in missionary and church planting strategy to emphasise [sic] the need to focus on urban areas. While this book does not undercut all of the reasoning behind those strategies, it does suggest that any appeal to the early church in those strategies needs to be reconsidered and heavily qualified.”4 As New Testament scholars and historians of early Christianity explore some of the fresh avenues Robinson’s research has opened up, their work will hopefully also impact popular writing about ministry strategy and ministry location, tempering the insistent call for strongly prioritizing urban ministry—a call that has unfortunately nearly blinded a generation of young pastors and church planters to the possibility of work in more rural, less cutting-edge communities. A positive rural theological vision will be constructed not only through careful work in the biblical materials, but through rural ministers and laypeople attending closely to their local rural cultures and growing in their understanding of the needs and possibilities of rural life and ministry. They will ask: “Of what are people in my small town most proud? Of what are they most fearful? How has my community constructed a local identity? What are the local idols of my town and region?” I spoke recently with a small-town New Hampshire pastor who was prayerfully considering how best to shepherd those in his congregation with strong libertarian instincts and a resolve to not be told what to do by the government or anyone else. “Live Free or Die” is the official motto of New Hampshire, and it can easily become an idol that trumps allegiance to the gospel. A rural theological vision will often be a local theological vision, engaging with local values and local idols. But those in rural ministry will also be closely attuned to the ways in which national events reflect and reveal large-scale rural realities that hold true around the country. The 2020 presidential election will almost certainly highlight (and perhaps exacerbate) a rural-urban political divide, as did the last presidential election cycle in 2016.5 The COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought great tragedy and loss to many, has mapped onto the urban/rural realities of the United States in fascinating ways, highlighting features of the relationship between cities and the countryside that have been present all along but perhaps were not as obvious to some. For example, because cities are densely clustered masses of human beings, they often experience lots of things first (including cultural trends and ideas). Rather predictably, coronavirus hit cities first, but of course, it did not stay there. The very real threat and reality of coronavirus moving to, and crippling, rural areas has highlighted the often-overlooked needs of the countryside. Rural populations are particularly at risk from coronavirus because they tend to be older and in worse health than city dwellers. In addition to being higher in multiple risk factors, many rural residents are underserved in terms of public health and medical infrastructure, including hospitals.
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The Journal of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary