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Letter from the Publisher New Leases on Life in Rural Churches

I love rural churches and communities; I have devoted virtually my entire ministry life to them. The bulk of Restoration Movement churches have been rural over our more than 200-year history. The church I serve operates in 11 rural and micropolitan communities, but the stories of two of themâ€”Lima and Mount Sterling, Illinoisâ€”can provide hope for many others across the country.

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The Federated Church of Lima, located in a town of 125 about a half hour north of Quincy, Illinois, was the beneficiary of a literal windfall. After a tornado struck the church on May 10, 2003, destroying both the original structure and a newer fellowship hall, the churchâ€™s insurance policy paid for a new, million-dollar facility. Unfortunately, the church had dwindled to fewer than 30 people,

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mostly elderly, and didn’t have the means to attract the staff necessary to keep going. Elders from the church contacted our church for coaching, and we did our best to help. After about two years, those same elders asked if The Crossing would be interested in taking over. So, we invested in technology and some building updating, and The Crossing Lima became our seventh location in late 2012. It has been amazing to see the congregation swell to as many as 200 in a town of 125! Cornerstone Christian Church was a little church in Cooperstown, Illinois, a town of 311. They desired to influence children and youth for Jesus, so they built a large youth facility in Mount Sterling, a town of 1,900 just a few miles down the road. Over time, the little country church thought they might as well meet in the more populated town, so Cornerstone relocated to the youth facility for weekends. The church grew to about 150. After Cornerstone lost their preaching minister, the church’s elders contacted The Crossing; Cornerstone’s elders believed they could make a greater impact for their community through a merger. The Crossing invested $150,000 initially, and also acquired about $250,000 in debt, and in April 2013, The Crossing Mount Sterling was launched. Before long, weekly attendance increased from 150 to about 375, or roughly 20 percent of the community. These cooperative efforts are evidence of hopeful opportunities in America’s rural communities. Some churches need help

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while others can provide it. Cooperation of this sort can be greatly beneficial to communities, churches, and the cause of Christ. Such efforts are greatly needed today because rural churches are closing and new ones are not opening. People are choosing to drive to larger churches with healthier programming in other communities, leaving behind evangelistic efforts in their home community. But what if the health of the larger church could be exported into the smaller community? What if beachheads could be established on existing property in local communities? Proximity would enhance involvement and ownership. Existing ministry spaces could be used with greater effectiveness for the kingdom. The idea of networking might seem threatening to some local church leaders, but our changing culture requires that methodologies adapt in order to deliver a timeless, lifechanging message.

Jerry Harris is publisher of Christian Standard Media and senior pastor of The Crossing, a multisite church located in three states across the Midwest. @_jerryharris /jerrydharris

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CHRISTIAN STANDARD —

FOUNDED 1866 BY ISAAC ERRETT Devoted to the restoration of New Testament Christianity, its doctrine, its ordinances, and its fruits.

The Staff Jerry Harris, Publisher Michael C. Mack, Editor Jim Nieman, Managing Editor Shawn McMullen, Contributing Editor Megan Kempf, Designer Abby Wittler, Designer Renee Little, Operations Kim Harris, Marketing and Advertising

Subscription Information To order Christian Standard for yourself, your church, or your group, visit christianstandard.com or contact Customer Service. Bulk pricing is available.

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Volume CLIV. Number 10. Christian Standard (ISSN 0009-5656) is published monthly by Christian Standard Media at 16965 Pine Lane, Suite 202, Parker, CO 80134. Periodicals postage paid at Parker, CO, and additional offices. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Christian Standard Media, 16965 Pine Lane, Suite 202, Parker, CO 80134. Phone: 1-720-598-7377. SUBSCRIBERS: Send address changes to Christian Standard, 16965 Pine Lane, Suite 202, Parker, CO 80134. Send old and new addresses, complete with zip codes, at least six weeks before delivery date.

Christian Standard is published by Christian Standard Media, www.christianstandardmedia.com.

30 t he b i g c h al l en g e fac i n g sm al l c h u r ches Compiled by Jerran Jackson Featuring Clark Bates, Richard Creek, Matt Johnson, and Barney Wells Topics Include: Small Churches Rural Churches Hiring a Pastor 10 Ways to Develop Ministers Hope from History Wanted: Elders Build a Legacy The Future

TABLE OF CONTENTS —

I N E V E RY I S S U E 2-3 | L E TTE R F R OM THE P UB L ISH E R Jerry Harris

6-7 | L E TTE R F R OM THE E DITO R Michael C. Mack

8-9 | e 2 : E F F E C T I V E EL D ER S Lea di n g th rou gh Ru ral C hurch C ha llen ge s Jim Estep

10-12 | IMAG INE

No Town Like Hometown, Part 1

Mel McGowan

13-15 | H O RIZO N S

Jesse Yangmi: A Lifetime of Service in Southeast Asia Laura McKillip Wood

Metrics | Small and Very Small Churches by Kent Fillinger

Mid-Atlantic States: Moving Back to the Small Town by Tim Cole

The Journey toward a Better Death by Patrick L. Mitchell

The Inescapable Church by Daniel Schantz

Connecting the ‘Vast Areas’ by Rob O’Lynn

Spotlight Churches

16-17 | MINISTRYL I F E

A Li ttle B oy ’s Praye r Micah Stephen

19-27 | ME TRIC S

S ma ll a n d Ver y Smal l C hurch es Kent Fillinger

30-45 | F E ATURE

Th e B i g C ha llen ge Fa ci n g S ma ll Chu rch e s Compiled by Jerran Jackson

78-79 | IN TE RAC T

The Challenges and Hope of Small Rural Churches

Letter from the editor

It’s no secret that many small churches, especially small rural churches, face numerous challenges. How will the church respond? I asked Jerran Jackson—who for 40 years has served Clarksburg (Indiana) Christian Church, a small, rural congregation—to lead a team of writers to provide analysis, stories, and recommendations.

3. Which of our elders could lead our church if they received extra training?

As Jerran and I planned the package of articles, “The Big Challenge Facing Small Churches,” which starts on page 30, we discussed a list of issues leaders in struggling churches may be facing. You might use the following questions based on those issues as discussion starters with your team; each is addressed in the articles:

7. What positives in our history can we build upon?

1. What is God trying to teach us at this time in our church’s history?

11. How can we promote Christian ministry as a career?

2. If we’re failing to maintain, what must we change?

12. How can we raise up small-church ministers?

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4. Where is training available for bi-vocational ministers? 5. With whom could we consolidate or share a minister? 6. What would becoming a satellite campus of a larger church entail?

8. Who is in our community, and how can we connect with them? 9. How can we help people in our community? 10. How are we publicly honoring our minister?

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All these questions are significant, but the last two are vital. Where will future leaders for our smaller churches, especially those in rural areas or small towns, come from? At one time our Bible colleges sent many young men to these churches, but today, for various reasons, that’s not happening. In July, I attended the Hillsboro (Ohio) Family Camp. Dave Jones, evangelist at Millwood Church of Christ in Howard, Ohio, spoke on the responsibility churches have to raise up young men to preach. He told the story of a person asking a Bible-college president why our colleges do not produce more preachers. “We can only teach what you send us!” the president responded. Our churches need to be encouraging young men and sending them to our Bible colleges to be prepared, says Jones. When you see potential in a young man, tell him, “I think you could be a preacher.” Some small and rural churches are making remarkable strides despite the challenges. In our five church spotlights, we tell compelling stories of small and very small churches that are reaching lost people, changing lives, and making an impact in their communities in Jesus’ name. These churches also provide good examples for other churches to look to for hope and ideas.

I noticed several values worth considering in these stories. These churches . . . • take risks—they have an unshakable faith that God can do anything, even the seemingly impossible. • are willing to do big things, even though they are small in number and often in a small community; Reclaim Christian Church in Ansonia, Connecticut, for example, a church of 65 at the time, held an outreach event that required 100 volunteers, and they reached 3,600 people! • have made healthy transitions from older to younger preachers—in several cases the former preacher has continued serving in another role. As the introduction to “The Big Challenge Facing Small Churches” puts it, “There is hope, but we must not ignore the problem.” I pray the articles in this issue will bring hope . . . and a sense of urgency to “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field.” @michaelcmack @michaelcmack @michaelcmack /authormichaelcmack

Visit ChristianStandard.com to check out our web-exclusive content! New Every Weekday Monday | Weekly Bible Study from The Lookout Tuesday | Weekly Communion Meditation Wednesday | Ministry News Stories of the Week Thursday | Throwback Thursday from the Christian Standard Archive (1866—) Friday | Web Exclusive Related to This Month’s Theme Looking for a ministry position or have one to list? Search for “Help Wanted” at ChristianStandard.com! And subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter to receive even more current news, relevant articles, and other resources for your ministry. Sign up at our website or email us at cs@christianstandardmedia.com. C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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e 2 : e ffe c t i v e

e ld e r s

leading through Rural Church Challenges BY JIM ESTEP

When I hear the word rural, I have flashbacks to my childhood. Not because I was raised on a farm, but because I watched Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, and The Beverly Hillbillies while growing up. I found those shows humorous, but they werenâ€™t documentaries of life in rural America. Elders in rural congregations face many challenges their counterparts in urban and suburban churches do not, but country churches can be very vibrant and successful.

Jim Estep serves as vice president of academics with Central Christian College of the Bible, Moberly, Missouri, and as resource director with e2: effective elders. /e2elders @e2elders

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Seasons and Weather

Declining Population The rural population has declined over several generations. It’s common for once lively rural communities to now be half their previous size. Since 1950, the rural population has lost 6.2 million people, a decline of 35 percent, according to a recent ScienceDaily article. It’s common for children who grew up on the farm to ultimately relocate elsewhere, often to an urban area. Elders in rural settings can somewhat mitigate the outflow of people by becoming more effective in focusing on the church’s outreach and improving its ministry to those people who remain.

Aging Population The aging of the rural population is also a challenge for churches. As younger generations move on, the community and its outlying area get grayer every year. Elders are shepherding an aging congregation and community, and some retirees may need to assume leadership roles in the church. But there typically will still be younger families in the area, and the church and the elders must try to connect with them. Elders need to keep the congregation focused on the younger demographic outside the church, rather than simply serving their own needs and those within the church.

Less Affluence While farming is a major industry in the United States and one of the leading drivers of affluence in the rural context, average earnings are markedly less for people in country settings than among those living in cities or suburbia, U.S. Census data show. As a result, rural churches and their elders have fewer resources for developing and carrying out programs. Elders need to focus intently on their vision, mission, and a compelling strategic plan so as to allocate resources where they will have the most effect. C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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Weather has an outsized impact on those whose occupations and livelihood are tied to agriculture. Weather also impacts the availability rural folk have for participating in church events and serving in leadership because they work when the weather permits and don’t when it prohibits. Even scheduling a routine elders’ meeting can become a logistical quandary. Church leaders should consider using technology for videoconferencing or having hybrid meetings (some attend in person and some via video). Another option is to post items to a file-sharing website for leaders to review, edit, comment, and interact as their individual schedules permit. Also, rather than scheduling one monthly meeting that might take several hours, leaders can arrange several shorter (e.g., 30-minute) meetings, allowing for automatic rescheduling options.

