I Was Walking In Memphis

 

This is my bro-in-law Jeff.  (the big one with the cap).  The little fella is my nephew.  Jeff is a youth minister in Memphis.  The church he serves is inside the beltway and has experienced birth, growth, and decline in concert with the community around it.  There is now a surge of people moving back inside the beltway.  They are building houses and renovating old ones.  Like the rural church, Jeff’s church is struggling to find its place in a changing community.  Although the demographics and methods are very different…….there are some striking similarities between the plight of the rural church and that of the inner city church.   1.  Both the rural church and the inner city church tend to struggle financially.  2.  Many inner city and rural communities have experienced a change in the community around them.  3.  Many rural and inner city churches have very few young families and are largely made up of senior citizens.  Hmmmmm…..this would make an interesting study but I don’t have time this morning.      

79

79 isn’t much.  79 cents won’t even buy a coke anymore.  79 dollars barely fills up my van with gas.  79 diapers disappear faster than we can change them around here.  A 79 page book isn’t even a good introduction.  If you score a 79 on a test all you have is a very low C.  HOWEVER, at Cottage Grove Baptist Church 79 was a ray of sunshine yesterday.   79 represented established families welcoming new faces and new families.  79 breaks a long drought in the 60’s.  79 represents wonderfully crowded Sunday School rooms.   79 people meant more pews were filled in our sanctuary.   The only thing better than 79?  80!  Numbers never tell the whole story in a church but it was so encouraging to see so many people in church yesterday.     

How I Keep My Thin Trim Figure

First Name Basis

I just spent the last two days at our state convention trying to read the name tags of people that I see periodically.  I know I should know their names but I just don’t.  I found myself trying to read the name tags without them knowing I was reading their name tags.  I am so glad I don’t have to do that here.  A friend of mine calls rural churches “first name churches” for obvious reasons.  We know one another very well.  Most of us see each other or talk to one another daily.  The congregation becomes a family made up of families.  We are okay calling one another by our first names.  If that isn’t familiar enough most of us even respond to the nick names we have earned over the years.  Most people around here just call me “Preacher”.  That used to bother me a little until I realized the sentiment behind the title.  When they call me “preacher” they are acknowledging that I have a place in their lives.  When you know people on a first name basis you can’t lead from a distance.  When I drive through our community I know the faces and the names of the people living in the houses I pass.  I know their victories and vices.  I know their ups and downs.  I am with them when they weep and when they rejoice.  The responsibility I feel for my congregation is intense because I know the people behind the names.  I don’t think I would want it any other way.       

Starbucks and Target

It might seem a bit strange to find a post on a rural blog with “Starbucks” in the title so let me explain.  During seminary I just knew that God would provide an adequate sized suburban church with a more than adequate salary that was providentially positioned within walking distance to a Starbucks.  My wife, although she would never admit it, was throwing up the same geographic Hail Mary in hopes of a local Target store.  Since God knows what we need, often contrary to what we want, He placed us within 2 hours of a tall espresso mocha.  We were reluctant in our obedience to God to come here b/c we didn’t want to give up those things that we believed were necessary to basic human survival.  We have come to realize over the past 3 1/2 years that we didn’t know what we were missing.  I would trade Starbucks and Target in a heartbeat to the new conveniences that we have found.  I am providentially located to the finest fishing pond in the country and actually have the time to fish.  I walk to the local post office where the woman behind the counter knows my name.  I can order the “usual” at our local store and restaurant and Connie will put banana peppers, onions, green peppers, bacon, and mushrooms on my pizza.  Today I have to drive to Nashville for a series of meetings.  I can honestly say that by the end of the day I will be looking forward to driving back to a place where a star buck could be hanging proudly above someones mantle.         

Rural Route Wisdom and Things That Happen to Country Preachers

1.  Two days ago I ran over a chicken that was trying to cross the road.

2.  My Christmas card this year included cows and milk buckets.

3.  One month ago my van windshield was broken in a tragic incident with a deer and my coffee cup. 

4.  My children stare in wonder at the “moving stairs” when we get a rare visit to the mall. 

5.  I have a snake that lives in my house……..and I’m okay with it. 

6.  Every year I get free tickets to the truck and tractor pull because I pray at the beginning of the event. 

7.  I have learned the difference between dinner and supper.  Don’t confuse the two. 

8.  I have helped corral wayward cows.

9.  “Pulling” calves is not nearly as much fun as it might sound. 

10.  My 5 year old daughter placed third at the county fair in the “mini” tractor pull.        

The Old New Mission Field

Cottage Grove Baptist Church began in August of 1850.  Henry County was only 29 years old and the American Westward expansion was in full swing.  The mission field was wide open.  Our church minutes indicate that the mission field included Anglo farmers, Indians, and black slaves.  It must have been an exciting time to plant a church in the middle of such a diverse group of unevangelized and untamed people.  Cottage Grove’s story is the story of so many rural churches.  They have grown, plateaued for many years, declined, and grown again.  The rural church thrived until the industrial revolution lured so many people to the cities.  They cycle of growing, plateauing, declining, and growing again has continued through the years but the rural church has remained steady in faith and steady in action.  In recent years technology is making it possible for people to live in rural areas and work in the city.  The option of country life is appealing to hard working suburbanites in-spite of the long commute.  People are migrating back to the country again.   Churches within 50 – 100 miles of a major city are likely to see their communities grow as people come back to rural America.  They need to find churches standing at the ready to share the Gospel and minister to their families.  The old mission field is new again.  What an exciting time to be a rural church pastor.     

Alive

There was an article in our local paper not long ago pronouncing the impending death of the rural church.  The article was based largely on the closing of one church that, to be honest, had been on life support for several years.  The article spoke eloquently about all of the wonderful years and memories produced in the minds of so many people who grew up sitting in the pew of some nostalgic looking church out in the country.  It seemed to reflect a growing consensus among the public, pastors, and denominational leaders, that the rural church is either dying, dead, or in complete rigor.  I can not deny that many rural churches have declined and that many have closed their doors but I believe that many more are still very much alive and that many of them are contributing great things to the Kingdom.  The perception of death has been cultivated by so many writers, publishers, pastors, and denominational leaders who have an exclusive vision dedicated to the programed numerical growth of the suburban church.  The rural church has languished and been frustrated by this suburban vision that, for the most part, is impossible for them.  Rural pastors and parishioners become disheartened when a community of 100 people can not grow into a church of 1000.   Too many rural churches are working with a city or suburban vision.  They are living under the weight of someone else’s burden.  They are dying because they don’t have a rural vision.  The problem with the rural church is not found in its vitality or willingness to “go” but rather is found in its inability to define its own success.  This blog is dedicated to the rural church and its own vision.  The rural church is very much alive.  It is high time we get out from under everyone else’s vision and get to work in our own communities with our own God given task and vision.  Last Sunday I preached to less than 100 people.  We had 63 in Sunday School.  God’s Word did not fail.  We worshiped.  We had fellowship.  We prayed.  A man that one of our deacons led to the Lord came to church for the first time this week.  I would call that success.