Context and Background
Mr. Duke in the Indenture noted: “Indeed, my observation and the broad expanse of our territory make me believe it is to these rural districts that we are to look in large measure for the bone and sinew of our country.” Duke Divinity School's Dean L. Gregory Jones writes: “Thriving communities are settings in which the assets of the community are being nurtured and developed in life-giving ways…and these communities typically have thriving Christian congregations and the thriving congregations typically have thriving pastors leading the congregation.” Many of our rural churches are thriving, as are their communities and pastors. These communities are still the bone and sinew of our country, and there is a mutually shared spiral of success.
Yet, there are peculiar challenges to be faced in rural communities beset by significant demographic, economic, and cultural changes. Many rural communities face downward spirals: population has moved away, businesses have closed or moved, and the stability of agriculture or mill-centered economy has been threatened. Rural churches in such downward spiral settings need to be thriving congregations, living in and with a community that also seeks ways to be thriving again. Both congregations and communities need transformative leadership to stop this downward spiral and become strong communities once again. By transformative, we mean not leadership merely for technical change, but leadership that asks churches and communities to undergo fundamental and adaptive changes.
The Leadership Initiative seeks to focus and sharpen the assets of Duke Divinity School, the two Annual Conferences in North Carolina, and our eligible rural churches to provide transformative leadership for the church and the community.