‘Nothing to Do . . . Until There Is!’ Small-town and rural areas can have stretches where it seems there is little to do, and other times when a lot is happening. Elders need to recognize that the “slow times” in community life are an opportunity for the congregation to fill the void by hosting community events. These times can work in the church’s favor. At other times, such as when the town hosts an annual event or during the county fair or during certain sports seasons and/or when school is in session . . . the calendar fills up and seemingly everyone has something to do! These times can also work in the church’s favor. The church should remain part of the scene by participating, volunteering, and supporting whenever and however possible. Adapt to the ebb and flow of the community calendar, but always be present on it. In so doing, the rural elder turns the congregation’s challenges into opportunities for ministry and growth. Elders must lead through the challenges, not capitulate to them. Lead well!  O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

Im ag i n e

No Town Like Hometown, Part 1 Sage Hills Church BY MEL MCGOWAN

If you consider your church to be in competition with the church down the street or across town, you might need a missions lesson. And I know of two homegrown, down-to-earth churches in Wenatchee, Washington, that can help. In 1908, a small group of Wenatchee folks planted Sage Hills Church. One hundred years later, in 2008, another small group decided to open Grace City Church just a couple of miles away. When Mike Wilson, senior pastor of Sage Hills, moved to Wenatchee a few years ago, he met senior pastor Josh McPherson of Grace City. They immediately became friends.

Mel McGowan is cofounder and chief creative principal of PlainJoe Studios. He is a leading master planner and designer of churches in America. /visioneer @visioneer

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Building Up and Out The two churches share common beliefs, but they do differ. In 2015, when Wilson arrived at Sage Hills, it heavily focused on Christian education and building up the church. There were several Sunday school classes, but those who had attended class for more than 20 years still didn’t feel capable of leading a group. Wilson felt called to also build out the church by finding and growing disciples. Wilson, his leadership team, and the creative team from PlainJoe Studios came together for “blue sky” workshops to explore the church’s unique story by discovering its setting (sense of place), character (identity), and plot (purpose). A new graphic identity (logo) was designed for Sage Hills that included “Est. 1908” to emphasize the church’s long history.

Serving in Community for the Community These two pastors desired something bigger than “wins” for their individual churches . . . they wanted a declaration of truth, hope, and freedom in Jesus. So, this past Easter they came together to proclaim, “Jesus Is Greater.”

The church was named for the rolling hills nearby that have popular hiking trails and amazing views of the Columbia River, Wenatchee Valley, and North Cascades. The church chose “Where Your Journey Begins” as a slogan to reflect a discipleship path that starts in a 10-week “Rooted” experience and then gives participants opportunities to lead other “Rooted” groups.

“They [the family] have given a lot to our community,” McPherson says, “and together we’re going to let them know that, in our town, you don’t walk alone when things get tough.”

A master plan leveraged Spatial Storytelling to transform the 1970s-era, dark-wood church building into an engaging “base camp” and “trailhead” for the metaphoric discipleship journey on the “freedom trail” found in Christ. The plan incorporated a covered pavilion with an outdoor fireplace and room for a future Sage Hills Academy for onsite ministry training. The church’s purpose-oriented coffeehouse is across the street from thousands of students at Wenatchee Valley College.

The gift was presented as a surprise to the family a few days later at the opening ceremony of the 100th Apple Blossom Festival. I don’t think “church” gets any more hometown, community-oriented than that!

“The blue sky process . . . focused my mind on the task the Lord wanted to accomplish at Sage Hills, and it invigorated my soul with something to look forward to,” Wilson says.

The churches rented the town center and invited the community to a free breakfast, carnival, Easter egg fun run, and worship service. The entire offering was designated to a local family in need.

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Reaching and Empowering In 2017 with the new brand and space, the church grew 25 percent in the first seven months by reaching previously unchurched people and empowering longtime members by emphasizing discipleship. Approximately 50 percent of Sage Hills’s new members were previously unchurched. One such couple had declined earlier invitations but said they were attracted by the recent changes to the church. “They felt like Sage Hills was a place they were allowed to go,” Wilson says. “They’re getting plugged in, and we’re really excited about it.” Sage Hills was growing, and just a couple of miles away at Grace City Church, pastor Josh McPherson was thrilled for Wilson and the Sage Hills team and was cheering them on. And now, Grace City is working with PlainJoe Studios to build a new church home. The $11 million, 38,000-square-foot project is in phase 1. Watch for next month’s article on this crazy, God-sized dream project. I can’t wait to share it with you! Sage Hills and Grace City know who the real enemy is . . . and it’s not the church down the street. Our selfish side sometimes gets in our way. I encourage you to remember that and to focus your branding and building not just on your church, but also your community. Together we can build Christ’s church up and out.  C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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Horizons

Jesse Yangmi: A Lifetime of Service in Southeast Asia BY LAURA MCKILLIP WOOD

“We knew your father,” the old man said, “and we have heard about you for many years. We’ve been waiting for you.” Jesse’s lifelong dream had been to return to his father’s remote village, where he too had lived as a child. He had thought about his father’s people, the Jerwang, many times through the years, wondering when he would get a chance to return. But the Jerwang live in a very remote area where China, Myanmar, and Tibet share an ill-defined border area, and visiting them is difficult.

Laura McKillip Wood, former missionary to Ukraine, now serves as the registrar at Nebraska Christian College in Papillion, Nebraska, and works as an on-call chaplain at a nearby hospital. She and her husband, Andrew, have three teenagers.

To reach the villages, Jesse traveled from his home in Chiangmai, Thailand, for four days on a journey that included two flights, two days in a truck, and a half-day’s walk through the jungle. Jesse made the trip because he wanted to bring the gospel to his father’s people as part of the last big project of his missionary career. C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

/laura.wood2 @woodlaura30 @woodlaura30 lauramckillipwood.com lauramckillipwood@gmail.com

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leaving, the missionaries with whom they worked decided to move to a remote area of the jungle. The Yangmis and many people from the village left with them. While they were still navigating the dense jungle, the couple welcomed their second child.

Growth and Preparation Jesse Yangmi became a Christian as a child, when a pastor from the Lisu people group walked across a mountain range from China and arrived in his village. After hearing the gospel, Jesse committed his life to Christ. As a result, his father made him leave home. Jesse found refuge with other believers and returned home after his father also became a Christian. His father died when he was young, and Jesse and his mother moved to the plains, away from the mountain area where he had been born. Jesseâ€™s mother knew he wanted an education, so she allowed him to leave home to attend school. He also began working for missionaries in exchange for English lessons. While working with these missionaries, he met and married Esther, who had already ministered for years in villages of Myanmar. Jesse and Esther joined in ministry and started a family. After the birth of their first child, a socialist leader came to power in Myanmar and began forcing Westerners out of the country. Instead of C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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They finally established a home in the jungle, where they lived and served for four years with the missionaries and also others from the original village. Since Esther did not have Myanmar citizenship, the family feared they ultimately would be separated if they stayed there. Eventually, they made their way to India and then to the United States. Jesse studied at Ozark Christian College, preparing to return to Southeast Asia as a church planter and teacher. When he finished his education, the Yangmi family moved to Thailand and began what would become a long-term ministry with the Lisu, the same ethnic group who had introduced Jesse to Jesus.

Serving the Lisu Jesseâ€™s career has now spanned decades. He helped start Lisu Bible Institute. Young Lisu men and women from remote areas as far away as China traveled there to study in their own language and returned to their villages to serve in churches and start new ones. The institute thrived for many years but declined in enrollment and was almost forced to close its doors until the Lisu churches in the area O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

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reopened it. These indigenous churches now run the college and have again begun preparing young people for ministry. Early in their work, Jesse and the local leadership realized the need for a new Lisu translation of the Bible. After much hard work, he produced a translation which is now being used by the Lisu churches throughout China, India, and Myanmar.

A New Challenge Throughout these successful ministries, Jesse desired to return to the villages of his father’s people, the Jerwang. He remembered living there as a child, remembered hearing the gospel there, remembered the people, and he wanted to return to them. They did not have the Bible in their own language, and he hoped to help fill that need. Birth records were not kept in the jungle village where he was born, so Jesse does not know his exact age, but he knows he is nearing the end of his ministry. His advancing years and health issues make travel and strenuous physical exertion difficult. He cannot hack through the jungle the way he did when he was a young man. His work with the Jerwang began in earnest six years ago, after he made that first trip back to his father’s village. He now mentors five or six men who plant and pastor churches. These men are industrious and capable, able to walk long distances to remote villages and educated enough to work with Bible translators from Summer Institute of C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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Linguistics. Their goal is to produce a translation of the Scriptures for the Jerwang people. These local evangelists are Jesse’s legs and feet; they do the work he dreamed of doing. They return to consult with him once a year, to be mentored, and to report about the churches and the work. “These men see my father as a spiritual father figure,” says Jesse’s daughter, Lucy. Jesse’s wife, Esther, passed away, and now Jesse has married Ati, who has committed herself to Jesse’s ministry. She travels to the remote villages of the Jerwang and has even learned to speak their language. Jesse’s story is not one of fame and accolades, but of consistently pursuing God and persistently working to spread the gospel. His life’s mission has been to make it possible for more people to know and love Jesus, to carry the gospel forward one more generation. And the adventure has not ended. Jesse looks forward to the next step in his ministry, when he will make another great journey to reunite with Esther, his father, and the thousands of people whose lives his ministry has touched.  O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

ministry l i fe

A Little Boy’s Prayer BY MICAH STEPHEN

Bedtime is one of my favorite times of the day. Not because of my kids going to sleep, but because I get to wrap up the day with them. On one particular evening, however, as I walked across that squeaky old floor toward the kids’ bedroom, I was hoping bedtime would be easy. The routine includes a story, a quick prayer, kisses goodnight, and saying “I love you” to one another. At bedtime, I can forget my daily stress. No bills. No problem-solving. But, for whatever reason, on this night I just wanted “me” time. Little did I know my attitude was about to quickly shift the brightly shining spotlight away from me.

Micah Stephen serves as lead minister at Odon (Indiana) Christian Church. /micah.stephen @youminmc @youminmc

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That night, my oldest son prayed, “God, I thank you for my dad preaching, but I wish he could spend more time with me. He doesn’t get to very much.” I left his room wondering, What am I doing? How could I miss this? And then there was mental pushback—But I’m doing God’s work!—as I attempted to justify my actions. I have always given everything I have to my ministry. I had watched my grandfather put forth seemingly endless effort and timeless hours to his 60year ministry. I often wonder how my mother felt growing up as a PK. At the end of my grandfather’s life, he wasn’t known for his ability to preach—although he did that well—but for his genuine love for others. His example was one of the clearest I had. From day one of ministry, I believed if you’re willing to go all in, you must be willing to go all out. So, I’d spend hours with people, making connections, preparing sermons, and coming up with church-growth ideas. And I worked another job to make ends meet. I wanted to bring people to Jesus, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to have a vibrant, successful, growing church. At his age, my son doesn’t have a filter; his prayer was real . . . it was from his heart and brutally honest. And it revealed that many of my motivations were selfish, prideful, and wrong. As I sat on our old brown couch that sinks to the floor, I couldn’t help but think I had missed the present by focusing on the future. C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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While I was busy connecting people to Jesus, leading a church, building my résumé, I had put my family in the back seat. If I can’t lead my family, I asked myself, what business do I have leading an even bigger family? Proverbs tells us to train up our children in the way they should go. Still, I wondered what ways I was training my kids to go. I was humbled that day, but I was also thankful for the timing. I believe God used a little boy to change a grown man. 

