation and Ministry

Retreats and Private Stays

When I arrived, exhausted and sensitive, I was grateful not to be asked by Reception were I came from, whether I had had a good journey etc. That was the kind of hospitality I needed: a non-intrusive welcome that was found in ancient cultures and still survives in some societies today, where the host asks questions about a stranger and his journey only when the visitor has rested and been given food and drink.

— guest on a private stay

Biblical Study Breaks

I just found it very refreshing – as a leader of a church I don’t get as many opportunities to step out and do courses (my fault, not the church!) and so I loved it. I think it was run really well online – which is a difficult medium to work with.

Pádraig Ó Tuama (pictured) was outstanding in his balance of getting us to engage and sharing his learning. Also the quick availability of resources provided by Sarum College Librarian Jayne Downey was excellent.

— course participant, Story Theology: Narrative Approaches to Scripture

Tutor(s)

The Revd Jo Neary

Tutor in Rural Ministry and Mission

Alison Webster

Exploring Theology Programme Leader

Lay and Ordained Rural Leaders retreat