Countrywide Care

Journal of Christian Rural Concern

Welcome to the Spring 2007 edition of Countrywide Care.

As I write this article, the snow is still on the garden and hills around our house. The distant view is fantastic. On the moors I can see sheep preparing for new arrivals, for lambing is not far away.

In our Churches plans are being made for the celebration of Easter with the thoughts of new life in the Resurrection. Such news is central to our Christian faith and should be proclaimed in all areas of our life and communities.

Yet for many this message remains a “best kept secret” – a hidden treasure with so much potential!

When I became a CRuC student in 1997, I did so because I felt it had something of both a vision for and a realistic understanding of the rural scene and the Church within it. It also looked over the fence towards both urban, national and global issues.

In the past ten years CRuC has seen many changes - changes in people, courses and more recently our new links with John Ray Institute in Gloucester and Ripon College at Cuddesdon.

What I feel has been constant has been the consistent desire to offer courses and resources which are ‘home grown’. Having been well supported by the academic staff, the students have the opportunity to produce work which is relevant to their own particular interest and situation. This I found assisted my own ministry, but also my research like that of other students, is now available to the wider community.

On great step forward has been the development of the original CRuC / JRI Certificate in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies Course into the CRES Course under the leadership of Dr. Martin Hodson and the CRES Working Group. Additions to the new distance learning course include modules on Environmental, Biological and Physical World issues which are offered with the original and now fully revised modules of The Living World, Food and Farming, Christians as Salt and Light, Economics, Rural Communities and the Church in the Countryside

Since its beginnings the course has had a small but steady stream of willing students and staff. Having spoken to students and tutors alike at last year’s Gathering, their response has been very positive.

The overall reaction has been that the course is both challenging and enjoyable and well worth time and effort.

And there is more…

For those who wish to carry out further study CRuC also offer a Diploma Course in Christian Rural Studies which provides opportunity for students to explore in depth their own interest.

I personally found this excellent both for understanding the particular interest and my own spiritual journey.

Having read this editorial I trust that it has set you thinking about what CRuC / JRI have to offer. It could be for you either as a Student or as a local Tutor supporting those on the courses.

I believe that CRuC is a little ‘hidden treasure’ which for many people, like the message of Easter, has to be ‘gossiped’ about both in town and cities as well as rural communities.

Please help us by telling a friend about this site. You may also wish to consider joining the Companions of CRuC as we are seeking to set up local groups to support students and others in local ministry. Details can be obtained from John Whitehead.

MONDAY   I considered myself very privileged to be able to join this group. There should have been three CRES students but in the end there was only me, and what a start it was - half an hour late because of traffic build up due to roadworks, by which time the Revd. GLYN EVANS was into his introduction about his work as Rural Officer in the Oxford diocese. Having met him at Offchurch last September I did know of his role.

MARTIN HODSON then spoke to the students about CRES and how it could help their rural ministry. Revd. JOHN READER then enlightened us on the joys and tribulations of rural ministry in the two benefices with which he has been connected. One was in Shropshire and the latest in an area near Droitwich. In the place where he now lives and works there are only four houses, but the four parishes around are very alive and active. John even takes the toddler group in one of the village halls! As incumbent he is also a governor of the C/E school (lower and middle) which at times can be difficult when loyalties have to be split.

TUESDAY   A really wonderful day, full of real outreach and variety. We were met and introduced to the Vale of the White Horse Deanery by the Rural Dean, Revd. RICHARD HANCOCK. It was a busy inspirational day and the sun shone!

We started off at Farringdon Family Centre. What wonderful work they are doing in this ‘deprived’ area. It is basically a Baptist venture using the Baptist Church as a hall and took 21/2years of consultation to start, and is funded by Social services, Churches Together and donations to the tune of £12, 000 per year. There is consultation with Health, Education and Social Services to make sure as many as possible are reached by the centre. They run groups for new mums, next steps and a toddler group drop-in, all attended by a Health Visitor and a Family Support worker (who is paid). They also run Parenting classes, originally for young children but it has grown to include teenagers which has been useful in reducing bad behaviour in the schools. The family worker also supports those children that are fostered both into and out of families. A breakfast club is also run at the school which has helped many children. Dad’s club is also popular so are the computer classes. The Baptists have so many in the congregation that they have to use the school hall for worship.

After a walk through Farringdon to St. Andrew’s Church we met The Revd. Charles Draper for a very interesting visit to this church. We then hurried back to the United Reformed Church to meet Simon Faulks the Deanery Youth Officer who runs the Youth BUS which visits 5 villages fortnightly and the Secondary School at lunch time on a weekly basis. The bus contains a Tuck shop, a small consultation space, tables to chat at and 2 computers. He could not run it without the help of volunteers which are becoming increasingly hard to find. He runs courses for child protection for local churches and also talks to parents about ASBOs, sex, drugs and any other subject they are worried about. The Bus is 25yrs old and often breaks down so is becoming increasingly expensive to run. He would like to produce a promotional CD to send out with fundraising letters and also a secure internet site for the children. All this as well as his wages is also funded by Churches Together and other sources.

A working lunch followed at the Jolly Woodman during which many obscure practices within rural parishes were discussed!

The afternoon was spent visiting some interesting churches to show the geographical and cultural differences found in a 7 parish benefice. The first was an Anglo-Catholic jewel set in a country house estate at Compton Beauchamp followed by a Victorian Church in Burton which was in danger of being made redundant and is now, through consultation with the village, a thriving ecumenical partnership.

WEDNESDAY   A full day with the ORCC team at Jericho Farm. Here in comfortable, converted farm buildings we studied Parish Plans and social inclusion, Rural transport, village shops, Parish Councils, Village Halls and finally Rural Affordable Housing. It was a thought provoking day.

Unfortunately I was unable to go to JOHN NEALS’ farm for the visit on Thursday. As I am doing the essays on Rural Communities and Church in the Countryside this has definitely been a study week.

The RCC students were given questions to reflect on prior to their Rural Issues and Ministry Workshops on Friday. I hope to meet them again in November to find out how they got on!

Mrs Ann Owen is a first year CRES student.

In the 1950s the then Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, made a famous speech in which he foresaw a ‘wind of change’ sweeping through Africa, as the old colonial systems gave way to new born democracies. Sadly, the last half century has shown many ‘winds of change’ over that continent - most of which have brought war, famine, disease and suffering.

‘Winds of change’ are now beginning to blow on the farming communities up and down this land. After the winter of the past decade there is a sense, an expectation, that spring is in the air for those who have survived (and who are not badly crippled by debts incurred by the severity of the past decade) to take advantage of the more clement atmosphere. But, as proved by the continent of Africa, these ‘winds’ which bring hope also carry dark, threatening clouds onto our horizon.

In response to the need to produce renewable energy the farming industry, with government encouragement, is gearing up to produce fuel from crops - bio-diesel from oilseed rape and bio-ethanol from wheat. The low quality wheat produced in this country is ideal for this purpose, we have surplus low quality wheat. What a wonderful opportunity! For the government this is an easy way to meet the requirement to incorporate an increasing amount of renewable energy in the road fuels we use. However, the energy efficiency ratio for the process of producing bio-ethanol using present technology is just 1.3:1. To produce this nation’s oil based fuels from grain would require an area of four times the nation’s agricultural land to achieve. We can produce fuel in this way and import our food from the third world. I suggest that that would be to provide ourselves with fuel at the expense of starvation and death in third world populations.

Set-aside (the removal of land from agricultural production) has always been a debatable option. At present 8% of the arable acreage in the EU is in set-aside and that, I suggest, provides a foundation for the whole raft of environmental schemes now in place on our farm lands. These mainly one-year, rotational, set-aside fields may look unattractive but they do provide ‘thin’ cover for wild life and allow numerous annual plants to seed. The political thinking now is that set-aside policies should end. What effect will this have on wildlife and its habitat?

Food production from our farmland continues to fall, this nation is now only 60% food self-sufficient, the farm gate price of that food is now less that 1% of GNP. The farmer’s expertise is now directed into diversification and it is there that the main energy, learning and activity must be directed to provide a profit and survive. The farmer’s son taking on the farm full-time is now a rare and privileged option. All this is hailed as progressive and the sensible way forward. However, what of the nation’s food security? Perhaps we would do well, as a nation, to take time out and reflect where this ‘wind of change’ is taking us.

Global warming is a reality. Real winds bring a change to the crops we grow and, in the end, to our landscape.

The loss of dairy herds on our lowlands (cheap milk is now imported from Eastern Europe ) has decimated dairy farming). Sheep now graze these lowlands and the meat produced will be more profitable than that produced on the hill farms. Fewer sheep on the moors and hills of the west and north of the UK will transform the landscape.

Many ‘winds of change’ are upon us now – for most of them we have no idea where they go. That sounds quite biblical, like the words spoken by Jesus to Nicodeamus (John Ch3). I my heart I feel that one of the great needs of this nation at the present time is the breath of God’s Spirit to blow us back to God’s values - God’s values for the land we farm, for those who are the custodians of that land and for a whole nation called to be stakeholders rather than mercenary consumers of the land.

My prayer: Almighty God, give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit: and as you know our weakness so may we know your power to save; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

After the CRuC conference in September I went on my first visit to Africa, let alone Uganda. I was accompanied by Roger Turner, a former reader at a nearby Herts. parish and now the International Relations Officer for the new Masindi-Kitara diocese. We had a 3 hour drive from the airport at Entebbe to reach Masindi. Most of the way was on the road to the north, then the last 40 miles on what was in effect a wide farm track, with plenty of bumps.

A great welcome awaited us. The Masindi diocese is not yet two years old. Bishop Stanley Ntagali is building up a team to lead the diocese. Like much of Uganda the area is poor. Most of the parishes are in the country with subsistence farming and the families living in traditional huts. I went with the bishop to one village for a confirmation service. We were given an ecstatic welcome with the traditional greetings including dance and music. At the service I was invited to say a few words in response to the welcome I was given. These had to be translated into the local language of Runyoro.

The Church of Uganda is extremely well supported with people but because of the financial state of the country it needs financial support from outside. The Masindi diocese has the additional problem of being new. It does however have the structure both to lead and care for the 200 churches in the diocese and to be the means of practical support which is needed. During my stay one village parish encountered problems which led to many having to leave their homes. The diocese was able to provide some much needed immediate relief with food. The land around Masindi is fertile and the climate, not too hot and a good supply of rain at the moment, means that food can be grown. The church owns a lot of land which is being developed and more that could be the subject of development programmes. The population of Uganda is young which will mean an even more rapid growth in the next 30 years.

There are major problems in Uganda. HIV/AIDS has decimated a whole generation, many children are orphans being brought up by grandparents or other members of their family, some children have been left to care for themselves. A lot of children die before they are 5 because of malaria and dysentery (caused by bad sanitation). The civil war in the north and the problems in the Sudan have created a refugee problem. The country is still recovering from the Amin/Obote era. For the last 20 years Uganda has been governed by President Museveni. He has attracted a lot of justifiable criticism, but he has got Uganda on the road to recovery.

Not far from Masindi is the Murchison Falls National Park. I spent a day there and went on a boat trip down the Victoria Nile. We saw plenty of hippos who chased us away, a family of elephants, crocodiles, and plenty of birds. The lions and giraffes I think were asleep! As we travelled in the car through the forest we saw many baboons and chimps. This could become a magnet for tourism, and they have struck oil not far from Masindi, but probably only enough to meet Uganda’s for 10 years.

My stay lasted a month. I learnt a lot very quickly. I took part in Sunday worship in the cathedral and some of the parishes, preaching, addressing the clergy at a seminar, and in one village baptising 5 babies. The Ugandans made me feel at home. They have a simple but profound faith, they are dedicated and their worship is alive with spontaneity. The Church of Uganda is in a significant position being both revivalist and a strong structure to channel the enthusiasm. They have many resources of faith and people, but they will continue to need support financially from outside for several years to come. If you would like to have a copy of the longer report that I have written email me on jvmkirkby@aol.com and I will email you a copy.

Many of you will have met Rob Brighton, who spoke to us at Offa House in September 2005 about the aims and work of Land Heritage and its organic, educational farm at Summerhill, near Exeter. As agreed at its AGM last September Land Heritage is now in negotiation with the Soil Association with a view to merging the Land Heritage farms and the Summerhill programme into a new organisation. This will comprise the founder members: Land Heritage, the Paget Estate and Oakcroft Organic Garden under the management of the Soil Association. Its objectives will be to:

• ensure a secure future for our precious and threatened heritage of family farms;
• enable farmers and landowners to pass on or bequeath their land in the knowledge of its ongoing stewardship;
• protect and preserve land and landscapes, rural culture and jobs by ensuring sustainable farming practice;
• provide opportunities for new and young entrants to agriculture by removing the barrier presented by capital value of the land.

A support group is being created for the new Land Trust (name not confirmed yet) probably based around specific regions such as the South-West, or even particular farms such as Summerhill. If you would like further information about this or would like to become a supporter, please contact Rob Brighton at Land Heritage, Summerhill Farm, Hittisleigh, Exeter, Devon EX6 6LP Tel: 01647 24622. E-mail: http:/www.landheritage.org.uk

SUSTAINABILITY
Much has been written about sustainable living and many practical suggestions put forward by Government departments, environmental organisations, water and energy companies. For Christians, however, the issue is first and foremost a theological matter. Respect and care for the earth has been acknowledged by the Church as one of its five marks of mission We need to be absolutely clear that living sustainably is a vital part of our Christian discipleship and not something merely to be “added on” as a piece of social welfare. Only when we see the issues of e.g. global warming and damage to the environment in the light of the Gospel will Christians take the matter of sustainability seriously, and Christians and churches have until very recently been dragging their feet and lagging behind those in the secular world.

So what can we do? What should we do? What should be our individual and corporate response?

1. PRAY
– for our local counsellors and MPs by name
- for our Church Councils
- for our colleagues at work, and in the community
- for justice and peace throughout the world
that all may take a responsible, positive attitude; emphasise that individuals can make a difference.

The following suggestions are largely common sense, gleaned from a selection of environmental tips issued by a variety of agencies; they do, however need to be kept constantly in mind:

2.WASTE MANAGEMENT; remember the slogan: Refuse, Re-Use, Re-Cycle in that order !
3.WATER USE: Shower rather than take a bath; this uses far less water. Don’t keep the tap running while you clean your teeth. Use your washing machine sensibly’. wait until you have a full load and use a cool cycle of 40 C for most washing. For one cup of tea fill your kettle with one cupful of water. Whenever you turn on a tap, pray for those who have no ready access to clean water, and for those aid agencies seeking to provide it.
4.ENERGY USE; Ten energy saving tips:
a. Switch off the TV at the set; leaving it on stand-by with the red light on uses up to 25% of the power.
b. Put aluminium foil behind any radiators fitted on outside walls
c. Install low energy light bulbs
d. Turn the thermostat down 1 degree C on your central heating (this will save you money as well as energy!)
e. Choose the right size pan for cooking and use the lid. And choose the right size ring to fit the pan. Install the fridge or freezer in a cool place.
f. Draw the curtains in the evening when it’s cold and the heating is on.
g. Don’t let your computer run unnecessarily
h. When purchasing a new fridge or washing machine look for an A++ Energy rating
i. Insulate your loft.

5.SHOPPING: Remember “all things come from God.” If the cattle on a thousand hills are his (Psalm 50 v.10) so is the money in your wallet!
Buy according to what you need not what you want.
Whenever possible buy local, fairly-traded and animal friendly
When buying local is not possible, consider the food miles involved, choose the least and choose prayerfully.
N.B. The Women’s Institute is recommending its members to return unnecessary packaging to their supplier in protest.

6.TRAVEL: a. Whenever possible use public transport
b. Consider walking or cycling for short distances
c. Car Use: keep your car regularly serviced and tyres at correct pressure; this will enable you to drive economically and minimise your CO2 emissions.
d. Slowdown! At 70 mph. you use 30% more fuel than at 50 mph
e. Share cars whenever possible
f. Air travel: if possible use alternative means. A single flight to New York spews out the same amount of CO2 as the average motorist does in a year.
g. If flying is the only reasonable method of travel, contact A Rocha’s climate stewardship scheme, who will calculate the number of Trees required to compensate for your share of CO2 emissions, plant them for you wherever in the world they are most needed and charge you at cost price. (For full details contact www.climatestewards.org.uk)
7. REVIEW your “ecological footprint” regularly, and keep yourself up-to-date with the latest technology for reducing CO2 emissions and for living in a more environmentally friendly way
8. CONSIDER signing up to A Rocha’s 24:1 lifestyle project (Psalm 24 v1).
For full details contact A Rocha UK, Freepost (SCE 13093) Southall Middlesex UB1 3BR e-mail uk@arocha.org.

