UNITED CHURCH RURAL MINISTRY NETWORK
The United Church Rural Ministry Network (UCRMN) is a national network, that connects electronically to share stories and news of rural communities across Canada (and around the world), by networking with leaders of rural communities of faith – lay and clergy. UCRMN received a one-time start up grant of $5,000 from United Church Foundation in 2020. UCRMN is a charitable organization that receipts donations from Regional Councils, Congregations or interested people. At UCRMN.ca, there is a link for online donations, or information to email an e-Transfer, or how to mail a donation by cheque. UCRMN asks all Regional Councils (or tri-Region groupings) to put UCRMN in their annual budgets, as 70% of United Church congregations across the country are in rural or small towns, therefore a relevant cost to each Regional Council.
Our primary ways of connecting with people are e-Newsletters (10 times a year), quarterly Zoom workshops and the ongoing presence of our website, https://ucrmn.ca, online. Peter Chynoweth of Cochrane, AB, has been our Web Minder since October 2022.
The e-Newsletters are always available for sharing worship ideas and hopeful stories from rural congregations. Regularly, there is excellent tech advice and challenges from Martin Dawson in PEI and from Peter Chynoweth in Cochrane, AB, who write the regular ‘Tech Corner’. In addition, the e-Newsletters publicize events happening throughout the Church which are of interest to rural folks, advertising from Regions and committees like Affirming Connections, Curiosity Cohort, etc. Rural Routes Through the Holy conference held in the Maritimes for a number of years receives good coverage through the UCRMN newsletter and website as Catherine Smith is a partner of the UCRMN Board. Chinook Winds has also held rural ministry conferences publicized by UCRMN. If other Regional Councils would like to connect with the rural constituency, let us know – editor@ucrmn.ca. We invite all rural congregations to connect through registering to receive e-newsletter through the website (ucrmn.ca).
Our Zoom workshops this year covered “Lifelong Learning (facilitated by St. Andrew’s College, Feb. 24, 2024), “Social Media for the Rural Church (facilitated by the United Church Digital Team, April 18), “Rural Church Check in” (an invitation to share concerns and events throughout the country, Sept. 19), “LLWL Check in” (a conversation with Licensed Lay Worship Leaders, which proved so welcome and valuable a networking and such rich conversation that we held a second and a third get-together in Jan. and March), “How is Your Rural Church Celebrating the 100th Anniversary (facilitated by Bronwyn Corlett, Feb. 20) and coming up in May (15th), “Hands On – How to Save your Computer” (led by Martin Dawson and Peter Chynoweth). These workshops are advertised in the e-Newsletters and registration is done through Eventbrite, offered free of charge. Reports on a number of the workshops that were held are found on the UCRMN website.
UCRMN folks ran the Canadian portion of the International Rural Churches Association (IRCA) 24-hour Global Prayer event that took place on March 10, 2025. A section of the day was about UCRMN specifically, and highlighted our Licensed Lay Worship Leaders, as well as Collaborative Ministries, and then Catherine Smith, a UCRMN member from the Atlantic Region, was the host of ‘Canada East’, and Robin Haensel, a retired Alliance pastor and member of CiRCLe M at the Saskatoon Theological Union, hosted ‘Canada West’. You can check them out on the IRCA website (https://irca.online/24-hour-prayer-zoom – the Americas).
UCRMN members are taking part in the “Rural Townhall” by Edge Network for Ministry Development, to hear peoples’ thoughts about what is going on in rural churches, and how rural ministries can be supported.
UCRMN always is looking for members to serve on the Board, as e-Newsletter Editor, Workshop Coordinator, or on the Finance Committee.
Respectfully Submitted Catherine Christie – President, UCRMN (Abbey, SK)