Working Conference on the Role ofthe Church in Rural Development*Ł X.In October, 1971, two representatives ofAgricultural Missions, Inc., J, Benton Rhoades,Executive Secretary, and Dr. Dean Freuden-berger, Agricultural Programs Consultant, visi-ted Rhodesia to assess how the Rhodesianchurches might be assisted to undertake de-velopment in the rural areas. An informalmeeting was arranged which was attended byrepresentatives from various churches andother organisations involved in rural develop-ment. From this meeting a number of questionsemerged, concerning the role of Mission Farmsand the responsibility of the churches in respectof the use and development of land.It was agreed that there was a need for thechurches to come together to discuss these andsimilar problems, and so a planning committeewas appointed. It agreed on the need for anational conference, widely representative ofthe Christian church in Rhodesia, to considerthe role of the church in rural development.As a preliminary to the national conference itwas decided that a series of two-day regionalconsultations would be held on the sametheme. It was considered that the regional con-sultations would be valuable in highlightingregional problems, in suggesting guidelines forthe national conference, and in enabling widerparticipation of those involved in rural develop-ment.Agricultural Missions, Inc., generously agreedto finance both the regional consultations andthe national conference, and the Principal,Revd. Professor R. Craig, agreed that theUniversity of Rhodesia should be host to theNational Conference, which duly met inAugust, 1972.University of RhodesiaThe conference organisers were extremelyfortunate in obtaining the participation of Dr.E. F. Schumacher, founder of the IntermediateTechnology Group in the United Kingdom,who delivered the introductory keynote addressentitled 'The Church and Rural DevelopmentŠ Some Suggestions'. Dr. Schumacher latergave a public lecture entitled 'Guidelines forRural Development', and made valuable con-tributions to the conference discussions.The Conference programme was built aroundthree main themes which emerged as areas ofconcern from the regional consultations, name-ly:1. Training Schemes: the need for a widerange of training courses for rural developmentat a number of scattered centres.2. Extension and Development in RuralAreas: how might this be effectively carriedout by the various denominations to meet theurgent and widespread problems underlyingrural poverty?3. Ecumenical Action in Rural Develop-ment : organisation needed for the various de-nominations to work together on a co-opera-tive basis for rural development.A report of the conference, including sum-maries of regional consultations and back-ground papers, is available and can be ob-tained from either Revd. L. Blomguist, OldUmtali Mission, P.B. P7024, Umtali, Rhodesiaor from Agricultural Missions Inc., 475 River-side Drive,'New York, N.Y. 10027.G. A. SMITH83