What's Really Going on in Rural Churches

Baptist News published an article on rural churches in Indiana. The author interviewed a number of people serving in rural Indiana. I've heard a number of those comments and trends. I thought I'd respond with my own observations here.

I pastor a church with an average of 65 people in a town of 300 people. There is no stop light or grocery store in our county of 5000 people. We are very rural, but if we drive 16 miles, we can be in a town of 10,000 people with a Wal-Mart Supercenter and an Aldi.

Here are my scattered thoughts responding to some of what is said in the article.

  • Churches and leaders using 1970's methods to search for a pastor are not going to be successful. A paragraph in the state newspaper or on a job board is not going to get many views or applications. That might have worked in the 70's, 80's, and 90's, but it is time to change how you look for a pastor.
  • Lost people in rural America are not financially responsible for their own pastors and missionaries. They never have been. Someone is going to have to take responsibility to send and sustain leaders to reach and disciple so that Jesus is worshiped in small places too.
  • Standards for leaders and churches in rural America should be raised and not lowered. Leaders that don't know the Bible, do not have godly character, and do not know how to lead people are very common. Those requirements are Biblical. A bad pastor will kill a church eventually. Raise the standard for rural pastors.
  • Rural churches should focus on getting the basics right--Sunday services that have congregational singing, scripture reading, and Biblical preaching. Many rural churches do not do those three things well or at all. They exchange congregational singing for performances, Scripture reading for reading devotionals, and Biblical preaching for whatever the pastor is thinking about. That will kill a church.
  • The problems mentioned in that article are not new. When I read minutes of old Baptist associations in my area, the need for pastors in rural areas is very old.
  • People in rural America are used to driving. They regularly drive to shop, go to school, go to the doctor, etc. A solid church will draw from a larger area than it's immediate area. 
  • If a town is big enough for a biker bar, then it is big enough for a church.
  • Most ministry jobs are filled by relationship networks. If you are responsible for helping churches find new pastors, how many young pastors do you know? Are you seeking them out or keeping them out?
  • Rural churches have a lot to offer a young pastor. Tim Keller, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Jared Wilson each pastored in small rural churches and learned a lot there before they became household names.
  • Pastoring a rural church will teach you to preach, to lead change, to grow in your character, to minister to people. You can't hide in a small place.
  • It takes creativity and patience to live and pastor in a rural place. The church and the pastor's family might have to be creative to make the finances work, but it can be done. 
  • It will take some new wineskins for new wine in rural America. The basics of the church gathering should not change. At the same time, rural churches need to look at their situation to see what new thing can help them love Jesus and their neighbors. Our community has never cared about our church's fall festival. It's more of a fellowship event. However, they did show up for a BBQ competition we threw in the park and the trunk or treat we did in our town square. We had to stop saying, "No one cares," and do something that they will care about.

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