Submit your own 500- to 700-word essay telling of an experience through which you learned a vital ministry principle by emailing it to cs@christianstandardmedia.com with “MinistryLife” in the subject line. See more information at www.christianstandard.com/contact-us/submit-articles.

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M et r i c s Special Church Report part 3

Small and Very Small Churches BY KENT FILLINGER

Featu red i n Au g u st:

Part 2 : Large a n d Medium c hurc h e s

Kent E. Fillinger serves as president of 3:STRANDS Consulting, Indianapolis, Indiana, and regional vice president (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan) with Christian Financial Resources.

This is the final installment of a three-part series sharing the research findings from our annual church survey. The May issue focused on 2018 data from megachurches and emerging megachurches. The August issue covered large and medium churches, and now we conclude the series with statistics from 78 small churches and 47 very small churches. C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

Featu red i n may:

part 1 : megac hurc h e s a n d emerging megac hu r ch e s

/3strandsconsulting 3strandsconsulting.com

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This was the second year of surveying small and very small churches, so I will include some yearto-year comparisons, while acknowledging more data is necessary before identifying trends.

statistical snapshot Small and very small churches had the slowest growth rates of any of the church size categories. The small churches grew only an average of 0.03 percent last year, making it the slowest-growing category two years in a row. In 2017, very small churches had the second-fastest overall growth rate, 5.5 percent. But last year, very small churches grew only 1.7 percent on average, which was second to last among the six church categories. Small and very small churches were the only church size categories that saw less than half their churches grow (38 percent and 43 percent, respectively). By comparison, 74 percent of megachurches and 71 percent of emerging megachurches we surveyed grew in 2018.

financial overview Attendees of small and very small churches were the most generous givers of any category. Based on general fund giving and average weekly worship attendance, average per-person weekly giving at small churches was $36.11, best among all categories, followed by those who attend very small churches, where weekly individual giving averaged $35.30. The third most generous were emerging megachurch attendees, who gave an average of $33.82 per person per week. C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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Small and very small churches also were the most generous in funding outside ministries. Small churches again led the way by directing an average of 17.1 percent of their total budgets to outreach ministries. Very small churches were next most generous, sending an average of 16.4 percent of general fund monies to outreach giving. By comparison, megachurches gave 12.5 percent of their budgets to missional efforts, the lowest average percentage.

lead minister insights The ministers of small and very small churches surveyed were the least likely to be hired from within the church (16 percent and 4 percent, respectively). Ministers of very small churches in this study also had the shortest average tenureâ€”7.1 yearsâ€”of all the categories. By comparison, the average megachurch lead minister had a tenure of 14.3 years, and the average small church lead minister had served 11.2 years in his current role. The oldest lead ministers in the study, on average, were megachurch ministers and very small church ministers, with average ages of 53 years and 52.7 years, respectively.

Classes vs. Groups At 16 percent and 46 percent, respectively, small and very small churches were the most likely to use adult Bible classes as their primary means of adult discipleship. Among the other four categories, an average of only 2.5 percent of churches used classes as their primary discipleship method. Small groups were the primary discipleship strategy for one in four small churches, while only 4 percent of very small churches relied on small groups as their primary form of discipleship. O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

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Beyond the walls Several small and very small churches noted they were developing or engaged in some creative ministry outreach efforts to reach their communities. Good examples include Vernal (Utah) Christian Church, which is reaching into their local Mormon community; One Life Church (Concord, North Carolina), which is starting a nonprofit, co-work space called the Collective; and First Christian Church (Mableton, Georgia), which is working to establish an immigrant ministry. Other examples include New Hope Christian Church (Belton, Missouri), which is serving homeless families, and the Church of Christ at Logansport (Indiana), which has weekly worship services for both Hispanic and Burmese families from their area.

Hopes, Fears, and priorities The survey asked churches to identify one hope, one fear, and one priority for this year. Reviewing the open-ended responses revealed several notable themes. Here are the major hopes, fears, and priorities of the small and very small churches surveyed. Hopes:

concluding thoughts

• Increased level of discipleship within the church • Numerical growth resulting from evangelism and more baptisms • Impacting the community through outreach and service • Expanding church facilities

A handful of small and very small church ministers in the last six months have told me they’ve conducted more funerals for members than baptisms of new believers for the last few years.

Fears: • • • •

Financial challenges from decreased giving Losing members because of aging and death Apathy and unwillingness to change The death/closing of the church

Priorities: • Reaching more young adults and young families with children • Greater focus on discipleship • Developing leaders and adding ministry staff • Evangelism, preaching, and doctrinal purity C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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This is a troubling trend that could result in churches closing their doors over the next decade. It’s going to take some major changes—new ministry strategies and programs, facility enhancements, increased generosity, and Internet and social media upgrades and initiatives—for most of these struggling churches to start shifting the tide from death and decline to new life and growth. No church can keep things unchanged for 40-plus years and expect to reach and retain young adults and families. We can’t forget the biblical principle that “new wine” requires “new wineskins” (Matthew 9:17).  O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

A V E R A G E AT T E N D A N C E

G R O W T H R AT E S

V ERY SMA L L C H U RC H ES

SMA L L C H U RC H ES

combined average weekly attendance 21,701 (125 churches)

163

0.03% (up from -0.3% in 2017) 38% of small churches grew (up from 36% in 2017)

1.7% (down from 5.5% in 2017) 43% of very small churches grew (down from 44% in 2017)

B A P T I S M R AT I O S

HIGHEST B A P T I S M R AT I O S

V E RY S M A L L CHURCHES

SMALL CHURCHES

number of baptisms per 100 people in average attendance

5.5

16.9 Christâ€™s Church, Fort Wayne, IN 15.0 Thurston Christian Church, Springfield, OR 13.5 Vernal Christian Church, Vernal, UT

5.1

34.4 31.4 15.4

GIVING

SMA L L CH U RCH ES

Average weekly per-person giving (based on general fund only)

Catalyst Church, High Point, NC Founded 2009

$36.11 (up from $31.80 in 2017)

V ERY SMA LL CH U RCH ES

YOUNGEST CHURCH

Connected Life Christian Church, Boca Raton, FL Peeled Oak Christian Church, Owingsville, KY Central Christian Church, Charleston, IL

Movement Christian Church, Knightdale, NC Founded 2017

$35.30 (up from $30.58 in 2017)

F A S T E S T- G R O W I N G

T O TA L B A P T I S M S of churches surveyed

212.5% Hazelwood Christian Church, Pittsburgh, PA 28.5% First Christian Church, Mableton, GA 22.6% Reclaim Christian Church, Ansonia, CT

699 (average 9 baptisms per church)

68% Fifth Street Church of Christ, Moultrie, GA 41.2% First Christian Church, Greenwood, SC 31.7% Winema Christian Church, Cloverdale, OR

152 (average 3 baptisms per church)

S TAT E S W I T H M O S T. . .

OLDEST CHURCH

Indiana — 12 Ohio — 7 Georgia & Illinois — 6 each

Countryside Christian Church, Seaman, OH Founded 1814

Virginia — 5 5 States — 4 each

Cool Spring Christian Church, Keysville, VA Founded 1800

OUTREACH GIVING

B U D G E T E D F O R S TA F F

17.1%

49.3%

16.4%

51.9%

Percentage of total budget spent on ministry “outside the walls”

Percentage of total budget invested on ministry staff

CHURCH

TWENTY EIGHTEEN SMALL CHURCHES CH U R CH E S T H AT AV ER AGED 10 0 -249 I N W EEK LY WO R SH I P AT T EN DA N CE

K E Y:

= includes nursing home worship service(s)

= includes prison worship service(s)

= includes Internet campus = indicates a “spotlight” church; see pages 61-71 to read more about this church in 2018

Church of Christ at Manor Woods Monticello Christian Church Ellettsville Christian Church Vernal Christian First Christian Church First Christian Church First Church of Christ 11 Christ’s Church–Fort Wayne Faith Christian Church Oak Park Christian Church 1 Southside Christian Church 3 Brady Lane Church Swiss Cove Christian Church Garden City Church of Christ Jerome Christian Church Legacy Christian Church Western Hills Christian Church Buckeye Christian Church Indian Run Christian Church Bluff Creek Christian Church Southeast Christian Church LeRoy Christian Church Millersburg Christian Church Oak Grove Christian Church Draper Park Christian Church 15 Woodstock Christian Church First Christian Church Cornerstone Christian Church Jenison Christian Church First Christian Church of Mableton Ridgeview Christian Church Lanier Christian Church Anchor Christian Church Fayetteville Christian Church The Church in South Denver Princeton Community Church Sutherland Church of Christ Bell Ridge Christian Church Osage Hills Christian Church Croton Church of Christ Kenwood Heights Christian Church 1 Sebastopol Christian Church Warren Church of Christ Seerley Creek Christian Church One Life Church Oakland Drive Christian Church Church of Christ at Logansport Turner Christian Church Adventure Christian Church Heyworth Christian Church North Point Christian Church Mundell Christian Church West Waynesboro Church of Christ Thurston Christian Church Cornerstone Christian Church Landmark Christian Church Salem Church of Christ 1 Howard Christian Church Williams Road Church Gateway Christian Church Catalyst Church Monterey Church of Christ Cypress Crossings Christian Church Venture Church - chart continues 26-27 C -H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D - 2on 4 - pages O CT O B ER 2019 - -

AT T E N DA N C E

BAPTISMS

247 240 238 237 235 232 228 227 225 224 221 220 220 218 213 210 205 205 202 200 200 195 192 190 190 190 188 185 185 185 185 182 181 175 174 173 172 171 165 160 156 155 150 150 150 150 145 140 136 135 135 131 130 127 127 126 125 124 122 121 121 120 120 115

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L O C AT I O N

SENIOR MINISTER

WEBSITE

MD IL IN UT OK AZ IN IN OH CA TN IN FL IN IN WI OK OH OH IN UT IL OH WV OK GA MO KY MI GA MO GA NY GA CO NJ IA IL OK OH KY CA IN IN NC MI IN OR IL IL SD IN VA OR NE WI VA PA GA NJ NC LA TX NC

Dyke McCord Jerry Dusenberry Byron Williams Marty Yoong Ron Riley Jeff Anselmi Brandon Kelley Jason Kemerly Larry Sams Mike Gunderson S. Michael Koruschak Jeff Keller Tim Tedrick Brian Gilroy David Stokes Michael â€œDreâ€? Draughon Dave Menge Stan Kirtlan Terry Bailey Eric Allen Mike Packer Jeff W. Mayfield Wes McElravy John Wittmann Clay Atchley Kirby Lloyd Bill Platt Warren Whitaker Steve North Andy Daniell Adam Bloch David Simpson Chris Bacus Andrew Higle Brad Lenhardt Craig M. Casey John Erickson Kurt Speece James Wright Dan Hamilton Randy Beard Jim Swaney Ethan Stivers Steve Bolin Justin Wallace Jordan Kellicut Jeff Strite Matthew Holmes Andy Hamilton Pete Hopkins Matt Branum John K. Wisley Chad Grondin Scott Lerwick Steven Stolle Brad Crocker Eric G. Evans Donald Crane Keith Wishum Joe Domico Scott Haulter Jason Sparks Steve Hinton Chris Woolard

manorwoods.com monticellochristian.org ellettsvillecc.com vernalchristianchurch.com fccgrove.org fccsv.com fccfamily.com fwcc.cc fccnp.org oakparkchristian.org

