The Arthur Rank Centre has announced a new £180,000 training project to strengthen the role of rural churches at the heart of their communities.

Some 13,000 churches of all denominations across England are set to benefit from the Rural Life and Faith project over the next three years.

The programme has been launched by the ARC, a support charity for the rural community and its churches, after church leaders made an urgent appeal for help to strengthen churches in the countryside.

ARC said many rural churches lacked sufficient resources and often had large benefices or team ministries, with “thinly spread out” and shared trained leadership.

The ARC said the programme would fill major gaps in training provision “which threaten the life and work of the rural church”.

Dr Jill Hopkinson, National Rural Officer for the Church of England, will head up Rural Faith and Life, which she said had been met by “unprecedented enthusiasm and support”.

“The church is a vital force in vibrant village communities. But ARC has identified big problems in training provision through research, our teaching and training activities, the experience of the National Rural Officers and their networks, and calls from church leaders.

“The message is that rural training and development (particularly for lay people) is insufficient and inadequate.”

Dr Hopkinson said the Rural Life and Faith programme would responds to that need by building new skills, confidence and competence specific to rural situations.

She added: “The idea is that rural churches will respond more readily to opportunities, and maintain a flourishing Christian presence in their communities.”

Research on the existing provision of training for mission and ministry across England is due to begin and the first training modules are expected to be made available to churches in 2010.