It was a busy day of training at Hinton Rural Life Center in Clay County, North Carolina. It is a center owned and operated by the United Methodist Church in the Southeastern Jurisdiction. It has a history of working with small, rural churches and working with local communities to provide home repair assistance and food programs.
They have a couple of lodges, meeting rooms and a dining facility. It was an excellent place to do a training event for church volunteers and then I had relaxing time on the porch overlooking Lake Chatuge.
A few thoughts:
It is good to know that there are organizations dedicated to small, rural churches.
We live in a world where big is seen as better. Big churches are held up as models, and those are rarely found in the country. It is fascinating that about 75% of United Methodist Churches are small (under 100 in worship on Sundays) and there is a huge number of rural churches. Much of the continuing education and training received by pastors in the denomination have nothiing to do with working in small, rural communities.
They have programs dedicated to affordable housing
Though I don’t have any personal experience with this particular program, I am supportive of any organization that is working on the issue. In many of these counties in North Carolina, the average worker with the average salary cannot afford to purchase their own home. Retirees from other places find this area affordaable, but they aren’t trying to earn a salary here.
Youth programs with a rural emphasis.
Hinton Center was promoting a local youth program a couple of Sundays ago for children on Spring Break. Numerous youth are scheduled to come out and plant potatoes and other vegetable plants at the end of this week. During the summer, youth from all over the Southeast will come for week-long camps where they will assist that community with home repairs, yard/garden work, anf working with those in need. For some of these youth, this is as close to the earth and small town America that they may ever get.
I came home from my day at the center and worked in my own garden–a great day to say the least.