Rural Churches Grapple with a Pastor Exodus

[Crabtownboy]

Carol Porter, 63 and no word mincer, sits in her modest kitchen in Euclid, Minn., and recalls the day her 118-year-old church was burned to the ground. "I was baptized, confirmed and married there," she reports. Her family had moved two lots down from Euclid's First Presbyterian, so she was able to watch through the kitchen window a few years ago as fellow parishioners knocked down the church, buried its fixtures and then put a match to what remained, sending a thousand Sundays of memories up in smoke

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. And losing one's church--well, Porter has a vivid memory of that, living as she does in an area where abandoned buildings are control-burned for safety. The flames were taller than a man, she remembers. "In plain English," she says, "it looked like hell."

The ticktock of farm auctions and foreclosures in the heartland, punctuated by the occasional suicide, has seldom let up since the 1980s. But one of the malaise's most excruciating aspects is regularly overlooked: rural pastors are disappearing even faster than the general population, leaving graying congregations helpless in their time of greatest need. Trace Haythorn, president of the nonprofit Fund for Theological Education (FTE), says fewer than half the rural churches in the U.S. have a full-time seminary-trained pastor; in parts of the Midwest, the figure drops to 1 in 5. "It's a religious crisis, for sure," says Daniel Wolpert, pastor of First Presbyterian in Crookston, Minn., and a partner with the FTE, which supports young ministers and religious teachers. "And to the extent that these churches are anchoring institutions, it's a crisis of community." The sign for one lovely wood-framed church in nearby Buxton, N.D., says it all: GRUE LUTHERAN CHURCH. FOUNDED SINCE 1879. PASTOR--and then a blank where a name should be.

Why are the pastors disappearing? Mainline churches (as well as some Evangelical) prefer their ministers seminary trained. But the starting salary for debt-burdened seminary grads now runs to $35,000 a year. That can break a poor and aging congregation, says Elizabeth Rickert Dowdy, pastor of the Tar Wallet Baptist Church in Cumberland, Va., who recently helped disband her other church: "When you have a congregation that's historically been able to survive at 20 members and loses 12, they close." And for the first time in American history, the majority of seminarians don't come from rural areas. Shannon Jung, a rural-church expert in Kansas City, Mo., says of young pastors, "A town without a Starbucks scares them." Wolpert recalls a professor's warning to a promising seminarian to shun a rural call: "Don't go. You're too creative for that."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1874843,00.html

 

[Palatka51]

"When you have a congregation that's historically been able to survive at 20 members and loses 12, they close." And for the first time in American history, the majority of seminarians don't come from rural areas. Shannon Jung, a rural-church expert in Kansas City, Mo., says of young pastors, "A town without a Starbucks scares them." Wolpert recalls a professor's warning to a promising seminarian to shun a rural call: "Don't go. You're too creative for that."

Our modern Church thinks it is rich but in all actuality it is poor, naked and blind.

Where two or more are gathered together in my name, I will be in their midst.

That is a promise that sadly many have failed to hold onto. God will always call a man to take up the work. I Pastor a small rural Church that in the account of the above article should be burnt to the ground. Founded in 1918, Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church of Carraway, Florida has a great history and an even greater future. :godisgood:

 

[Revmitchell]

The "Times" has no clue why small rural churches have a hard time getting pastors.

 

[Jim1999]

Are we killing ourselves by degree? Perhaps it is time to get back to grass-roots pastors. I seem to recall the day when we were invited to preach for a call and the last thing we looked at was wage.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Revmitchell]

Are we killing ourselves by degree? Perhaps it is time to get back to grass-roots pastors. I seem to recall the day when we were invited to preach for a call and the last thing we looked at was wage.

Cheers,

Jim

I agree.Demanding packages fails to rely on God. Demanding degrees fails to rely on God. Most of these dying churches stopped relying on God a long time ago hence the death.

 

[Crabtownboy]

The "Times" has no clue why small rural churches have a hard time getting pastors.

What are your thoughts on why rural churches are having problems? Would you go to a small rural church?

 

[Revmitchell]

What are your thoughts on why rural churches are having problems? Would you go to a small rural church?

That is all I have I have served at. I am all to aware of the problems of small rural churches. Mostly they are country clubs where outsiders are not welcome unless they are exactly like them. And even then they will only be second class members.