Rockville Monticello Ellettsville Vernal Grove Sierra Vista Bluffton Fort Wayne New Philadelphia Grover Beach Elizabethton Lafayette St Johns Columbus Greentown Menomonee Falls Lawton Grove City East Canton Greenwood Salt Lake City LeRoy Millersburg Beckley Oklahoma City Woodstock Nevada Springfield Hudsonville Mableton Rolla Gainesville Rochester Fayetteville Denver Pennington Sutherland Paris Tulsa Croton Louisville Sebastopol Warren Indianapolis Concord Portage Logansport Turner Bourbonnais Heyworth Spearfish Heltonville Waynesboro Springfield Lincoln Chippewa Falls Salem Howard Americus Woodbury High Point Monterey Cypress Wilmington

C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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bradylanechurch.org swisscovechristian.com gardencitychurch.com jeromecc.org legacywired.com whccfamily.com buckeyecc.com christforeastcanton.com bluffcreek.org southeast.cc leroychristianchurch.org millersburgchristianchurch.com ogcc.org draperparkokc.org woodstockchristianchurch.org fccnevada.org welcometocornerstone.net jcconline.net fcc-m.com ridgecc.com lanierchristianchurch.com anchorchristian.org fayettevillechristian.org southdenver.org princetonchurch.com sutherlandchurch.org bellridge.org osagehills.com crotonchurch.com kenwoodheights.com sebchristian.com warrenchurchofchrist.org seerleycreek.com onelifechurch.tv odcc.org churchchrist.net turnerchristianchurch.com theadventurechurch.com heyworthcc.com northpointcc.net mundellchristianchurch.com westwaynesboro.com thurston.church corstonech.org landmarkchristianchurch.com churchofchristsalem.org howardchristianchurch.org williamsroadchurch.org gatewaychristianchurch.com catalystchurch.org cypresscrossingscc.com jointheventure.com O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

FOUNDED 1947 1977 1901 1958 1921 1969 1997 1986 1934 1965 1984 1910 1853 1961 1971 1863 1827 1962 1888 1902 1928 1977 1855 2006 1978 1956 1951 1974 1968 1971 1979 1993 1882 1904 1957 1850 1969 1963 1899 1927 2005 1976 1919 2003 1871 2004 1865 1955 1890 1988 1985 1902 1897 1948 1992 2009 1886 1997

CHURCH

TWENTY EIGHTEEN SMALL CHURCHES (continued)

First Christian Church Bloomington Christian Church Snellville Christian Church Reclaim Christian Church Central Church of Christ Clermont Christian Church Creve Coeur Christian Church Sugar Grove Christian First Christian Church of National City Oakland Church of Christ Countryside Church Of Christ Hazelwood Christian Church 3 Molalla Christian Church West Hills Christian Church Hillside Christian Church

CHURCH

TWENTY EIGHTEEN VERY SMALL CHURCHES CH U R CH E S T H AT AV ER AGED <9 9 I N W EEK LY WO R SH I P AT T EN DA N CE

K E Y:

= includes nursing home worship service(s)

= includes prison worship service(s)

= includes Internet campus = indicates a “spotlight” church; see pages 61-71 to read more about this church in 2018

AT T E N DA N C E

Renovate Church Connected Life Christian Church Cool Spring Christian Church 12 Creekside Community Church 3 Laurel Avenue Church of Christ Athens Christian Church Winema Christian Church Christian Church at Rome Westside Church of Christ 1 Roby Christian Church Bethany Church of Christ New Hope Christian Peeled Oak Christian Church 1 2 Echo Church Little Rock Christian Movement Christian Church First Christian Church The Acts2 Church Twin Oaks Christian Church Church of Christ Alvadore Christian Church First Christian Church Dora Christian Church Central Christian Church Valley Christian Church Acorn Christian Church Oak Grove Christian Church Louisville Christian Church Edwardsville Christian Church Tualatin Hills Christian Church Hays Christian Church Hamersville Church of Christ Real Life Christian Church Stella Community Church 5th Street Church of Christ First Christian Church of Margate First Christian Church Justice Christian Church Christian Church of Riverton 3 Restoration Christian Church First Christian Church Sterling Park Christian Church Swedeborg Christian Church Germantown Christian Church Mt. Zion Christian Church Spearsville Church of Christ - 2 6 - O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9 C HFirst RIS TIA NChristian S TAN DA R D Church

115 115 114 114 113 110 110 108 103 103 101 100 100 100 100

BAPTISMS 3 4 2 7 6 5 5 10 3 8 6 0 10 10 3

AT T E N DA N C E

BAPTISMS

97 96 95 95 93 85 79 76 75 75 72 72 70 68 65 65 63 60 56 56 55 53 52 52 50 50 50 50 48 48 48 47 46 45 42 38 37 35 33 27 24 24 22 16 13 10 5

5 33 3 2 2 8 6 2 4 1 3 22 3 7 1 5 3 2 5 2 8 3 2 4 1 1 6 2 3 2 1

L O C AT I O N Orange Park Byrdstown Snellville Ansonia Portsmouth Indianapolis Creve Coeur Owingsville National City Oakland Seaman Pittsburgh Molalla Bristol Reinholds

FL TN GA CT OH IN IL KY CA OR OH PA OR TN PA

L O C AT I O N Cedar Park Boca Raton Keysville Hot Springs Chesapeake Lexington Cloverdale Rome Dierks Roby Kettering Belton Owingsville Cincinnati Paris Knightdale Henderson Gretna Eugene Truman Junction City Crown Point Lagro Charleston Boardman Harrisonburg Chatham Louisville Edwardsville Tualatin Hays Hamersville Sheridan Stella Moultrie Margate Beebe Logan Riverton, Rogrsville Greenwood Sterling Swedeborg Germantown Santa Claus Morgantown Cheneyville

TX FL VA AR VA KY OR GA AR MO OH MO KY OH KY NC TX NE OR MN OR IN IN IL OH VA VA TN KS OR KS OH WY NE GA FL AR WV WY MO SC VA MO KY IN IN LA

SENIOR MINISTER

WEBSITE

Jim Joiner Steve McClure Jonathon Dawson Breandan McTighe Dennis Dawes Jason Smith Neil Norheim Francis Nash Tim Captain Kristopher Tripp Hannum Taylor Ed Gratton Bob Laver Bryan Forbes W. Sheldon Lee

fccop.com bloomingtonchristianchurch.org snellvillechristian.net reclaimcc.com centralchurchofportsmouth.org clermontcc.org ccchristianchurch.com sugargrovechristianchurch.org nationalcitychurch.com oaklandcc.net countesidechurchofchrist.com hcc412.com molallachristian.org westhillschristian.org hillsidepa.org

SENIOR MINISTER

WEBSITE

Dave Jamerson Scott Weber Dave Richmond Mark Maybrey Kirk Dice Robert Warren Kyle French Brad Dillard Robert Peek Jeff Wofford Damon F. Reid Bill Mieir Bill Teegarden Seth Milhoan Rex Graham Bobby Wallace John G. Cunyus Michael Gochenour Aaron Dilla Merrill Davis Marcus Omdahl Dave Maddack Mar Wisniewski John Reside Jeff Swain Todd Collier Terry Newton Bob Kastens Mike Vernon Loren Doty Kevin Daniels Troy Braunstein Ryan Charest John D. States Emory Perry Dave Bock Phillip Sterling Bill McDonald David B. Haynes Mike Gonzalez Earl Winfrey John McArthur Bill Towns Brian Brumley

renovatechurch.com connectedlifecc.com coolspringscc.org creeksidecommunitychurch.org lacconline.com acc-ky.org winemachurch.net ccar.life robychristianchurch.org bcckettering.com reachingothers4christ.com peeledoakchristianchurch.com echochurch.org movementchristianchurch.com fcchenderson.net a2gretna.org twinoakseugene.com alvadorechristian.com firstchristiancp.org centralchristianonline.com plantthevalley.com acornchristianchurch.org ogchristianchurch.org discoverlcc.com ecckansas.org tualatinhills.org hayschristianchurch.org reallifesheridan.com fccmargate.blogspot.com fccofbeebe.org ccriverton.com restorationchristian.church fccgwd.org sterlingparkcc.com

G. Michael Goodwin C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

FOUNDED 1912 1972 1963 1907 1823 1947 1917 1955 1888 1814 1868 1927 1957 1972

FOUNDED 2016 1963 1800 2016 1954 1848 1950 1960 2011 1950 1953 1977 1918 2005 1851 2017 1915 2009 1964 1901 1915 1871 1963 1969 1880 1978 1868 1974 1964 1860 2015 1935 1993 1873 1947 1959 2014 1965 1970 1870 1830 1835 1882 1843

C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

C H RIS TIA N S TAN DA R D

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O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

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THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG FAC I N G THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG THE BIG

CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE SMALL CHURCHES CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CO M PI L E D BY J E R R A N JA C KS O N CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE CHALLENGE THE BIG CHALLENGE

- FEATURE -

WH Y do many small and rural churches struggle to find and retain leaders and even to survive? More importantly, what are some solutions? Christian Standard asked Jerran Jackson to lead and manage a project to study these issues. He teamed with four other seasoned leaders who have expertise in the small church to develop this topic.

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE 32

SMALL CHURCHES

RURAL CHURCHES

H I R I N G A PA STO R

1 0 WAYS T O D EVE LO P M I N I ST E R S

H O PE F R O M H I STO RY

WA N T E D : E L D E R S

B U I L D A L E G AC Y

T H E F UTU R E

SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL SMALL

CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES CHURCHES

M A N Y rural and small-town churches are struggling. LifeWay Research found that 60 percent of Protestant churches are plateaued or declining in attendance. And 46 percent say their giving decreased or stayed the same from 2017 to 2018. Churches with fewer than 100 on Sunday tend to be the hardest hit. These make up 58 percent of the American church landscape. At present, approximately 44 percent of all members of independent Christian churches and churches of Christ worship in a congregation with 2,000 or more in weekly attendance. Yet the latest available data shows the mean size of a Christian church is 115. This means most Christian churches and churches of Christ see about 85 worshippers each week. These congregations need leaders who can help them reach their potential. However, small churches already find it difficult to attract and retain good leaders. In the past, Bible college graduates often would go to small congregations or to rural and small-town churches to serve. Now, few young ministers are interested in doing this.