One final piece of advice, if a lot of the above is new to you don’t tackle it all at once. Take a step at a time until you build up to a fully sustainable lifestyle.

For many year’s I was never a fan of celery especially when dipped in salt! However when added to other vegetables especially soups it becomes transformed. The following recipe is one of my favourites.

One Large Onion or if you prefer a Leek (either work!)
One or Two Sticks of Celery
One Litre of Vegetable or Chicken Stock
50 to 70 grams of mature Stilton Cheese according to taste.

Chop and fry an onion in a little butter and olive oil over a moderate heat for 2 minutes. Add the roughly chopped celery and allow mixture to sweat for 5 minutes with th pan lid on, stirring occasionally. Add the stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the stilton broken into small chunks. Place the mixture into a liquidiser and blend until smooth. Add seasoning to taste.

The soup can be served with croutons or to add a special touch chopped chives or spring onion tops.  Bon appetite!

In Biblical times, fire in the hearth and lamp were obviously necessities of life. But outside of domestication, the bible does not give a cosy view of fire. In the Old Testament, God is integrally linked to consuming fire – in his delight in the aroma of burnt offerings ((mentioned many times in Leviticus) and in his appearance on earth in fire, such as to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3), as a pillar of fire before the fleeing Israelites (Exodus 13) and again, more terribly, when the Ten Commandments were given and God “came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness” (Deuteronomy 4:11). God also used fire in his wrath, such as when the Israelites complained of their hardships and he sent fire to consume parts of their camp (Numbers 11:1) and later when 250 followers of Korah were devoured by fire as a further warning (Numbers 26:10). God’s people were known to tap into this fire as when Elijah calls fire down to consume a Captain and 50 of his followers (2Kings 1:10) and Joshua uses fire to burn the city of Ai once it is captured (Joshua 8:28).

Jesus carried on the image of fire as a consuming, cleansing tool of change: “I have come to bring fire on the earth” (Luke 12:49). And through the New Testament there is woven the unpleasant prospect of hell fire (e.g Matthew 18:9, Mark9:43), and fire is extensively used in the final destruction of the old earth (e.g Revelation 8) with those failing the final judgement thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14).

These powerful images would not have been lost on the inhabitants of the Middle East, they well know how overpowering fires could be, as shown by the Deuteronomy 4:11 quote above. They lived in flammable vegetation and fires would have been a common devastation, destroying crops, killing animals and people and burning houses. Sitting in damp Britain, we might struggle to appreciate how central the fear of fire would have been in these people. Yet, we are really no different. When the media show us images of raging forest fires, destroyed homes, don’t we also see fire as a destructive, deadly, wasteful agent? And so it often is in economic and social terms when recourses like timber are burned, leading to the closure of saw mills and loss of jobs, or when people lose homes or whole towns are wiped out. It is no different from Biblical times.

And yet, care is needed that we don’t look at vegetation fires purely with our own desires and needs in mind. In many cases fires in wild vegetation are an ecological necessity – without fire, a range of plants and animals would die out – and we must bear this in mind if we are to take stewardship of the earth seriously.

Let’s start from the beginning. Fires have been burning through the world’s vegetation almost since the first plants appeared on land; fossilised charcoal (fusain) is known from the early Silurian, over 400 million years ago. These fires would have been (and still are) naturally ignited by lightning; there are around 8 million lightening strikes around the world every day – more than enough to ignite all the fires you need. Every continent except Antarctica currently experience natural fires. These burn regularly through nearly all vegetation types, from tundra to desert, with only deciduous forests and rainforests being largely immune. Since fire is so widespread and has been for so long, it should be no surprise that many animals and plants have come not only to tolerate fire but to need its continual reappearance to survive. Many herbaceous (non woody) plants resprout from roots surviving after the fire or grow back from seed buried in the soil, triggered to germinate either by the heat of the fire or by smoke particles washed into the soil by rain: no fire, no germination. Trees such as the giant sequoia and Douglas Fir survive fire by having thick non-flammable bark that insulates the delicate living tissue inside (living cells normally die above 55-60C while most flames – even a candle flame – are between 750 and 1200C). Other trees with thin bark such as birches and poplars may well be killed above ground by even a gentle fire but will resprout from below ground, just like herbaceous plants.

