As believers, we know the Lord’s promises. We know that he has promised to build his church. We know that he has promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt 16:18). But if we are being honest, we must admit that there can be times when it is hard to trust those promises. When our churches or the churches around us are struggling, confidence can be elusive.
This is a challenge for many of us, who (like me) are serving in rural and small-town congregations. Nearly nine years into my tenure, I am all too familiar with tales of congregational decline and (in some cases) death. Seemingly, that trend is only accelerating.
Within the past year, a neighboring Presbyterian church held its final worship service, while another is on the brink of closure. Another nearby Presbyterian church went more than three years with an interim pastor, while still another has been vacant for almost two years. Meanwhile, our small presbytery shuttered one congregation in 2025, with potentially more to follow. Suffice it to say, the future looks cloudy.
Adding to the uncertainty within our presbytery, two Jims—Jim Ryan of Marissa Presbyterian Church and Jim Stark of Grandcote Reformed Presbyterian Church—recently retired from full-time ministry. These men had served their congregations since 2001 and 2004, respectively.
So before they departed and took their experience with them, I asked them to reflect on their time. More specifically, I wanted to see what lessons they could hand down to those of us who are still doing the work—and to those who, God willing, will follow in their footsteps.
Thoughts on the Past
During the course of our conversation, the first thing that stood out is that neither Jim had a particular vision for serving in a rural context until they had been called to their congregations. They were open to it but not set on it. Before arriving in southern Illinois, Ryan had been serving a church outside Cleveland, while Stark had just come off the mission field in Grenada.
“It wasn’t by my design,” Ryan said. “I had been, all my life, in larger cities or towns that were close to big cities. So I just assumed that was where I’d be all my life.”
Obviously, that assumption proved wrong. By God’s design, both men were called to serve in towns with which they were previously unfamiliar. Both answered the call, despite their apprehensions. And both shared similar lessons about the good and bad of laboring within a small-town context.
In particular, Ryan positively recounted the commitment of the congregation toward him and his family. “Nobody ever approached me or indicated that my time was up,” he said. “In fact, the opposite. People would often come up to me and say, ‘We’re really glad you’re here. We appreciate your ministry.’ So that was very encouraging.”
Further, they cited the access that pastors have to families. Running into members at Walmart or Dollar General is commonplace. Access to members in the hospital is assumed. Invitations to anniversaries, birthdays, and graduations are the norm.
That said, they also pointed out a number of challenges resulting from this tight integration between the pastor and his community. Trust is not easily won, especially in the early years of ministry. Families can be slow to open up. The sense of being an outsider remains, even after twenty years.
For me, these observations resonate. Despite being comparatively new to rural ministry, I have experienced much of what these fathers in the faith have experienced. In that way, there is a degree of continuity between past and present.
Thoughts on the Present
That said, as I mentioned earlier, change is afoot. Small towns are not the same today as they were twenty, thirty, or forty years ago—nor is the shape of ministry within them. Thus, much of our conversation centered on the discontinuity between past and present.
Both Jims mentioned the shifting demographics that are taking place. More specifically, Stark referred to the decline of family farms as having an outsized impact on his congregation. “I learned through my coursework at Covenant that Grandcote would be classified as a ‘family church.’ They had three to four main ruling families,” he said. But, he added, “the families on the family farms are getting smaller. The families are not able to maintain the family farms. Plus, young people don’t stay to work the farm now. So the families don’t have a dominant place anymore.” Sadly, the decline in these families has been mirrored by a decline in the churches that they support.
This observation is underscored by hard data as well. For example, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, rural areas suffer from lower labor force participation rates and lower incomes than other areas. This presents unique challenges for pastors and churches attempting to minister to different population groups than they once did.
“We have people coming in. So now the challenge is, Can the church reach these individuals?” Stark asked. And even if they are reached, “they’re not going to be your tithers. Or if they tithe, it’s going to be so little.”
Moreover, he added, they likely will not be as involved in the work of the church. This not only increases the burden on pastors and existing volunteers; it also discourages others from offering to help. “We have a standing joke that if you get a position in the church, you’ve got it for life,” Stark said. “So people are hesitant to step forward.”
In short, the current situation in rural and small-town churches is radically different than it once was. Stabilizing core families and faithful volunteers are fewer and farther between. The textbook for outreach and evangelism is being rewritten in real time. And all the while, financial pressures are mounting.
Thoughts on the Future
Naturally, this raises the question: What can be done?
There is no silver bullet, the Jims agreed. And churches have to understand this. In particular, Ryan emphasized that congregations must resist the temptation to treat the new pastor as the “savior of our church.”
But, Stark asserted, “the obvious solution is evangelism and outreach.” We have to “do our job as Christians to be witnesses” instead of just “circling the wagons.” Accordingly, both he and Ryan encouraged pastors in rural areas and small towns to connect with their communities and to intentionally develop relationships with unbelievers. It is not enough to merely preach and teach outreach and evangelism. Pastors must model it.
Another suggestion they have for existing and future rural pastors is to commit themselves to the work. Rather than treating these churches, in the words of Wendell Berry, as “a training ground for young ministers, and as a means of subsidizing their education,”1 they must put down roots. They must be able to labor faithfully, without the need for (or expectation of) immediate gratification.
