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CONCLUSION

I cannot identify the rural American culture for you, or, for that matter, the values of rural America. There are too many agricultures, there are too many differences in rural America. As we tried to point out in the previous unit, rural America is probably much more diverse than metropolitan America. So instead, I have offered you a tool kit for discovering the elements of culture that are present in the context where you minister. This is to say that in studying the culture of rural places, one must attend subjects such as agriculture, town culture, the interaction between these, the impingement on these by the larger culture, the various peoples who have settled in rural America, the various economic enterprises, the many different organizations and the impact of technologies. I have tried to define for you the basic elements of culture and the areas that cultures must deal with in a society. And we have looked at such things as role theory and contemporary issues impacting rural culture in America (4-1, 4-3 & 4-6).

With these learnings you and your group can attack, through the suggested projects and activities, getting a handle on the specific elements of culture that exist where you live and minister. It appears that rural America is "fixin'" to go through the third major wave of change in this century. And many of you will play important roles in responding to this wave of change. You will minister to its hurt, you will encourage leadership, you'll provide leadership, you will prophetically challenge hurtful change, you will prophetically proclaim the qualities of good change. To prepare a base for performing these roles, you need now to understand, as much as you possibly can, the diverse culture, the multifaceted culture, of the place where you work, the task and expectations of the role that you perform.