Listening to the Voice of Rural Church Planters and Pioneers

Rural England is home to around 10 million people and continues to grow proportionally faster than urban areas. Yet rural churches face well-documented distinctive challenges, including dispersed populations, limited resources, clergy shortages, and cultural change. Alongside these pressures, there is emerging evidence that new church plants in rural contexts are engaging younger generations, strengthening community life, and fostering new forms of Christian discipleship. Despite this, rural church planting remains significantly under-researched in comparison to urban and suburban contexts.

This research, Listening to the Voice of Rural Church Planters and Pioneers, seeks to address this gap by listening directly to those engaged in starting new forms of Church for the rural context and their partners. It is the hope of CCX that this research has the potential to serve both as a tool for advocacy (making the case for investment and partnership), an opportunity to learn from rural planters and pioneers, and a practical guide for those directly engaged in planting and supporting rural churches more widely.

Led by Sally Gaze in partnership with Rural Missions and Rural Ministry, CCX is delighted to share the findings of this research in Listening to the Voice of Rural Church Planters and Pioneers, which you can read below. To download a PDF copy of the research, click the three dots on the right of the menu bar and select ‘Download’.

Get in touch

If you’re looking to start something new in a rural community, or you’re ministering in this context, we’d love to hear from you. Use the yellow form below to get in touch with us, share a story or ask for support.