BY J E R R A N JAC KS O N & B A R N E Y WE L L S

In America, 10,000 people reach age 65 each day. That figure is the most ever, and it will soon rise to 12,000 daily. Many ministers plan to continue serving beyond retirement age, but here’s the reality: 69 percent of Americans leave the full-time workforce by age 66. This

CH R I ST I AN STA N DAR D

means that over the next 10 years we can expect a great exodus of full-time ministers. The pool of applicants for single-staff congregations will be very limited, and many small church bodies will be unable to hire a minister. Ken Idleman predicted, “Churches will be in trouble in a decade or less if we do not, with urgency, get back to praying for and calling out our future leaders and supporting the Bible colleges, where our leaders will be best prepared.” The truth is, while prayer and Bible college support are vital, we must take other actions as well. While all Christian church Bible colleges still offer programs in general ministry and in preaching, students want to specialize. Ministry degrees range from spiritual formation to social justice, from children’s ministry to seniors ministry, and from technology and creative arts to sports and recreation ministry. Seminaries have tried to offer courses or programs in rural ministry, said Ron Klassen, but few students are planning to go to a rural church. This article offers analysis of the problems, stories of how churches deal with them, and recommendations for what small and rural congregations should consider. Elders and ministers in congregations with fewer than 250 people on Sunday morning need to discuss these realities. There is hope, but we must not ignore the problem.

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O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL RURAL

BY C L A R K B AT E S

WE received a friendly welcome when we entered the Christian church in Beaver City, a small town in rural Nebraska. The service that morning was upbeat, the prayers sincere, and the preaching biblical . . . but where were the people? The sanctuary was large enough to accommodate 150, but that morning only 25 people huddled into one section of pews. After the service, my wife and I spoke with Treg and Beth about the challenges facing the congregation. They shared about the decreasing population of the area, explaining that young people move away for college and don’t return, which contributes to the region’s aging population. The couple are the only ones who attend regularly who still have children in school. They said many of the younger adults in the community don’t seem interested in church. The congregation can no longer afford a preacher; the man who preaches has no other connection with the congregation. In the 1880s, when Alexander Campbell Corbin stepped off the train with a vision for planting Restoration Movement churches in southwest Nebraska, the area bustled with homesteaders intent on making a new life for themselves on the frontier. During his 20 years there, A. C. Corbin planted eight churches in small communities, and those congregations flourished. These churches have served Christ for more than 100 years and have moved through

CH R I ST I AN STA N DAR D

a life cycle: from the excitement of a fledgling church with big dreams, to a maturing church with many workers and a growing flock, to an older church experiencing decline. The challenge these southwest Nebraska churches face is similar to other rural areas. Populations are declining, the church is no longer at the center of community life, and the availability of professional ministers is extremely limited. Some people would suggest that efforts to sustain these churches would be better directed toward more populated areas. Still, the question remains, “Who will proclaim Christ in these regions of rural America?” Pew Research found that only 14 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, and that they are among the most unchurched parts of America. Rural America is quickly becoming a mission field. But thankfully, some have taken notice and are giving attention to the crisis in the rural church. As they strive to survive, many rural churches have developed an inward focus that isolates them from the community and from other churches. Breaking out of that isolation is key to revitalization. When Mike and Ruth Bitter came to minister to the Christian Church of Waterloo, Nebraska, attendance stood at eight and there was a feeling of defeat. Soon after their arrival, an epic flood devastated the area. Mike says, “We simply opened the door and God began to work.”

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O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

The town was surrounded by floodwaters, so the church began feeding first responders and flood victims. That prompted people to bring food and other supplies, and then a chef from nearby Omaha offered her services. For days the church fed people in need, with hundreds passing through their open door. The church became a distribution point for relief supplies, and volunteers shed tears and shared prayers with those who struggled. It isn’t a coincidence that since that time Waterloo church attendance has grown. A church the community had forgotten is now known as a place that cares for hurting people.

Through the years, rural churches have become isolated from each other. Congregations could be sharing resources and encouraging each other, rather than trying to do it all on their own. Not many years ago, an area men’s group would meet monthly, and you might go to the next town for a revival meeting or missions weekend. These days, fewer churches are taking advantage of such opportunities for fellowship. (See “Build a Legacy” for several options, especially for rural churches who have declined in attendance.)

Perhaps the first step toward health is for small churches to simply believe Jesus can accomplish his work through them.

It’s important to know how the people living near your church perceive themselves.

rural community may be growing. Your urban community may be populated by folks who consider themselves rural (and proudly so). Do not assume a church in a rural place cannot grow, for many such churches are growing.

“The problem with small churches is not that they are small,” Christian pastor and author Karl Vaters has noted, “it is that they think being small is a problem.” Small rural churches are needed, for they have plenty to offer. Such churches can reach some people a large church never would. Small, rural churches face great challenges, but they have even greater potential.

R U R A L D E M O G R A PH I C S It’s been reported that our nation’s rural population is declining and that rural communities are dying. But reality is probably more nuanced. If more than 1,000 people live in one square mile, it’s urban; if not, it’s rural. A few families that move into an area—be it a small town or suburb— can cause it to become urban. Here’s something that might be of more interest to church leaders: Polls have found that 60 percent of adults who self-identify as rural actually live in an area classified urban, and 75 percent of people who say they live in a small town actually live in an area classified metropolitan.

There is a population trend that might be of more concern to church leaders. Rural areas have historically seen as many births as deaths, and so they have remained stable for the most part. But in the last few years, as the population ages in most rural places, births are not sufficient to replace population loss from deaths. This is resulting in a new and concerning type of decline. So, here are three important lessons: • Church leaders should know their ministry context and not rely on a government classification. Your

• If your rural community is declining, understand that children’s and youth ministry may not serve the community’s needs. Instead, a vital seniors ministry might be what is most needed, and it might even lead to church growth in the midst of population decline. • And remember, God loves his church and has called on it to serve people no matter their age and no matter where they live. —B.W.

HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING HIRING

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R PA STO R

BY RICHARD CREEK

A N objective for this article is to determine how many 2019 graduates from Bible colleges will be entering the pastoral/pulpit ministry. The Pastor’s Project contacted nine Bible colleges associated with independent Christian churches and churches of Christ in the United States and Canada. (That’s about one-third of our colleges and universities.) The total number of students from these nine schools entering the pastoral ministry was 17, which is considerably lower than in previous decades. Yet the need for pastors has been increasing. Without a pastor, many rural and small churches go on life support and eventually die.

CH R I ST I AN STA N DAR D

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O CT O B ER 2 0 1 9

One reason for this decline is that churches in our movement no longer send as many high school graduates to Bible colleges. For example, 20 years ago, a certain church in Iowa sent 20 high school graduates to Bible colleges. Last year the same church sent three. Where will future pastors for our churches come from? Here are six challenges churches face in hiring a full-time or parttime minister: 1. Inability to Provide a Living Wage and Health Benefits:

Rural and small churches generally have limited financial resources. Churches often find themselves unable to provide a minister with a living wage and some form of health benefits. In fact, many rural church ministers receive far fewer benefits than newly hired fast-food and retail workers who lack college degrees. It’s almost mandatory that the minister’s wife supplement her husband’s salary (and procure health insurance). 2. Unwillingness to Change: Many

small churches are mired in the past and resist, or outright reject, a new minister’s suggestions. This contributes to a revolving door of ministers and fewer applications for vacant positions. Churches that are unwilling to change are unlikely to last long.

3. Lack of Bible College Students Serving on Weekends: Many

colleges are fighting for survival and have moved away from providing smaller congregations with student ministers. Additionally, fewer students are interested in serving in small churches. The result is that many small churches have been deprived of what had been their source for preaching ministers. “Many smaller churches feel alone in their struggle, says Richard Brown, retired associate dean of Nebraska Christian College. “They really don’t know where to turn for help. They are trying their best but it’s not enough.”

10 years later, and it’s affecting my marriage and now, even my kids.” Christian colleges and their students—past, present, and possible—must weigh these factors. 6. The ‘Independent’ Nature of Our Churches: The indepen-

dence of Christian churches and churches of Christ is a blessing, but it can also be a blight. Two small churches recently were approached with the idea of sharing a minister. Both congregations worship at 10:00 a.m., and neither church would approve changing their service to 11:00 a.m. Both are still without a minister.

4. Decline: According to a 2013

Bill Campbell, senior pastor at Woodlands Christian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, summarized the situation: “Our Father is still building his church and it grieves my heart at the lack of ministers . . . and those who have been trained are being chewed up by congregations that suffer from a lack of leaders with depth and vision.”

5. Substantial Educational Debt:

These challenges point to continuing trouble for churches in their mission to hire ministers and share Jesus.

Nebraska Rural Poll conducted by the University of Nebraska, at least one-third of those living in or near communities of fewer than 1,000 people say they are concerned their church may need to consolidate or close. This scenario is playing out in many other states.

A 2018 graduate survey by a Midwestern Bible college determined that 64 percent of students graduating with a bachelor’s degree would amass debt between $10,000 and $40,000. Christianity Today reports, “Recent student loan trends leave Christian college graduates feeling the economic impact for decades.” One graduate summed it up this way: “I’m still paying the price almost

“If the church is going to reach the lost, it’s going to have to make changes, and changes have never come easy for us,” says Clark Bates, associate minister of McCook (Nebraska) Christian Church. But God doesn’t give us challenges that are too great to overcome, and sometimes these challenges become opportunities.

1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS 1 0 WAYS TO D EVE LO P M I N I ST E R S

C A R LO S Fields just wanted to play baseball. So he joined some friends who were playing on a church team. The church’s minister was on the team, and during the season they had several conversations. Carlos was a Christ follower by the time the season ended. The minister continued to work with Carlos, and two years later, the young man was in Bible college. Carlos was familiar with only small and rural churches, so he was not put off by serving those kinds of congregations. Carlos ultimately planted 12 small congregations and led hundreds of people to faith in Jesus. Adam grew up in a small, rural church. But as a young adult, he drifted away from Christ. “The Rabbi,” Adam’s nickname for his minister, invited Adam to a regional weekend retreat for young adults. During the retreat, the rumblings in Adam’s soul grew seismic. Around the campfire, Adam joined other young adults in talking about their struggles. Adam was conflicted: He knew he was headed down the wrong path, yet he was feeling called toward ministry. The Rabbi and the retreat leader talked with Adam some more. A few months later, Adam was in Bible college. Since then, all of Adam’s ministries have been in small, rural congregations. Small and rural congregations can raise up ministers who are willing to serve in those settings. Here are 10 ways your church can help develop the ministers small and rural congregations need:

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1. Develop a church culture that openly applauds Christian service. 2. Be sure church leaders are recruiting, supporting, and thanking people who get involved in service, even in small ways. 3. Pray for the Lord of the harvest to raise up more workers for his harvest field. 4. Take short-term mission trips. 5. Attend church camp (because campers get to know faculty members who love serving Jesus). 6. Build excitement among parents, ministers, and youth workers about helping people follow and serve Jesus. 7. Praise Christian ministers publicly. 8. Encourage young adults toward Christian ministry. 9. Attend ICOM, because it opens people’s eyes to ministry opportunities. 10. Provide scholarships for Christian ministry training.

