Southdown

I share the following, with friends and colleagues, as it touches issues that go deep into the history of the land. Harmful stewardship and agronomic practices, injustices, displacement of peoples and bloodshed, have all contributed to our current situation concerning agriculture and the land. The land cries out for its redemption. So it’s calling also for a covering of prayer.

Five years ago, we would have surrendered the tenancy of our farm because there was no longer a living to be made from agriculture. However, God very clearly showed us through several completely independent prophetic words to "remain connected to the land". Our immediate interpretation of this was, on leaving the farm; we should maintain relationship with those still involved with the land. We then realized, in spite of the fiscal circumstances, God's desire was for us to remain on the farm and trust him. Being thrown together by the devastating effects of BSE, Foot and Mouth and an increasingly detrimental world market, 6 of us local farmers, some of whom would no longer be farming today, developed a simple working model of cooperation that enables us to survive. None of us are able to maintain a living purely from the agricultural holding we farm, but diversification projects and other non-agricultural income, enable us to remain connected to the land. So here was the realisation that this word God had given us was not just for us, but also for others in agriculture all facing similar pressures. While continuing to stand in the position God has given us, in spite of the circumstances, and contending the current trends and the destructive agenda of principalities and powers opposed to God's intention for the land, I decided to explore further what God meant by "remaining connected to the land". I drafted a plan for a personal thesis based around the theology of agriculture. What is God's primary intention for the land? What future does God intend for agriculture? My intention is to do this in the context of a groupwho gather from the sphere of agriculture. Supporting one another. Praying for the land; crying out to God with repentance, intercession and a deliberate intention to "stand in the gap". Hearing God's perspective. Discovering models of agriculture, which express His ways for the land...(First fruits, Sabbath, Jubilee). Declaring God's purpose. Prophesying what we hear to the land. Being agents of healing to the land. Exploring justice for the land. Addressing the relationship between landlord, tenant and local community and a more cooperative model of land management.

Here's where I realised the word God has given us to "remain connected to the land" relates, not just to us and others involved with the land, but also to the reconnection of people to the land, who have been divorced from their heritage to the land. Restoring the longing in people to connect with the land rather than enforced dependence on a super market shelf. A transition from ownership and control by the few... to the many. -  e.g. Grow your own projects, enabling a degree of subsistence living and growing produce for a local farmers market.

God's purpose in Christ is to heal and bring wholeness, not only through personal salvation, but also to the entire created order. (Col 1:19-20) Belief in Christ means forgiveness, transformation, restoration, by entering in to God's renewed creation order. (2 Cor 5:17) Being part of God's Kingdom means renewed relationship with the Creator, but also renewed harmony and justice between people and the entire created world. (Is 55:12). The promise from 2 Chron.7:14 for God's people, if we will only take responsibility to face up to the sins and injustices and determine to know God's intention, is that He will hear from heaven; He will forgive our sin; He will heal our land.

During some preliminary Internet research on this, I came across the Certificate in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies. A course, run jointly by Christian Rural Concern and the John Ray Initiative, under the auspices of Ripon Theological College near Oxford. Both are committed to promoting a Christian understanding of rural and environmental issues. This 2-year distance-learning course matches my homespun thesis perfectly, so I've already enrolled on this distance-learning course.

A project I'm currently pursueing alongside this course, involves the formation of a new model for estate management. A forum to meet quarterly to look at issues relating to just and Godly principles for the land, the people of the land and the local community, and an appropriate 21st century relationship between landlord, tenants and local community. The Forum will be chaired by the Landlord and invited representatives include a couple of  Farm Tenants, the Land Agent, a Parish Council member, a Community Association representative, Chair of Churches Together, and someone from the local Historical Society and a National Trust representative.

Please pray!