Center for Rural
Ministry Resources

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Why So Many Rural Churches?

In 1909 the US government proposed consolidating churches to one per thousand residents. Would churches meet the same fate as local schools and shops? For decades, Bud Smith’s Store stood at the crossroads village …
October 27, 2023
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GCC Establishing Center to Sustain Efforts to Aid Rural Clergy

Grove City College has secured a $400,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to expand its work helping rural ministers thrive with the creation of the Center for Rural Ministry. The Center for Rural Ministry …
August 18, 2023
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A People and a Place: How the Project on Rural Ministry is Helping Grove City College’s Neighbors Thrive

On a brisk Saturday evening in Fombell, Pa., a dozen Grove City College students gathered around the dinner table of Pastor Mark Sentell ’94. It was the first night of spring break, a time …
January 15, 2023
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Giving Rural Ministry a Closer Look

Before moving to Grove City, Pennsylvania, in 2016, Seulgi Byun was a bona fide cosmopolitan. The cities he has called home include London, Boston, Tokyo, Seoul, Melbourne, and Singapore. Grove City, on the other …
July 21, 2022
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For Some Pastors, the Past Year was a Sign from God it was Time to Quit

Already stretched thin, these clergy found the demands of the pandemic — from producing video church to combating conspiracy theories—took all the joy out of the job.(RNS)—Jeff Weddle, a 46-year-old, wise-cracking, self-deprecating, Bible-loving, self-described “failing …
May 7, 2021
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A Love Song for the Rural Church

On the eve of the Civil War, American poet Walt Whitman published a second edition of his defining work, Leaves of Grass. In the edited and expanded 1860 volume, Whitman included a new, eleven-line poem entitled …
December 2, 2020
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College Launches Project on Rural Ministry

Grove City College received a nearly $1 million grant to help establish the Project on Rural Ministry, an outreach to support pastors in rural areas as they serve their congregations and communities. The $989,582 …
October 16, 2018