The Project on Rural Ministry is a program supported by Grove City College, with many faculty members sitting on the board. The point of this project is to bring support to pastors and congregations throughout rural Western Pennsylvania by providing resources and training to better support kingdom work in this region.
This program is important because it addresses an area of the Church that can often fall through the cracks. Rural churches are often less financially stable/equipped, technologically lacking, and outside of larger church networks, through which they might glean encouragement, resources, and education. The Project achieves this by doing research on the region and its unique struggles, creating resources and connections based on that research to better support pastors, and facilitating regional cohorts to create that network of pastors and congregations that rural context so often miss out on. The Program provides the tools that these churches often lacks, enabling them to function more effectively within their unique communities.
I enjoyed reading about this ministry arm of the college I attend, and seeing how it has similarities to the ministry concept that my group has been planning (equipping churches through network/outside support to better serve their communities).