Approximately 60 million Americans, or about 19.3% of the
US Population, live in rural areas. These communities are mainly served by smaller
member congregations. This is what writer Mark Clifton calls the “normative
church” in his book Reclaiming Glory.
The Hartford Institute of Religion Research puts the estimated number of Protestant
Congregations in the United States at about 314,000. Of those congregations
over 59% (177,000) average less than 100 people in worship. Of the
approximately 56 million people who attend worship in America in these
Protestant churches each week, nearly 9 million of them will worship in a rural
church.
Yet in my experience as a pastor and denominational
servant since 1992, much of the leadership support through conferences, writing
and denominational programming and support is not provided with this reality in
mind. Often pastors struggle to find content that helps them deal with the
realities that they are faced with in their small town context. Musician and
theologian Michael Card, speaking about guitarist Phil Keaggy, once said that
real genius doesn’t shut a learner or novice down, it inspires them. Yet, many
pastors, leaving conferences designed to help them, go away feeling, “I could
never do that.”
Leading in the smaller member congregation has unique
challenges and blessings! My first pastorate was serving a country church in Sylvania,
GA. I was bi-vocational, working as a maintenance technician in a defense
facility over an hour away. My wife and I were both city kids, more comfortable
in a cul-de-sac than a farming community. Yet, now decades later, the nurture
and encouragement of that experience is undeniably foundational. Inexplicably,
God has had us serve in either a rural or “rurban” setting for the last 28
years in ministry. “Rurban” is when you live in a subdivision but you are still
within three miles of cows!
In smaller member churches the rhythm is usually slower. The
unhurried pace has to be factored into shepherding. On the other hand, because
of the closeness of the relationships, disruption is experienced with elevated
intensity. Whether the leader is working through adaptive change, or handling relational
crises, the energy ripples quickly through the tight knit church family.
Additionally, influence is categorized differently in
smaller member churches. In my first church even though I was the pastor, I
wasn’t really the pastor. I was the preacher. But the church had experienced a
lot of turnover and the actual pastor was the deacon chairman. Thankfully he
was godly and gifted in shepherding. Around 1993 he gave me a cassette tape of
John Piper’s advent sermons. We talk about early adapters, but this godly
deacon was listening to John Piper in 1993! He was a huge blessing to me. He
was the first person that helped me understand that in the smaller member rural
church titles don’t mean that much.
Smaller member churches have unique struggles. Many rural
towns are faced with difficult economic realities. Many rural churches are
bi-vocational or multi-vocational. Either the pastor has to find an additional income
stream or his wife has to work outside the home to make ends meet. Maybe they
are both working. Because rural America by definition is going to provide
limited bi-vocational opportunity, many smaller member churches are in big time
crisis mode any time there is pastor transition.
This speaks to some significant issues. First, this means
that maintaining congregational harmony is extremely important (Psalm 133:1). If
a congregation develops a reputation for being contentious in a declining or
static population growth area, that is very difficult to recover from. It is
worth the effort involved to learn how to disagree agreeably. Again, because
the relationships are so close and long-standing, often congregations are
hesitant to correct behavior in members that is aberrant and unhelpful. But the
alternative is to lose an aspect of community that is indispensable to
vitality.
Second, a church can help ensure that the pastor is not
restless in his ministry calling by loving him and his family and providing regular
encouragement to them. Again, if it is true that any transition in a bi-vocational
church is a significant crisis because of supply and demand, developing a
healthy congregational life is a critical component in this. Smaller member
churches often are looking for young leaders who can energize the ministry.
Sometimes the church leaders think that he will grow the church by osmosis by
virtue of the fact that he has a young family. But if he meets with obstruction
each time he tries to advance innovation, of course he will eventually hit the
wall. His frustration will cause him to look for greener pastures.
If the crisis in transition for smaller member churches
is not well managed the church will probably eventually trade off something it
shouldn’t in their desperation to find a pastor. They will trade off the character
qualities that the Bible assigns to a pastoral leader. They will turn to
someone unqualified to serve as a pastor. They will trade off their missionary
identity. Each congregation has historically unique connections in their
denominational life that desperation will cause them to devalue. They will
trade off evangelistic vigor. They will settle for a chaplain who will make
them comfortable, rather than a pastor who models for them the work of an
evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5).
The first auto-fill item under the Google search for “rural
church” is “rural churches for sale.” That ought to be instructive for anyone
who loves rural church ministry. It is increasingly obvious that this isn’t an
easy calling, but that it is one that is worth doing well.
Comments