Rural and Small Churches--Everywhere!

Straight AheadFor most of my ministry, I have been serving small churches. I did not necessarily start out to minister in small churches, but that is where God has placed me. In any case, it has been a rewarding ministry. However, I see problems with rural and small churches everywhere in virtually every denomination. The problem is not that these churches are rural or small, but they are largely neglected by the denominational judicatories of which they are a part. Large churches are not necessarily better than small ones. They aren't necessarily doing a better job of faithfulness to their ministry, and they aren't necessarily more faithful to the gospel. Too often, however, the idea seems to be that if small churches could just go to a large church and see how they do it, then the small church could learn from the large church and "get it right." To be sure, there are small churches who are insular, seemingly reluctant to grow, and not very aggressive in evangelism. Some of them are not very concerned about outreach or excellence in ministry; but the same could be said of medium-sized or even some large churches. The major problem is that while regional and national governing bodies of denominations purport to believe that the small church is important, the rural and small churches are often not a high priority. They often settle for part-time or inexperienced ministers, and they can only pay a minimum salary which can work a hardship on a minister's family. There is a solution to this problem. Denominations need to develop strategies for strengthening their rural and small churches. Funding priorities need to be shifted so that more rural and small churches can pay more realistic salaries to ministers. Denominations need to provide incentives for church growth and help the rural and small churches meet growth targets. Other ways can be found for funding effective, full-time ministry and programs in the small churches. The rural and small churches are major aspects of the mission of the church. In most denominations, the vast majority of churches have under 100 members. Renewal of this large body of our collective witness, which represents a great cross-section of Protestantism from urban and multi-cultural to farming and suburban, is absolutely essential if the mainline church is again to represent a viable statement of Christianity in the western world. If properly and prayerfully conceived, some of these small churches will not be quite so small, either!