These adaptations work well for gentle ‘surface fires’ that lick around the base of trees. The big challenge comes with a crown fire. Here, the fire leaps the gap from the ground up into the tree canopy which explodes into vigorous fire consuming the whole tree. With this incredible release of energy, it is very unlikely that any living tissue will survive. A different sort of adaptation is needed: fireproof ‘serotinous’ cones. These are found in at least 500 trees and shrubs around the world including the eucalypts and proteas of the southern hemisphere and many conifers of the northern hemisphere. These plants keep their seeds locked up for sometimes decades in serotinous cones that only open when heated. In pines – including the Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) of N America – the scales of the cone are sealed shut with resins that prevent the cones opening as usual, but a fire hot enough to kill the mother tree will melt these resins. The cones then open normally a few days after the fire when everything has cooled and a superb competition-free, nutrient-rich seedbed awaits. As well as ensuring a good start to the next generation, the intense crown fires also kill off fire-intolerant competitors, the shade-tolerant spruces and firs. This helps to ensure that the phoenix-like regeneration of pine from the ashes of their former selves gives rise to another pure pine stand

It is an advantage to serotinous trees if otherwise gentle surface fires can be encouraged into becoming very intense crown fires. Thus many of them have evolved flammable bark (such as in the pines and many of the eucalypts) and often carry ‘ladder fuels’ (dead branches down to ground level often encrusted with flammable lichens or dead lengths of flammable bark draped over the branches) that allow flames to climb the gap between the surface fire and the flammable canopy.

What about animals? The simple answer is that since fires have been around for so long, animals in fire-prone habitats have either adapted to fire or they have been driven extinct. Usually no more than 5% of animals are directly killed by any one fire. This may still sound a lot but since most vegetation burns on a frequency of once in decades or centuries, it is likely that a greater number of deer, for example, will die each winter than will die in a fire burning past every 100 years or so. Some animals directly use the fire to their advantage. Birds of prey and insectivorous birds are renowned for flying back and forth beside a fire, catching their prey driven from cover by the flames. The jewel beetle of N America uses burnt forest areas as breeding grounds and arrives in droves while the fire is still burning. Other animals such as deer and mice may not benefit directly from the fire but depend upon the new fresh vegetation that regrows afterwards.

In the many types of vegetation where fires are natural, it is important to note that fire is not just tolerated but is often essential. Without fire, plants with buried seeds and the serotinous pines will not produce the next generation. Without fire the jewel beetle will not reproduce. Without fire, whole vegetation types will gradually change and disappear. This was seen in N American National parks such as Yellowstone where fires were assiduously put out for decades in the early 1900s with the result that the lush forests full of deer and other wildlife gradually changed to become dark silent forests. Fire suppression was leading to the loss of the landscape which the park was set up to preserve. The large fires in Yellowstone in 1987 that led to newspaper headlines declaring that the park was utterly destroyed were just what were needed ecologically and the park has never looked better. The same is true of the Australian bush around Sydney that we see on TV threatening homes and lives; without the fires, the biodiversity of the bush – the total number of species living there – would fall drastically.

Having said all this, in areas such as tropical rainforests that do not have a long history of regular fires, animals and plants are not adapted to it, so here fire is an unwelcome disturbance, rather than an essential ecological force.

In Biblical times, when population centres were small, wild lands were left to burn, or not, as nature dictated and biodiversity looked after itself.

Now, however, we have taken over and altered so much of the landscape that we cannot help but interact with these fires. Fires can never be eradicated from the landscape; flammable vegetation will always burn eventually, no matter what precautions we take. So like it or not, we have to contend with fire on the landscape. But more than this, good stewardship of God’s creation means that we must subdue our dislike and mistrust of fire and allow it to burn in at least some parts of the many fire-dominated ecosystems of the world if we are to conserve biodiversity effectively.

Updated 8 Sept 2007 by Ken Wilkinson. Material on this site © 1996 to 2007 Christian Rural Concern.
Christian Rural Concern is a name used by the Christian Rural Trust, Registered Charity number 328 204.