Rural Network and Action Team

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The Group Formerly Known as Rural Response Committee.
As of January 1, 2010, the Rural Response Committee will now be known as the Rural Network and Action Team, or RNAT. The Team felt the need for their name to reflect their spirit of courageous and innovative outreach in working on behalf of rural United Methodists and rural peoples worldwide. Rural life is not in a state of constant crisis which requires response, but rather a way of living which is vibrantly moving into the future.

Grounded in scripture and the United Methodist Social Principles, the Rural Action and Network Team of the Nebraska Conference seeks to affirm the value of the rural lifestyle, and address rural issues in a church setting. The Team highly values the call to renew our commitment and strengthen our ministry with ranch and farm families, and rural communities. We encourage all people to reflect on theological views of land care, stewardship, and community. The Rural Action and Network Team offers assistance, through Inter-Church Ministries of Nebraska (IMN), to farmers experiencing crisis. The Team is offering a leadership model that incorporates both mission and justice work. Tamara Holtz - chairperson, (402) 239-3792, or gtholtz@gpcom.net. Members: Dorothy Aspegren, Mark Crist, Dean Joy, Karla Scheffy, Carol Windrum - staffperson.
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The second edition of a six session adult study produced by the Sowing the Seeds Covenant group, Rural Response Committee, and the Center for Rural Affairs

Sowing the Seeds - Get It While It's Hot!

The Sowing the Seeds Curriculum is now available to access free of charge!
Go to www.cfra.org/sowingtheseeds and get your copy today. Goals for the sessions:
1) Create space to hear the voice of God
2) Encourage discussion about trends in rural Nebraska communities
3) Explore biblical understandings that guide a vision for rural communities and the land
4) Discuss how public policy shapes our future
5) Discuss the pros and cons of policy proposals for a better future
6)  Things YOU can do to help create a better rural future.

Please contact Sabrina Miller at sabrinam@cfra.org if you or your church might be interested in doing this curriculum.
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The Social Principles on Rural Life

We support the right of persons and families to live and prosper as farmers, farm workers, merchants, professionals, and others outside of the cities and metropolitan centers. We believe our culture is impoverished and our people deprived of a meaningful way of life when rural and small-town living becomes difficult or impossible. We support governmental and private programs designed to benefit the resident farmer rather than the factory farm and programs that encourage industry to locate in nonurban areas. We further recognize that increased mobility and technology have brought a mixture of people, religions, and philosophies to rural communities that were once homogenous. While often this is seen as a threat to or loss of community life, we understand it as an opportunity to uphold the biblical call to community for all persons.
  • Order the Social Principles
    The newest version of the Social Principles is 2009-2012. Order a the Social Principles in bulk for a Bible Study, find other resources, and order in a different language!
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The Social Principles on Sustainable Agriculture

A prerequisite for meeting the nutritional needs of the world's population is an agricultural system that uses sustainable methods, respects ecosystems, and promotes a livelihood for people that work the land. We support a sustainable agricultural system that will maintain and support the natural fertility of agricultural soil, promote the diversity of flora and fauna, and adapt to regional conditions and structures--a system where agricultural animals are treated humanely and where their living conditions are as close to natural systems as possible. We aspire to an effective agricultural system where plant, livestock, and poultry production maintains the natural ecological cycles, conserves energy, and reduces chemical input to a minimum.
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The Social Principles on Right to Health Care

Health is a condition of physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. John 10:10b says, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Stewardship of health is the responsibility of each person to whom health has been entrusted.
Creating the personal, environmental, and social conditions in which health can thrive is a joint responsibility--public and private. We encourage individuals to pursue a healthy lifestyle and affirm the importance of preventive health care, health education, environmental and occupational safety, good nutrition, and secure housing in achieving health. Health care is a basic human right. Providing the care needed to maintain health, prevent disease, and restore health after injury or illness is a responsibility each person owes others and government owes to all, a responsibility government ignores at its peril.
We believe it is a governmental responsibility to provide all citizens with health care.
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The Social Principles on Family Farms

The value of family farms has long been affirmed as a significant foundation for free and democratic societies. The concentration of the food supply for the many into the hands of the few raises global questions of justice that cry out for vigilance and action.
We call upon the agribusiness sector to conduct itself with respect for human rights primarily in the responsible stewardship of daily bread for the world, and secondarily in responsible corporate citizenship that respects the rights of all farmers, small and large, to receive a fair return for honest labor. We advocate for the rights of people to possess property and to earn a living by tilling the soil.
We call upon governments to revise support programs that disproportionately benefit wealthier agricultural producers, so that more support can be given to programs that benefit medium and smaller sized farming operations; which link local farmers to local schools; and which promote other community food security measures.
We call upon our churches to do all in their power to speak prophetically to the matters of food supply and the people who grow the food for the world and to develop ministries that build food security in local communities.
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Goals and Objectives of the Rural Response Committee

1) Provide financial support to the Farm Hotline via the Farm Crisis Response Council of the Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska.
2) Provide a modest amount of emergency assistance to people whom "fall through the cracks" of other transition support systems through the Farm Crisis Response Council's Farm Hotline.
3) Collaborate and share with other conference ministries internships to nurture the development of young adults with a passion for rural issues and rural life.
4) Provide worship resources and encourage:
a.) urban churches to become sensitive to the transition occurring in rural Nebraska; and,
b.) rural churches to celebrate their vitality in rural Nebraska.
5) Encourage congregations to become public policy justice advocates by studying rural issues. [Examples: Sowing the Seed curriculum; membership in Center for Rural Affairs' Rural Action Network]. Activities shall be consistent with the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church.
6) Educate and encourage congregations to celebrate "August is Buy Fresh, Buy Local, Fair Trade Month" to support Nebraska farmers, ranchers, and producers.
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1-800-464-0258

Rural Crisis Hotline

The ministry to farm families and people in rural Nebraska is greatly impacted by the Rural Response Committee's connection and support with The Farm Crisis Response Council of Interchurch Ministries of Nebraska. This vital ministry is a resource for rural people who are in crisis situations.
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Rural Action and Network Team intern Sabrina Miller, and Chairperson Tamara Holtz

Rural Action and Network Team Intern

Hi! I am Sabrina Miller, Young Adult Intern of the Rural Response Committee. I spent last fall promoting discussion and education about rural justice issues in local churches. I also finished co-writing and promoting the second edition of the Sowing the Seeds adult Sunday school curriculum, which focuses on the Biblical grounding of God's vision for rural life, and how public policy affects that. See above article if you're interested!
I finished my full time internship in November. I currently live in Mexico, but am working to follow up with churches interested in the curriculum, and keep the website updated to keep you informed on important rural issues! Email me with any questions, news, or interest at sabrinam@cfra.org.
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Rural Action and Network Team forms alliance with Center for Rural Affairs

The Center for Rural Affairs was founded in 1973, in part by the Nebraska Conference, and is located in Lyons, NE. The Center's mission is to establish strong rural communities, social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, and genuine opportunity for all while engaging people in decisions that affect the quality of their lives and the future of their communities. The Center works from values, worth, and action. Although it is not a faith-based organization, its values correspond with those of the United Methodist Social Principles about the value of rural communities and family farms (see above). RNAT Intern and Micah Corps participant Sabrina Miller spent time working at the Center to learn more about rural health care reform. Staff at the Center also helped to co-write Sowing the Seeds, a faith-based curriculum for adult Sunday school classes about rural issues. In the past, the Rural Action and Network Team has utilized the wealth of knowledge and camaraderie in the Center for Rural Affairs to provide local churches with the opportunity to invite a Center staff-person to speak to their congregation.
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