“You’ve got to plug in where you are and be content to stay for a while,” Ryan stressed. “Rural ministry is not for the faint of heart, and it’s not for those who just want a quick stepping-stone somewhere else, although that’s often how rural ministry is approached.”
While a high degree of commitment is no guarantee of success, it does help. It does build trust with insiders and outsiders alike. “Evangelism is really relational anywhere you are,” Stark said. “But, especially in small towns, because you’re an outsider, if you are there long enough, you become a fixture. That wins you a hearing.”
So to summarize the thoughts of these long-tenured pastors: The church has its work cut out for it. There are no shortcuts for reaching or shepherding the people who live in small places. And no matter how long a pastor may labor, he must understand that success stories are the exception, not the rule.
Concluding Thoughts
And yet if our Lord is to be trusted, the work is worth it. He commissioned his church to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19; see also Luke 24:47). He promised that his salvation would “reach to the end of the earth” (Isa 49:6; see also Acts 13:47). And this means that God’s salvation will reach even those places that are so easily forgotten by man.
As Ryan so helpfully explained, “There are millions and millions of people in rural and small-town America that are not reached. It is a huge mission field. And we need not just leftover pastors who can’t make it anywhere else. We need really good pastors to be committed to this mission field.”
In other words, the changes and challenges associated with rural ministry are great. But the potential rewards are even greater for those who are determined enough to see the work through.
Note
- Wendell Berry, “God and Country,” in What Are People For?, 2nd ed. (Counterpoint, 2010), 97. See also D. G. Hart, “If Cooking Slowly and Growing Organically Are In, Why Is Rural Ministry Out?,” Front Porch Republic, July 21, 2009.
© Alex Eppstein. All Rights Reserved.
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Alex Eppstein
Alex Eppstein is the pastor of Bethel Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Sparta, Illinois. He is married, with three young children. Outside of ministry and family, he enjoys following the Buffalo Bills and the stock market.
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I listened to the same “focus on the city” stuff back in the 1980s at Calvin College and Seminary, and in Intervarsity, that too many Reformed people are now following years after it’s been proven not to work.
Certainly there is a place for men like Tim Keller with unique talents doing urban ministry. Taking the exception and making it the norm? A hard no.
Put bluntly, why on earth would we focus on cities full of leftists, who in many if not most cases are not interested in the gospel, and where even conservative Christians have to deal with failing schools and left-wing ideology being taught to their children, and left-wing agendas being pushed on them by local government and even their employers. Yes, there’s a place for people who want to go to an extremely hard mission field, but why ignore the fact that conservatives, including conservative Christians, are fleeing blue cities and blue states for rural places where they can actually afford to buy a home and not have woke nonsense pushed on them daily at work, school, and the community?
I do realize there are rural towns where advances in agricultural technology mean one family can farm or ranch not just the “back forty” (acres) of the 1800s, but hundreds or even thousands of acres. Technology means fewer people are needed to do many jobs, farming included, and since the early 1900s that’s led to a depopulation of places that are nowhere near any non-farm source of employment.
That’s far from the full story. Many people in Los Angeles or San Diego are quite willing to drive 30 to 40 minutes to work (or much longer). In rural areas, a 30 to 40 minute drive means 30 to 40 miles with little or no traffic. That can mean a nice home with a couple of acres half an hour away from a small town or city where dad can get a job without mom having to work, unless she wants to do so.
The argument back in the 1980s for “missions to the cities” was that American churches were positioned to reach the American population as it existed in the 1800s, not the late 1980s. There may have been some truth to that argument in the 1950s with post-WW2 rural depopulation and massive urban and suburban housing booms.
That simply is no longer the case. People are fleeing urban areas, often for good reasons, and the people who are fleeing are the ones most likely to be looking for a church that teaches the Bible.
While living in Dallas, I was stated supply for several churches in the PCA over the course of a few years. The desire to play with the “cool kids” was very noticeable among many of the churches in the metroplex. I remember one pastor who had a weekly tee-time with local movers and shakers who wouldn’t give it up to meet with congregants. Apparently, that was the “ruling elders’ job.”
I now live in a very rural area, and the mission field is, indeed, great. Beyond what is stated in the post, one of the biggest problems is what might be called “sola bootstrapsa,” that is, people have pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps and don’t NEED the Jesus of the gospel – they’re fine on their own, thank you very much. It is a difficult mindset to punch through, but it’s a blessing to watch when right law-and-gospel preaching does just that.
Thank you Steve.
Great article by Alex. I would “second” some of his observations.
Small towns (and here I’m describing “real” small towns – population 5,000 and under) do maintain a pioneer/homesteader distinction, often decades long. With that distinction, important working knowledge which a pastor needs is slow to discover. I mean things like who’s related to whom and how; what history family A has had with family B; what conflicts have never found resolution, etc.
Out of curiosity, I looked at Daryl Hart’s article (in “Resources”, above). His observations about Wendell Berry and the city/country chasm are nothing, if not up to date. It is not only Tim Keller’s writings which pushed the “God is working in cities” narrative. As recently as the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen articles chiding evangelicals for not gaining entrance to the elite, the influencers, and the like. Once again, the ministry of church through the ordinary means of grace is simply inadequate.