Matt and Bobby were best friends in high school. Matt’s church didn’t have a youth group, so Bobby brought him to ours. Matt and Bobby fed off of each other’s energy and became leaders in the youth group. During the week, they would stop by the church building to plan, or to take me on in basketball, or just to visit and laugh. After high school, Matt went to a secular university and Bobby went to Bible college. Bobby began serving churches while he was in college. He now trains ministers as a professor, supports ministers who are struggling, and consults with churches looking for leadership help. Our church hired Matt while he was in college to serve as our part-time youth and music minis-

ter. Matt just concluded a 16-year ministry with a small church near Philadelphia. Your congregation can help provide ministers for small and rural churches. You can even hire from within. People who understand the small, rural church and who appreciate their impact are the candidates most likely to serve them. Ozark Christian College professor Terry Bowland reminds his ministry students that only 16 people were present the Sunday Charles Haddon Spurgeon gave his life to Christ. Spurgeon died in 1892, but his legacy continues to inspire ministers today. What can your congregation do to help raise up ministers for Christ?

D OWN through the ages, Jesus has used crises and challenges to renew his church.

HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE HOPE

FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM FROM

H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY H I ST O RY

BY J E R R A N JAC KS O N

When Christians by the thousands were leaving their churches to pray alone in the desert, Basil of Caesarea redefined devotion to God by gathering Christians in cities and organizing them both for prayer and for service to their neighbors. When the church became corrupt and Christianity became a superstition, Martin Luther reemphasized the guidance of God’s Word. When dry formalism replaced living faith, Philipp Jakob Spener introduced home Bible studies. Jesus can renew the American church today in similar ways. Before there were Bible colleges, the church effectively raised up pastors and teachers. Paul wrote, “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). First Peter 5 illustrates that elders passed on to other men their understanding of Scripture and of how to shepherd their congregation. The letter known as First Clement, written around AD 96, shows elders in one congregation providing guidance for young men in another congregation. Leadership problems have existed in the church from the beginning. (Consider Acts 20:29, 30 and 3 John 9.) And because problems existed,

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leaders like Timothy, Titus, and the men and women Paul mentioned in Romans 16 helped the early church move forward. How can a small 21st-century American church benefit from all this? Here are some leadership choices that might work for the challenges facing your congregation: • Bi-vocational Ministry: A con-

gregation that cannot support a full-time minister is not doomed to die. Church leaders down through history and to the present day have worked part-time or full-time at another profession.

• Team Ministry: Acts 13 and 20

describe a team of church leaders working side-by-side to lead a congregation. Leadership by one full-time person is not the only model. Your church could pay a team of three or four parttime servants with what it would take to pay a full-time minister.

• A New Way of Doing Ministry: Spener’s home Bible stud-

ies sparked a revival in the 17th century. Robert Raikes’s 18th-century Sunday school movement transformed how we reach children with the gospel. Short-term mission trips have changed thousands of adults’ lives; these were unknown until our time. Your unique ministry idea may be just what your small church needs.

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Training: Your small church can benefit from Bible studies, theology classes, church leadership mentors, or ministry support groups over the Internet, by mail, or over the phone. Now more than ever, small church leaders and members can enhance their ministry even if they live far from training centers.

• Distance

• Revitalizing Your Church: Martin

Luther revitalized the church in his day. Alexander Campbell did the same. If your congregation is dying, a drastic change is necessary. A restart with new ideas may revitalize your church. This requires great humility, courage, and perseverance, but if you are willing to rethink Christian community from the ground up, you can breathe new life into your body.

WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D : E L D E R S WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D WA N T E D BY WA N T E D M AT T J O H N S O N

I F many people with leadership gifts and experience attend your church, then your pool of potential leaders is deep. If your church is comprised of people who have little leadership experience or skill, you’re facing a completely different situation. You may have great workers with great hearts, but you may not have competent leaders. It is possible this dynamic contributes to the size of the church.

• Ministry to Your Community: Ba-

sil of Caesarea pulled individual servants of Christ together to help each other and to help their community. These servant groups provided much needed help to poor and hurting people. This ministry increased respect for the church in these communities and drew more people into service for Christ. It can do the same for you.

History shows there is hope for your small, rural congregation. This hope requires changes in how your church thinks and serves. Christ is always in the process of refining his church. What do you and your congregation need to do differently?

How can the small church cope with a dearth of potential leaders? My response is mostly anecdotal. The church I served until recently, Levittown Christian Church, is in a lower-middle-class, blue-collar

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U N H E A LT H Y R E C R U I T I N G ST R AT E G I E S Small churches sometimes recruit leaders in unhealthy ways. 1. Missionary leadership is like missionary dating. Church leaders are

guilty of this when they say such things as, â€œI believe Carl would be more active in the church if we made him a deacon.â€? Even though we know leadership is an honor reserved for mature servants, sometimes we turn it into an incentive for attendance.

2. Propitiatory leadership occurs when church leaders feel the need to please every involved family. Leadership appointments are made

because the church leaders are afraid someone will leave if they are not in a leadership position.

If missionary leadership is misplaced hope, then propitiatory leadership is misplaced fear. Both are unhealthy for any church. â€”M.J.

community outside Philadelphia. For whatever the reason, the church had no natural leaders. The process we undertook to identify and develop leaders might be helpful to other small churches. In the face of not having a plurality of called, committed, and qualified elders, LCC took the bold step of having no elders. This is guarding leadership in the extreme, but the church thought it better to have no elders than bad ones. This arrangement is not ideal, but it has benefits. For one, it forced me to seek prayer support and counsel from spiritual leaders outside my

church. Looking beyond our congregation for help compelled me to think bigger than my own congregation and helped me avoid insular attitudes. I also never had to face a toxic person in a position of high authority. A church without elders is not the long-term solution. So we started a leadership development initiative. I worked closely with ministry team leaders to help them grow in their leadership skills. Since they all have jobs, I found creative ways outside of monthly meetings to help them develop these skills. Some of these ministry team leaders will likely enter a more extensive elder training program in the future.

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We also worked through a strategic planning process with the help of a consultant. By the time it concluded, we had a group of people who grew in essentials and sacrificed opinions. We were left with a teachable team who handled conflict with maturity. We had ministry leaders with a new sense of purpose and mission, and a new willingness to share that purpose and mission with other volunteers in the church. LCC is still a blue-collar and lower-middle-class suburban congregation. But the church is committed to leadership that is appointed by calling, proved by commitment.

BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD BUILD

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y L E G AC Y

“ I N this part of the country, there’s a Christian church every five miles, and three in between,” quipped the minister, who had served smalltown congregations in the Midwest for decades. Though an overstatement, it does point to a challenge for the rural church. Many rural churches were planted in the days before automobiles and good roads, when the population density of the rural countryside was much greater and you could travel only a few miles in 30 minutes. Back then, more schools, stores, and churches were needed. Over the years, schools have consolidated and stores have closed, but most of the churches still struggle to continue, many with just a fraction of their former attendance. What can these churches do? The three best options are (1) merger, (2) cooperative ministry, and (3) becoming a regional church. Before exploring these options, however, let’s consider the issue of legacy, as in what a person or group wants to pass on to the next generation. Churches have a legacy, and often it is misunderstood.

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The small, surviving congregation in a sparsely populated rural context may look back and think, Our great-great-grandparents planted this church here, and successive generations have kept it going until now. It isn’t going to close on our watch. That’s a noble commitment, but it misconstrues the legacy as the church building in that place. In reality, the building—which is often old, energy-inefficient, and not suited to contemporary church activities—has become a sort of memorial to those who have gone before. It wasn’t constructed as a memorial, however, but as a tool to provide a vital Christian witness in the community. When a congregation sees its legacy as providing a vital witness to a community, it becomes much easier to exercise the options below: Merger: When a number of ru-

ral churches exist within a 15- to 20-minute drive of each other, merger makes sense. A lot of discussion by both sets of leaders will be required, but if, by merging, the churches can form one congregation with the resources to support a full-time minister in the community, that congregation can grow. The congregations might decide to keep the best of their buildings or sell all the buildings and build a new, centrally located one. Uniting the congregations likely will create opportunities that previously weren’t available.

Another merger option is to become a “campus” of a larger church. This again requires in-depth discussions, but it has worked well in some places.

gregation has unique strengths that could bless another body of believers.

Another related model gaining momentum is for a larger church in a Cooperative Ministry: When rural region to reach out to smaller conchurches don’t see merger as the gregations around them and offer best way to provide a vital Christian encouragement, share resources, witness in the community, another and perhaps cooperate in student option is to share staff. It’s pos- or children’s ministry. If there is sible for one minister to serve two no larger church in the area to lead churches that are in close proxim- the way, two or three small congreity. While one church might not be gations can cooperate and become able to pay a salary, two cooperat- stronger together. ing churches could provide a living wage. In a dozen or so cases I have Regional Church: A rural church observed, this arrangement can with vision can conceivably become stabilize both congregations and a regional church. A regional church acts upon their vision to draw people even foster growth in both. from a 30-mile (or more) range in evThis approach works quite well un- ery direction. This obviously is not til the two growing congregations a solution every rural church can combined need more ministry than implement; it requires the congregaone staff member can provide. tion to act with planning, patience, When that happens, the congrega- and determination. The congregations can begin to compete for the tion must be willing to try new things minister’s time and attention, and and welcome new and sometimes this often leads to frustration, the very different people. Surprisingly, minister leaving, and both church- the most rural of churches—those outside of any town or village—often es declining again. have the best chance of becoming a Cooperating congregations that regional church. plan for growth, not just for maintenance, by having a plan to add Rural churches can celebrate the staff when certain benchmarks are legacy of past generations and met, find this a beneficial option for preserve the pioneering spirit of smaller churches. their founders. They can try new approaches to congregational life. One congregation can also share They can find a way to foster a viother resources another church tal Christian witness in the larger lacks, such as a musician or chil- community, even amid a populadren’s ministry leader. Each con- tion decline. Clark Bates contributed to this article. C H R I S T I A N S TA N D A R D

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THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE

F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E F UTU R E

R U R A L churches have faced many challenges, and they will face many more. We have highlighted possible solutions in these articles. While your church may be doing well right now, it’s not inconceivable it could be forced to close its doors within the next 20 years. The best mind-set is a willingness to join Jesus in new adventures. The future for your church might include part-time ministers, mergers, and hiring from within. It’s important to openly discuss and pray about what might be necessary and best for the kingdom. It’s also important to try new approaches. If the new approach doesn’t work, refine it and try again. Gather wisdom from church leaders outside of your congregation. And keep following Jesus. His church will be victorious, and your congregation can add to that victory. 

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Jerran Jackson has served Clarksburg (Indiana) Christian Church, a small, rural congregation, for 40 years. @jerran10 @jerran10 /JerranJackson

Clark Bates is an associate minister with McCook (Nebraska) Christian Church. Clark and his wife, Dawna, have ministered in McCook for 34 years and are currently developing a regional ministry to revitalize small churches.

Richard Creek is the founder and director of The Pastorâ€™s Project.

Matt Johnson recently began serving as director of community engagement with Johnson University. Prior to that, he served many years as pastor with Levittown (Pennsylvania) Christian Church.

Barney Wells, a veteran of the small, rural church, serves as dean of Lincoln (Illinois) Christian Seminary.