 

[Crabtownboy]

That is all I have I have served at. I am all to aware of the problems of small rural churches. Mostly they are country clubs where outsiders are not welcome unless they are exactly like them. And even then they will only be second class members.

Interesting comment. I will mull the one over for a bit.

The country church I grew up in was almost dead. A retired state policeman became their pastor and it is now almost fille to capacity each Sunday.

 

[Revmitchell]

Interesting comment. I will mull the one over for a bit.

The country church I grew up in was almost dead. A retired state policeman became their pastor and it is now almost fille to capacity each Sunday.

It happens but it is rare and the church has to be ready for the change. Add to that being filled with capacity is not evidence of anything. How many people will be at the Superbowl tonight? Not a church. and to once again quote Dr. David Allen

"Heaven help us to know the difference between a church and a crowd".

 

[abcgrad94]

Many small rural churches cannot afford to pay a pastor a living wage and the area poses little if any job opportunities for a bi-vocational pastor. These same churches want experienced men with families, not a young, new pastor just starting out who might be able to live on such a tiny salary.

All of the small rural churches I have attended wanted to keep everything the same. Change is a bad word, even Biblical change. They are run by certain families who hold sway over the church. From what I've seen, Revmitchell is correct. Sometimes the best pastor is one who is from the area who knows the culture and mindset of the locale.

 

[Revmitchell]

Many small rural churches cannot afford to pay a pastor a living wage and the area poses little if any job opportunities for a bi-vocational pastor. These same churches want experienced men with families, not a young, new pastor just starting out who might be able to live on such a tiny salary.

All of the small rural churches I have attended wanted to keep everything the same. Change is a bad word, even Biblical change. They are run by certain families who hold sway over the church. From what I've seen, Revmitchell is correct. Sometimes the best pastor is one who is from the area who knows the culture and mindset of the locale.

And what often happens is there is a group of pastors from these areas that all seem to pastor all of these churches at one time or another over the span of their ministries. Problem is now they are all dying off or just in poor health. So the churches reach out side of their rural borders in search of a new pastor extending that Macedonia call. Once the honeymoon is over they begin work getting the new guy straightened out as how it is going to be. Can't have an outsider actually leading things. God might actually have some influence.

There are a lot of pastors out there that just preach the word regardless and remain faithful as they can be. They will never be anything more than a chaplain, they most certainly will never be those churches pastor but they carry on. In all of that mix there are faithful members as well but the boards and committees are going to maintain control over their little world. And they would rather the church come to and end than to loose control.

There are also those pastors who run out to these little country churches and get some "experience" under their belt only to look for and move on to bigger and better things after a while. This little church was only a stepping stone for their ambitious endeavors. In the mean time they only work hard enough to keep things afloat until the can find something better. The church suffers and never really gets a pastor just a selfish fool who cares nothing for the people of God.

Christ died for the church. Christ is the one who is to "run" the church. Neither the pastor nor the church should run the church ( Ephesians (5:25). For both are ungodly and completely leaves God out of the mix. And no amount of asking God to bless our personal control will have any effect. Both the Pastor and the church should love the church as Christ did. sacrifically

That puts and end to agenda's and personal control. It stops the squabbling, turmoil, and church splitting. The church gets a pastor and Christ gets glorified, people are won to the gospel and the Spirit of God thrives.( Hebrews 13:17)

 

[sag38]

Many rural churches do not want to do what it is going to take to reach thier community. The people in the church are friendly to each other but not to outsiders. They are set in thier ways and are not willing to change. They would rather see the church die than do anything different. There is the attitude that the church is there. If anyone wants to come he or she will. Otherwise why waste time trying to reach out.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

And a lot of other churches are more interested in filling the pews than preaching against sin. I don't believe people come to church to get saved, but because they are saved. They are baptized into membership. I am suspicious of large churches, sinners should not feel comfortable in church.

Example, with the great news of the BaptistBoard's official stance on conception, I think there will be some people who are uncomfortable with the ministry. It's good to preach people out, & purge the Church of liberals. Most small churches I have been to are IFB, and in practice, and very conservative.

My Church is very small.

 

[patrick]

I would love to pastor a country church ready to make an impact for the Kingdom. Sadly many only want to keep the doors open. They are not looking to impact the area for Christ.