Creating space for hope and encouragement

To celebrate the launch of the new A Methodist Way of Life discipleship toolkit, the Evangelism and Growth team is producing a new monthly blog series on leadership and culture change.

Whether you’re mission planning, starting an NPNP, focusing on one of the commitments of MWOL, or re-orienting your church’s focus to discipleship, we hope these blogs will provide inspiration, encouragement and guidance for making your hopes and dreams a reality.  

This month, Rural Mission and Ministry Officer Sarah Hulme, provides six encouragements from her work with rural leaders. 

There are plenty of things all leaders share, I’m sure volume of emails and meetings are a common feature for most. An extra thread I hear from rural leaders is that often the location of the places we’re called to lead in can be beautiful, yet can feel quite isolating, making it difficult to meet up and connect with other leaders.

With this in mind, I committed to encourage, gather and stretch some of the amazing rural leaders I encounter as part of my work. I started with a simple invite to receive a monthly card through the post, offered a monthly Zoom hour to gather and reflect upon the month, with the aim of sharing encouragement to ‘hold on to hope’. Here are six things I’ve learnt from these amazing leaders so far. 

Give it a go 

I wasn’t sure how this invite would be received – would anyone sign up? But since September, eight brave rural leaders have opted to give it a go, engaging with some beautiful seasonal artwork and poetry with my addition of reflection questions to ponder individually throughout the month. Our gathering times have been incredible spaces to wonder together, learn from each other, share our hopes and frustrations, and pray.  

Feed your soul 

Making time and space to listen to God and each other seems counterintuitive when we have so many pressures on our day, but it feeds my soul (even on zoom!). Art and poetry can unlock parts of my brain to hear God in a way that an email cannot. I’ve started to look forward to the hour together each month, as I always come away having gleaned some new wisdom. 

Get outside 

Noticing God amidst the ever-changing seasons whilst out in creation can bring a different perspective to a knotty problem or tricky situation. I’m always encouraged to hear how others engage with the questions - and with God - whilst outdoors. I’m also learning much more about the wonder of trees and the natural world as I prepare the monthly reflections.  

Stay truthful 

As leaders, it sometimes falls to us to ask the uncomfortable questions and point out the truth, rather than collude with those in denial, or ignore reality. Leadership entails a willingness to risk being unpopular as we help those around us get ‘unstuck’ – this is a common theme in our monthly gathering, and it is really helpful to hear from other leaders encountering similar situations. 

Stay resourceful 

Nature is abundantly resourceful, as are people. As leaders we can encourage and grow resourcefulness in others; to do things differently, adapt when things go pear-shaped, listen to those in our wider community, spot new shoots. This is something that requires a lot of our time and energy (both things that can feel sparse.) Yet another reason why meeting together with other leaders can be such an encouragement. 

Give it a go 

It’s important enough that I’m saying it twice! As a leader, how could you gather and encourage a couple of others? What is it you need during this season in order to ‘hold onto hope’? Why not take a risk, get outside and give it a go? 

Artwork by Hannah Longmuir https://hannahlongmuir.co.uk/