Thought for the week 1st August – Borderlands Rural Chaplaincy

There is a danger that any church can become so obsessed with its own existence and a narrow focus on “saving souls”, that it forgets Jesus’s teaching on loving others; the parable of the Good Samaritan is there to remind us we need to look outwards to serve and be served. At Billingsley, we try and offer financial support to one or two causes each year, one local and one further afield. This year, our local cause is the Borderlands Rural Chaplaincy, an agency that offers support to those of all faiths and none who are struggling in rural communities such as ourselves. Below is an extract from their website, https://www.borderchaplain.org/ If you are able, remember their work in your prayers.

 

Borderlands Rural Chaplains work in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Eastern Powys. We are a confidential, listening ear offering pastoral support to farmers, farming families and agricultural communities.  Since our inception in 2013 we have helped over 100 individuals and families through difficult situations such as animal disease, family problems, mental ill-health and the demands of farming processes. Funded, supported and managed by churches of different denominations including Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal and Anglican, we assist in various ways from a one-off phone call to on-going pastoral care. We collaborate with national agencies who can assist farmers with emergency finance.

 

Working alongside other agencies such as the Farming Community Network, Shropshire Rural Support, The Arthur Rank Centre and The National Farmers’ Union, we are “church without walls”, committed to serving our rural populations.