By Tim Cole

mid-atlantic states:

moving back to the small town

mid-atlantic states: part 2

Waypoint Church Partners Finds Bountiful Opportunities in Small Places During the past generation, Christian churches and churches of Christ have become respected within the body of Christ at large for our leadership in church planting. This position of national influence mostly results from our outsized success planting new churches in rapidly growing suburban areas surrounding larger metropolitan centers. More recently, within the past decade, many of our churchplanting organizations have begun to focus on planting churches in downtown, urban settings. Waypoint Church Partners enjoys a rich, 80-year history of starting and serving Christian churches and churches of Christ in the Mid-Atlantic region. Waypoint has seen several of their suburban plants surpass 1,000 in attendance, while also launching a good number of urban churches over the past decade (see Part 1, “Going Back to the City,” in the September 2019 issue).

derserved communities where he planted his Walmart discount department store empire. Towns of fewer than 10,000 are often underserved by existing churches, as well, and they can provide extraordinary opportunities for planting new churches to reach the spiritual needs of the people there. The reasons for the shift from cities toward smaller towns are obvious to many. Smaller towns are considered safer, friendlier, and more relaxed. People don’t honk their horns nearly as

‘Rural Rebound’ The next emerging generational opportunity for church planting may be in smaller towns once considered unsuitable for such endeavors. America’s smaller communities are much more diverse and have far greater potential than is commonly believed. Many articles describe a “rural rebound” in America as young families actively seek a simpler culture far removed from the hyper pace of suburban and urban settings. A Gallup poll found 56 percent of respondents would prefer living in a small town or on a farm compared with 43 percent whose preferred community was a city or suburb. Sam Walton’s wife, Helen, famously told him she wanted to live in a town with fewer than 10,000 people. This restriction led to his discovery of an untapped gold mine of un-

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much in small towns, and a traffic jam consists of just a few cars at a stop sign or flashing light. In Big Dreams in Small Places, Tom Nebel explained the lessons learned from planting dozens of new churches in the small towns of his home state of Wisconsin. He explained that small-town church planters need not be as polished as their urban and suburban counterparts. Some prospective church

America’s smaller communities are much more diverse and have far greater potential than is commonly believed.

planters who might not succeed in metropolitan areas can do very well when matched to the right-sized community. Some grew up in similar-sized communities, so they naturally fit in to the dynamics, rhythm, and pace of small-town life. A planter who starts a church in a metropolitan area is likely to have strong competition, making it much more difficult to be noticed. In a smaller community, however, it’s much easier for a new, seeker-friendly church to stand out for their progressive way of doing ministry. Churches in big cities and densely populated areas no longer have a monopoly on Sunday morning activities, but smaller communities may still have some unwritten restrictions on scheduling nonchurch activities during those hours. People of faith in suburban settings often lament being forced to choose between church and their child’s travel sports team commitments. Policies that impact churches— facility rental, public signage,

and mass marketing—often are more friendly to faith communities in small towns than in big cities. Likewise, costs associated with staff and land are typically less in rural areas. Church plants in small towns have some special challenges, but there are also some distinct benefits. For example, a church started in a smaller town may realize a greater impact of a prominent community figure joining the church or launch team. The presence of the fire chief, school principal, football coach, or downtown business owner may communicate a sense of legitimacy for a fledgling small-town church that a suburban church wouldn’t experience.

Recent Small-Town Plants Waypoint Church Partners helped start Mountainside Community Christian Church in Boone, North Carolina,

last year. Boone is a town of 18,000 that is dwarfed by Appalachian State University, which has more students than the town has residents. Boone’s police chief became an active part of the church very early in the launch process. A community figure of his stature helping to start the church spoke volumes in the town. Lakeside Christian Church in rural Palmyra, Virginia,

was launched as a daughter congregation of longtime Waypoint partner Cherry Avenue Christian Church from Charlottesville, about 20 miles away. Palmyra is the county seat, though it has fewer than 1,000 residents; Fluvanna County is home to about 27,000 people. The president of the local fire and rescue squad was on LCC’s launch team, which contributed to the community’s immediate acceptance of the church. For many years, the church worshipped in the community room of the fire and

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mid-atlantic states: part 2

rescue squad building in the center of Palmyra. Early on, church planter Brian Orahood began volunteering with the rescue squad, eventually becoming a shift supervisor. By the time the church reached around 300 in average worship attendance, they were easily one of the largest churches in the county. A church of similar size might have virtually no influence in a metropolitan area. Small-town churches present good opportunities for the minister to quickly become an integral part of the community. Raphine Christian Church of Greenville, Virginia, launched in a picturesque village in a mountain county of about 22,000 residents. Founding minister John Ward became widely known in the community by serving bivocationally in the local farm bureau and as a teacher in the local high school. Ward eventually was elected to the school board. RCCâ€™s attendance is only about 100, but it is one of only a handful of thriving churches in the area; most nearby churches are older and in significant decline, many of them unable to afford a regular minister. Smaller towns can be fertile ground for starting a satellite campus, even if the planting church is not exceptionally large. Waypoint staffer Paul Viers serves as senior minister with Woodland Hills Christian Church in Abingdon, Virginia, an Appalachian town of 8,000. His growing, modern church of more than 500 members was approached by members of a small Christian church in nearby Meadowview, a community of about 2,000 people located 12 miles up the highway. Eventually, the 16 members in Meadowview voted to allow Woodland Hills to take over their church property and re-

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launch the church as a campus. One year later, the Meadowview Campus is regularly running more than 150 in worship on Sundays and has celebrated 12 baptisms. It instantly became the fastest-growing, most-exciting faith community in this small town.

Planting churches has its own set of challenges, regardless of the setting, but planting in smaller communities is an untapped opportunity for kingdom growth. A renewed emphasis on planting churches in small towns and rural areas would mirror the expansion of Christian churches and churches of Christ across the American frontier of the 1800s. ď § Find Part 1 in our September issue. Tim Cole is a two-time church planter in Virginia who serves as executive director of Waypoint Church Partners. Tim and his wife, Lisa, have also helped to plant churches in Ukraine and France. Tim loves to train and coach church planters to realize their God-given vision to launch a healthy new church. @WaypointChurchPartners @tim.cole.7796

The Journey toward a Better Death

Reflections on Looking for Greener Grass by Patrick L. Mitchell

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We all play what I call the “better game.” We spend too much time fantasizing about something “better,” though deep down we know it rarely, if ever, truly is better. We pay for the next better, move cities to find the next better, cheat on a spouse to experience the next better . . . and it’s almost always to our detriment, for there is no satisfying this psychological sasquatch. Church hopping is a large-scale manifestation of this desire, and Southerners—of which I am one— are especially skilled in this “game.” The perfect church is out there, and I’m going to find it. It will be the one where worship transports me to Heaven and the pastor preaches a strong, theologically rich sermon with hilarious stories, poignant illustrations, and priceless application, all in 30 minutes or less. I carried that mentality—this quest for better—into my graduate education and professional career. It’s a reason we’ve moved 11 times in seven years of marriage; sometimes we moved within the same city (but my wife still counts those as moves). Strange that I always felt “called” to great cities like Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Savannah, Georgia. My graduate transcript was a registrar’s worst nightmare. After all my searching and our gypsy-like moving, we ended up in daggum Bluff City, Tennessee. (You have to use daggum in sentences that mention Bluff City.) And, by the way, it’s a very generous use of the word City, because that daggum place has a population of only 1,664. But there we were: my wife, our two toddlers, a chocolate lab, and me. Through the years, I went from megachurch to megachurch in search of “better” and ended up most satisfied pastorally and professionally serving a church in this small, out-of-the-way town. It’s not to say great fulfillment can’t be found in a large church. But my concept of success was so distorted that I could find it only in a smaller context where the gravitational pull of “better” was not so great.

We pay for the next better, move cities to find the next better, cheat on a spouse to experience the next better . . . and it’s almost always to our detriment, for there is no satisfying this psychological sasquatch.

A Humbling in the Hills

Faith Moves Forward

At Bunker Hill Christian Church (no relation to the battle) in Bluff City, nobody was waiting to be “wowed.” People wanted to be loved, and “love people” was one thing I’d never done in a church staff role to that point. No, I needed an audience with whom to share my penetrating insights into the Bible. Loving people seemed mostly inconvenient. So, I got off to a slow start in Bluff City. But I grew . . . almost imperceptibly. At Bunker Hill I experienced kind, patient, gracious women and men who had seen the worst life has to offer and despite that—or because of it—they were willing to bear with someone as green and idealistic as me.

It doesn’t take faith to manipulate. It takes faith to live and move toward that which you do not control.

That season was refining, for it exposed the prideful dross that covered every inch of me . . . pride that kept me from living a Hebrews 11 life and would keep me from dying a Hebrews 11 death.

It doesn’t take faith to manipulate. It takes faith to live and move toward that which you do not control.

Even when I thought I was seeking God’s kingdom first, I was very much at home here on this earth. I was all about the tangible, measurable, and quantifiable. I had been discipled in the ways of the business-model church. From childhood to adulthood, the next achievement—next girl, church, city . . . the next better—was supposed to make me feel like I’d arrived. I came to realize that, fundamentally, these all were things I could manipulate. All I had to do was say, “Well, God’s calling me to California. God’s calling me to St. Louis. God’s calling me to break up with you” (best/worst line ever).

“For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). There’s only one truly better city, better scenario, better anything. It’s the city of God. There is a future that will be fashioned only by faithfulness in the moment. God the architect has the plans drawn up. But he is also the builder. So, what’s our part? It might sound like this conclusion to Hebrews 11: And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the

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These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect (Hebrews 11:32-40). What better epithet could you ask for than verse 38? “The world was not worthy of them.” That will be said only of a person who has lived for a better world. If I were to die today, it would not be said of me. So, like the folks in the text, I can’t sit idly by and merely dream of the better place.

Get Your Head Out of the Clouds A pastor friend said something I can’t shake: “Keep your eyes fixed on Heaven, but get your head out of the clouds.” I translated it to my context this way: “Stop being a critic without bringing a contribution.” I’d made a living doing that. (The pay is terrible, by the way.) I now ask God to do something with my imagination other than have it be an idol factory that spawns discontentment and petty thoughts. I want

to bloom where I’m planted, as those flowery journals at Target quip. But part of a spiritual journey is smashing face-first into the transcendent reality that the lasting satisfaction and fulfillment we seek won’t be found this side of forever. It won’t happen. No matter what. That realization should be great fodder for the fire of exhausting all resources in this life on the journey toward what matters most. (And it probably won’t involve Facebook fights or Twitter mudslinging contests.) I have a finite amount of time, energy, and resources, and this is what and who God has put in front of me right now. So, I’m going to make the most and best of my life right now—and by faith it will produce a better life and death. With my eyes on Heaven and head out of the clouds, I’m going to cultivate the ground in which I’m planted to see the fruit God wants to grow in me and through me, for my good, the good of those around me, and for his glory. 

After serving in a variety of church ministry roles for the last 12 years, Patrick L. Mitchell now serves as an administrator at The Habersham School, a classical and Christian school in Savannah, Georgia. He has been married to Lindsey for 13 years, and they have four children: Ben, Nora Jane, Caroline, and Addie. @pmitchell82 @patrick_mitchell82 patricklmitchell.com

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sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

the inescapable church

by daniel schantz

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a farmer came up to me after a church service and asked, “Which do you think is better, a big church or a small church?”

