Revitalize Your Church

A young pastor once contacted me, seeking suggestions for effective ministry in his small community.  Here is my response: 1.  Think Big and Little. Too many rural pastors suffer from myopia -- small vision.  "How can anything significant happen in a little place like this?"  However, it pays to remember that Jesus launched the greatest mission in human history from rural context.  If you have the right perspective, you can touch the world from the end of it!  Refuse to be small minded. Do something special with what you have.  Go the extra mile and put some "wow" into it.  It doesn't take much more to make a huge difference.  Remember, in a small community, you don't have to be great to be spectacular. Take a risk and do something big.  Plan a significant event and invite the whole community.  (A few ideas: a dinner to honor veterans or rescue workers, a fun outreach for children, a hunting or fishing expo, a concert, the ...

We'll probably never be a megachurch.  Our small northwoods village doesn't lend itself to a congregation like that.  However it's a perfect place for community impact -- a great place to build a "mega-watt" church.

An interesting piece that appeared at The Christian Post Blog by Able Baker:   11 Challenges Unique to Rural Pastors.

I've recently had the opportunity to connect with a fellow small town church advocate, Pastor Shannon O'Dell, of Brand New Church in the thriving metropolis of Harrison, Arkansas. Under Shannon's leadership the congregation has grown from 31 attendees to a multi-campus church, reaching thousands. I was delighted to receive a free copy of his new book, Transforming Church in Rural America via Booksneeze, and read the whole thing in two days. As one who connects with a lot of rural pastors every year through my speaking and writing, I'm always on the lookout for good resources for them. There aren't very many. Most conferences, magazine articles and ministry books are geared to the suburban minister and the megachurch mentality. Books about small town and rural ministry are quite rare, and often depressing. Authors tend to pity to pastor who serves in a small place. We pastors in small communities don't want to be pitied -- we want to be challenged! I...

Suburbanite, Emrys Tyler, upon graduation from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California, received the call to Ninevah -- Ninevah Presbyterian Church -- a rural congregation on the banks of the Susquehanna River in New York. Tyler quickly discovered that Ninevah is a place "where folks measure themselves, not by what they build, but by what they grow. And to grow the fruit of the land, you have to put your fingers in the soil, sweat in the sun, and wait with patience through the winter." Along this line, he wrote an outstanding article in a recent edition of Fuller Focus: The Spiritual Gift of Catching Cows. (Special thanks to my friend, Ron McClung, who sent this article to me.)

Over a Rural Route Church, there's a great post on How to Fix the Economy Rural Style: 1. Bailing Wire 2. Duct Tape 3. W.D. 40 Read the rest of the list here

Know Thy Community.

Collin Hansen reports on the decline in pastors willing to serve rural America . That's really sad. I followed God's call to the rural northwoods of Wisconsin from urban southern California 18 years ago. It's been an amazing place to raise a family and serve a community. It's rewarding -- but not as cushy as ministering in the suburbs. I like what one rural pastor, Jeff, said in the comment section of the article: "If your God is your belly, you won't make it!"

"We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." -- Quotation from Sarah Palin's acceptance speech

McCain picks country girl Palin as his running mate -- and the snooty city pundits mock her experience as a "small town mayor." Seems to me, if she can successfully navigate the curious politics that happen in a small community, she certainly can handle the big city stuff. (Note -- this is not an endorsement -- just an obervation about small town politics.)

A great sermon here , by Jeremy Troxler, Director of the Thriving Rural Communities Initiative at Duke Divinity School.

"Five acres of invisible fence. A display of invitation without a welcome." -- I recently heard a pastor describe the residents of his rural community this way. You know, there are a lot of churches that also fit that description.