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Ten
Tips for Rural/Town Pastors |
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1
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Get your hands dirty. Rural humor is replete with accounts of "dandy" preachers who entered the ministry because they were afraid of hard work. This attitude toward the ministry is deeply ingrained . If you want to reach thiose who could use this as a means of putting you and the Gospel off, then join them in the acticities of daily work, particularly in those times of special need. |
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2
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Listen to the stories. The art of story-telling survives in many rural communities. It will not hurt you to learn this art. But even more important, the content of the stories provides clues to the values, concerens, joys and hurts of the community and the church. This information can suggest topics on which to preach and illustrations to use in driving home a point. And the very fact that you listen and use the stories indicates to the people that you do indeed care. |
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3
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Learn to play the harmonica or something. Rural people have many skills and much knowledge that you can benefit from learning. Let them teach you how to do farm work, carfts or make music. This can nreak down barriers that culturalor educational differences may have created and it brings into your pastoral efforts the "principle of reciprocity." When someone has done something good for you, they are obligated to accept something from you. By obligating yourself to another, you are in a better position to share the Gospel. |
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4
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Discover the "real" pastor. Many rural and small churches have suffered from poor pastoral leadership. For this reason, and perhaps others, one or two lay persons or a family has become the leader of the church. Often these are fine, godly persons who are ready to share leadership with you. Their counsel can save you from many mistakes and hurts. Their acceptance of any project is likely necessary for its success. |
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5
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Capture the Annual Events. Typically, rural churches have a rich set of annual events - Easter Sunrise in the cemetery, Decoration Day, Vacation Bible School, Revival, Men's Fish Fry, etc. By participating in these events and enriching them, you will not only build support , but you can also build in elements of outreach, evangelism, facility development, training of leadership and religious eucation that might not gain acceptance if they were proposed as a separate activity. |
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6
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Train by mentoring and modeling. Usually we train church leaders for witnessing, teaching and doing ministry in a small group setting. We provide information and then encourage those who have been trained to use this knowledge to develop a skill and/or perform a task. In the small rural church it is not easy to round up even a small group for this kind of training. But by mentoring and modeling, you can both teach a skill and share appropriate knowledge. For example, you might train a Sunday School teacher by team-teaching a lass for a few months, or you might train a deacon in witnessing by taking him along with you in making evangelistic calls. |
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7
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Affirm the fellowship. In a world that celebrates the big, it is likely that the small plateaued rural church will develop something of an inferiority complex. Identify and affirm strengths. Look at weaknesses. See how they can become strengths. The fols at Whitewater Church saw the age of the membership as a weakness until they realized that theyoung families they wanted to reach for the church were in need of surrogate grandparents. |
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8
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Pastor to the whole community. As the only resident pastor in a Wyoming town, a friend accepted invitations to sing in the community choir, to serve with the volunteer fire department and to pray for community functions. Relations developed. Opportunities came. And the church grew. Rural people are relational people. So are small church people. They want to be proud of their pastor. By being with people in the events of everyday life, opportunities will come to evangelize and pastor. Like Paul, be flexible enough to make contact with the unreached, the unchurched, in your field. |
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9
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Provide a balanced diet. Discipline yourself to deal with all the great themes of Scripture. Be a teacher, an evangelist, a prophet and, above all, a shepherding leader in your preaching. In the plateaued small church, it is tempting to neglect evangelistic preaching. One comes to not expect anyone to move. Some "cropdusters" may get in the ditch on the other side of the road and preach mostly evangelistic messages. Consequently, keep track of your preaching and provide a balanced diet of the whole counsel of God. |
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10
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Don't get in a hurry. Older rural people have seen a lot of change. They have heard lots of promises that did not bear fruit. They seem to be more interested in getting back to the Eden of some bygone day than to march forward into a Promised Land of chich they have no knowledge. Build trust. Respect resistance. Don't stampede or scatter the sheep. Sometimes you may find you can best introduce something new by getting the church to consider it for a trial period. Talk your dreams and plans over with God. Operate on His timetable. Even Paul experienced conflict. Lear how to deal with it creatively. |
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Rural and Small Churches
Last Updated 2/15/03
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