Spiritual Care in Sparsely Populated Regions

What insights might be gained from this region with respect to opportunities that may exist to provide spiritual care with, and for, those in similar sparsely populated regions and what innovative ways might be used to deliver that spiritual care? Abstract opulation loss in rural areas of Saskatchewan, and indeed across Canada, creates a challenging reality for those who remain behind. As rural populations dwindle there is also an accompanying loss of villages and towns along with businesses that served those population centers. This has created a crisis for those who continue to live and work in increasing isolation. Small town grocery stores, financial institutions, agricultural suppliers of all kinds, schools and health care facilities have closed in great numbers over the past thirty years, along with local churches that provided spiritual care to the community. Denominational leaders tried to meet the need for spiritual care by developing multi-point pastoral charges in areas of dwindling population, but, in recent years, many of these multi-point ministries have closed. The question that drove the research and writing of my D.Min. project revolved around the loss of organized local churches in rural areas of western Canada, and specifically Saskatchewan. Through the early stages of the project’s development, under the guidance and encouragement of my D.Min. cohort, my faculty advisor and my project advisor, my project area was narrowed down from an initial area of 12,000 km 2 covering much of west-central Saskatchewan to an area of approximately 1,900 km 2 covering the Rural Municipality (R.M.) of Lacadena in west-central Saskatchewan.