Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

"I am convinced that food and eating practices are a major avenue into environmental concerns -- an avenue that connects all manner of other spiritual, moral, and church issues," says Shannon Jung, Director of the Center for Theology and Land. Many urban and suburban churches may have little or no connection to agriculture at all (though urban community gardens are becoming part of some churches' creation care programs). In Dubuque, Iowa, food, farmers and faith go together.

Being in pastoral ministry in rural communities means knowing the land, knowing the people who live and work on the land, and learning what connection exists between the two. At the Center for Theology of Land, a seminary-based agency in Iowa, this means that rural concerns overlap with environmental concerns. Issues about which seminary students learn include farming practices, the economics of agriculture (and the pressure on conventional growers), Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA), and the local foods movement. As seminarians witness the importance of supporting farm families and local agriculture, they often find their grocery lists and meal planning begin to change to reflect their new discoveries. Meanwhile, they learn to live and minister in rural communities with wisdom, humility, respect, and compassion.

With a mission "to strengthen rural congregations and their communities," the Center each year sponsors two immersion courses into rural America. Students spend time on farms and with farm families, with pastors, and in the communities where many of them will lead churches in the future. 

Environmental and economic issues are a major part of life in those places. Students in the program discuss such issues theologically, practically, and ecologically. Seminarian Susan Bahleda reports that, "I had no idea what rural ministry might entail. The immersion experience helped me see how complex rural culture is and how ministry there involves learning about the context."