skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Church Conference Targets Clergy Shortage, Declining Populations in Rural SD

play audio
Play

Tuesday, April 15, 2008   

Huron, SD - South Dakota's shrinking rural population is forcing many churches to cut their budgets and consequently to eliminate their rural ministry offices. That issue will be one of those up for discussion at an "Ecumenical Conference for Christian Laity and Clergy" this Saturday in Huron.

Organizer Dick Poppen, a Presbyterian minister who serves congregations in Carthage, Fedora and Watertown, says many churches are finding themselves without pastors at all, while others must share pastors. He says the state's rural areas have significant pastoral needs, and this weekend's conference aims to help develop rural ministries.

"One of the significant things that we're beginning to do is improving our understanding of ecumenical cooperation among the several different traditions of the Christian church, which is extremely important. And then, of course, for many of our small congregations, we're developing lay pastors from their own particular congregations. We're also looking at new models of small-group ministry."

Poppen believes it's crucial that the state's faith community stay active and engaged in rural areas.

"We have a saying in our little church out in western Miner County, which has lost 76 percent of its population since we started ministering there several years ago, and that is: the last thing, the last group, the last organization in the community that should be there to shut off the lights is the church. And we want to make sure that is going to be case."

Saturday's ecumenical conference is open to lay people as well as clergy and is sponsored through a grant from the Presbyterian Church through the Presbytery of South Dakota. There is no charge to attend.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021