Rural Churches and the Pastors
Time Magazine published a most interesting article, written by David Van Biema, about the fate of rural churches. The prospects of calling a full time pastor is growing increasingly dim.
Van Biema writes:
Many denominations are seeking other ways of providing leadership, which range from yoking churches to licensed lay pastors. The latter form of ministry hearkens back to the old frontier days when the "farmer-preacher" was more the rule than the exception. But, you know many of our churches want and even expect to have well educated -- that is seminary trained clergy. But after 7 years of education, which likely involves significant debt, taking a small church in a rural area isn't very enticing.
Now, I've preached in a couple of rural churches. They're interesting places. Indeed, they can be rather surprising -- not nearly as conservative as you might expect. The article speaks of declining and graying congregations. This situation isn't due to an inability to attract young families, it's due to the fact that young families have fled the farms for the towns and cities.
I don't feel called to such a ministry. Indeed, the article itself suggests that this requires a special calling. I grew up in smaller communities, but even Klamath Falls, which had a metropolitan population of about 40,000 when I lived there, was a city and not rural. I'm more comfortable in an urban context, so I asked that my papers not be placed such situations.
But, I've preached in rural congregations -- mostly in Kansas. Indeed, rural Kansas is full of such churches, which stem from the days when small farms were plentiful. And, these churches are interesting places.
One of the churches I preached at is a fairly historic place. The Beecher Bible and Rifle Church of Wabaunsee, Kansas got its name from its role in the Abolition Movement. It's a little UCC church that in the 1850s was the distribution point for Beecher Bibles, that is rifles sent by Henry Ward Beecher to be used by the Abolitionists during that period of "Bleeding Kansas." There weren't more than 20 of us -- and I got there and they told me to pick some hymns to sing, which I did. We had a nice potluck afterward, and I think I got paid 50 dollars for my time.
Then there was Wells Creek Immanuel UCC in Kansas. Now, this was an intriguing place. I had to drive about 10 miles on a gravel road to get to it. It lay outside Wamego, Kansas. I drove down the road, the dust flying behind me, through rows and rows of corn. It was a bit hilly, so up and down I went, and as I came over one hill I spied a white church, out there in the middle of no where. By the time church started, there were maybe 75 or so people gathered. Families all. The church even had a nice parsonage. I could have been their pastor. Good people. But it was rural. How it stays alive, I don't know. But it's still there.
If such churches are to survive, they'll have to be creative. Indeed, they'll take leadership themselves, not waiting for clergy to come. But as I've discovered, these churches, small though they may be, can be vibrant places of worship and service. May they continue their witness. And may men and women of vision find their way to these communities to be their pastors.
Van Biema writes:
America's rural congregations, thinned by age and a population drain that plagues much of farm country, have gotten too small and too poor to attract pastors. No pastor means no church.
Many denominations are seeking other ways of providing leadership, which range from yoking churches to licensed lay pastors. The latter form of ministry hearkens back to the old frontier days when the "farmer-preacher" was more the rule than the exception. But, you know many of our churches want and even expect to have well educated -- that is seminary trained clergy. But after 7 years of education, which likely involves significant debt, taking a small church in a rural area isn't very enticing.
Now, I've preached in a couple of rural churches. They're interesting places. Indeed, they can be rather surprising -- not nearly as conservative as you might expect. The article speaks of declining and graying congregations. This situation isn't due to an inability to attract young families, it's due to the fact that young families have fled the farms for the towns and cities.
I don't feel called to such a ministry. Indeed, the article itself suggests that this requires a special calling. I grew up in smaller communities, but even Klamath Falls, which had a metropolitan population of about 40,000 when I lived there, was a city and not rural. I'm more comfortable in an urban context, so I asked that my papers not be placed such situations.
But, I've preached in rural congregations -- mostly in Kansas. Indeed, rural Kansas is full of such churches, which stem from the days when small farms were plentiful. And, these churches are interesting places.
One of the churches I preached at is a fairly historic place. The Beecher Bible and Rifle Church of Wabaunsee, Kansas got its name from its role in the Abolition Movement. It's a little UCC church that in the 1850s was the distribution point for Beecher Bibles, that is rifles sent by Henry Ward Beecher to be used by the Abolitionists during that period of "Bleeding Kansas." There weren't more than 20 of us -- and I got there and they told me to pick some hymns to sing, which I did. We had a nice potluck afterward, and I think I got paid 50 dollars for my time.
Then there was Wells Creek Immanuel UCC in Kansas. Now, this was an intriguing place. I had to drive about 10 miles on a gravel road to get to it. It lay outside Wamego, Kansas. I drove down the road, the dust flying behind me, through rows and rows of corn. It was a bit hilly, so up and down I went, and as I came over one hill I spied a white church, out there in the middle of no where. By the time church started, there were maybe 75 or so people gathered. Families all. The church even had a nice parsonage. I could have been their pastor. Good people. But it was rural. How it stays alive, I don't know. But it's still there.
If such churches are to survive, they'll have to be creative. Indeed, they'll take leadership themselves, not waiting for clergy to come. But as I've discovered, these churches, small though they may be, can be vibrant places of worship and service. May they continue their witness. And may men and women of vision find their way to these communities to be their pastors.
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