I pondered a moment and then answered with a question of my own: “Well, which is better, a big truck or a small truck?” He grinned. “It depends. If you have a thousand acres of soybeans to harvest, you’ll need an 18-wheeler, but for most farm jobs a pickup truck is about right.” In other words, there is no one-size-fits-all truck. Likewise, there is no one-size-fits-all institution or church. Do all convenience stores need to become big-box stores? Supercenters have the best prices, but they can’t be everywhere. Convenience stores are everywhere, and people are willing to pay premium prices for the convenience of a corner store. Do all small Bible study groups need to become big Bible classes? If they did, they would lose the very dynamic that makes them work: intimacy and informality. Do all small Bible colleges need to become big Christian universities? Many of our best leaders came from little colleges where they received lots of personal attention from their professors. Do all small churches need to become big churches? We need churches of all sizes, but I can speak for the small church model because I have spent my entire life ministering to such churches. At the age of 17, I began preaching in small churches on weekends. Now, 60 years and likely more than 4,000 sermons later—it’s hard to know for sure—I have seen some of these little congregations grow large, many more that have stayed the same size, and too many that have died, which breaks my heart. If I were to define what makes the small church special, I would say it’s the number of them in existence— they are everywhere and, therefore, inescapable.

varied Megachurches make up fewer than 2 percent of churches, and they are mostly in large cities. Smaller churches, on the other hand, make up the largest percentage of churches and they are widespread: on wind-blown prairies, down in dark Ozark valleys, in small towns, big cities, wealthy suburbs, and on the “other side of the tracks.” I preach mostly in rural and small-town churches, which prevail in northern Missouri. The members include many in agribusiness, such as farmers, seed salesmen, implement repairmen, and workers in the nearby ethanol plant. This morning, however, I am on my way to Ottumwa, Iowa, fictional home of Radar O’Reilly of M.A.S.H. television fame. I preach here once a month in a small downtown church.

We tend to think of small churches as a rural phenomenon, but most of them—thousands of them—are in the cities. The Ottumwa church has an entirely different constituency from country churches. In the audience this morning will be firefighters and other first responders, doctors and nurses, social workers, elementary school teachers and college professors, an antique dealer, a publisher, several factory workers, and store clerks. My country church sermons must be modified to meet the needs of this unique group. As soon as I cross the state line into Iowa, I begin to see Amish buggies bouncing along on the berm on their way to their house churches. I count 34 of the buggies today. Why are Amish churches out here in the middle of nowhere? Because this is where many of the Amish people live. Here, they have places to tie up their horses. Here, it’s OK to wear boots to church. House churches don’t need electricity for sound systems or video presentations. In fact, they don’t need any money to “do church.” House churches, the smallest of the small churches, are a growing movement in America. While it’s very difficult to know how many people attend these churches, they represent perhaps millions in attendance. If persecution increases in this country, the bigger churches will make a great target, and house churches might some day be the only safe place to worship.

adaptable Part of the genius of small churches is they make use of local resources to meet local needs. It’s the reason the home school movement exploded . . . parents are able to make use of what they have: a comfortable house equipped with a computer, TV (connected to a DVD player or the Internet), kitchen, and a workshop. An SUV for field trips, a local library, and the local church. They make use of professional neighbors to teach their children skills like advanced math, woodworking, and writing for publication. Every home school is one-of-a-kind. Small churches are not “all alike.” Go into a country church around here and you will likely hear hymns and gospel, with a few choruses thrown in. In small towns, some churches still have choirs and soloists, with organ accompaniment. In a downtown city church, you might hear a small jazz band playing choruses and hymns, because that’s what they know and love. Here in the Midwest we have specialty churches, such as cowboy churches, where “you can wear spurs and spit,” as one man put it. They have services during the week as well as on Sunday, and encourage country and western dress and music. Trucker churches are showing up at truck stops everywhere. Interstate 80 at Walcott, Iowa, has the largest truck stop in the country, with 5,000 customers a day. The truck stop holds church services every evening and again on Sundays, and local ministers preach. And, yes, there are biker churches where leather and tattoos are welcome and Christian rock rules. When someone is baptized, they don’t applaud or sing “Now I Belong to Jesus,” they rev up the engines of their motorcycles!

unmissable managable Part of what makes small churches useful is their manageable size. Walk into a megachurch and you are confronted with an acre of faces. Even after attending for a lifetime, you still would know only a fraction of the people. But in a small church, you will know everyone’s name in just a few months. More than just names, you learn what people are like, the world over, because these churches are a “slice of life.” In every church you have several “types,” such as the church godfather, who secretly rules the church; the church sweetheart, who charms everyone into seeing things her way; and the church Pharisee, who has never had a sinful thought in his life, to hear him tell it. Personally, I find most members of small churches to be pure gold, ideal models for their young people.

We need churches of all sizes. Each has something unique to offer. If I have one wish for all churches, large or small, it is that they would place less emphasis on getting bigger and more emphasis on getting wider, by starting new churches everywhere. I started life at First Christian Church in Springfield, Ohio, a large congregation that started a new church every few years, yet it never diminished FCC in any way. To fulfill the Great Commission, the church does not need to be “big.” After all, Jesus said the road is narrow, and “only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14). But the church does need to be everywhere, “in all the world,” where you can’t miss it. 

How fortunate for Jesus that he grew up in Nazareth, a town of 500, and attended a small synagogue. It was perfect training for his one-on-one style of ministry. When I go to a small church, I try to speak to everyone at least once. To do that, I arrive early and linger afterwards. I keep a file on every church I visit, containing members’ names and occupations, as well as prayer needs. I review this file before the next visit. Over the years I have developed a deep affection for the people in these churches, and I look forward to being with them. My “congregation” is very large— most of Missouri, plus southern Iowa and western Illinois, but my congregation has multiple small sites.

Daniel Schantz is a professor emeritus of Central Christian College of the Bible, Moberly, Missouri.

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if i have one wish for all churches, large or small, it is that they would place less emphasis on getting bigger and more emphasis on getting wider, by starting new churches everywhere.

CONNECTING the ‘VAST AREAS' 5 tips for effectively using social media in rural ministry

BY rob o’lynn

America is becoming more urbanized, but roughly 60 million people still live in “vast areas” classified as rural. How can Christian churches effectively connect with people who are relatively few and far between? Social media should be a primary method. Unfortunately, it’s a method country and smalltown churches have been slow to embrace. Here are five thoughts on how to harness the Internet and use it to make your church an influential voice for God in your rural region.

1. structure your engagement All social media is relational. I’m not speaking just of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or Instagram, but any technology or application that draws us together. If you are reading this article online, you are using social media. With that in mind, how can a rural congregation effectively use social media to connect with its extended community? First, the church must develop a structured engagement strategy by being intentional about everything it does using social media. All platforms and postings should be clear, simple, and easy to navigate. Visitors should come away with a clear idea of what the church is about and how to engage with it further.

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It’s not a fancy website, but it is effective.

2. craft a sticky platform Each church must present the gospel message in their own unique way. The scaffolding (or theme) that encircles the platform (or means of being heard) should spotlight and leverage those features that make a particular church distinct. For example, First Church of Christ in Grayson, Kentucky (fccgrayson.com), uses a design motif that is consistent across their social media. Whether visiting FCC’s website, Facebook page, or Instagram account, the church’s core values of community, invitation, worship, transformation, and service are highlighted throughout. When crafting a platform, first determine the values of your church. And then ask yourself, how can we creatively communicate those values to our community? FCC managed to capture all of their values in a single image: a campfire devotional. Tim Spivy, lead pastor at New Vintage Church in Escondido, California (newvintagesd.org), offers this observation and advice: Your people are your best source of material about your congregation. Ask them to help you craft your sticky platform!

3. swim in different streams Each church should use as many outlets as they are comfortable with. Technologies have evolved well beyond simple church websites; social media outlets are constantly evolving. As such, our platform should be one that is easily transferable to a variety of streams. Spencer Christian Church in Fisherville, Kentucky, has been using a website (spencerchristian. org), Facebook, and Twitter for years to stay connected with their community and to promote their ministry. Still, SCC realized they needed to be even more visual, so the church launched an Instagram account in May. The addition allows Spencer to effectively cover the four major streams of social media (Twitter, Google, Instagram, and Facebook—known as TGIF). When developing your church strategy, consider carefully not only the streams you are comfortable with, but also the streams your community is using.

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As an example, Cornerstone Christian Church in Montgomery, Alabama, has a fantastic website (cornerstone-cc.org). The landing page features a good picture of their facility, a welcome message, easy-to-find contact information, a link to their Facebook page, and top-of-the-page menu options that communicate information and spotlight activities. The overall message is, “Come and find out what is going on here and how we can be in community with you!” The message is consistent across all social media outlets. It’s obvious CCC values their community.

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4. engage your connections The days of returning voicemail and mailing letters are over. People are not scanning the phonebook to find a church, they’re scanning Google. But they are not looking for a church website, they are looking for a church Facebook page. Does your Facebook page greet them with a welcome message that thanks them for visiting and invites questions? I visited dozens of church websites and Facebook pages while preparing this article, including the home page for First Christian Church in Beebe, Arkansas. When I first visited their site (fccofbeebe.org) several months ago, a welcome message popped up. I responded to the message by explaining that I was researching effective uses of social media in rural congregations. I received a message back in about an hour, which was fantastic. A message feature is pointless if a church is unresponsive. If a visitor takes the time to ask a question, a church should respond in a timely manner. It really is worth it!

5. evaluate and revise Websites should be updated every two years. Social media accounts, depending on their purpose, should be updated weekly, if not daily. But keep in mind, an effective evaluation of our social media strategy should be under a more holistic evaluation strategy of our congregation’s growth and continued mission. Make sure everything on the website is accurate, including the image and vision of the congregation. Social media can be of great value to rural congregations for communicating their message and inviting in strangers. In many communities and rural areas, the local congregation remains a central hub of activity. That said, social media is a tactic for growth, but it can’t be the sole strategy. My hope is that these tips will help our more isolated churches reach more effectively into the “vast areas.” 

Dr. Rob O’Lynn teaches preaching and directs the graduate Bible program at Kentucky Christian University, and he also is senior minister with Beech Street Christian Church in Ashland, Kentucky. He has served smaller congregations since 2001.

@DrRobOlynn @drrobolynn /rob.olynn

H A Z E L W OO D C H R I S T I A N C H U R C H

CHRISTâ€™S CHURCH

SPOTLIGHT CHURCHES Numbers donâ€™t tell the whole story. This issue of Christian Standard shines a spotlight on 5 small and very small churches that did something interesting, significant, or impactful in 2018. Read the stories behind the statistics. You can find Spotlight Churches 1-10 in our May and August issues, or online at christianstandard.com.

rebirth of a church

CHRISTâ€™S CHURCH Fort Wayne, IN

2018 Weekly Attendance: 227 Growth in 2018: 20 (10%) 2018 Baptisms: 40 2018 Baptism Ratio: 16.9 (top among small churches) Founded: 1969 Lead Pastor: Jason Kemerly Church Website: fwcc.com Facebook: /ccfortwayne Twitter and Instagram: @ccfortwayne

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SPOTLIGHT CHURCH 11 by kelly carr

Christ’s Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a congregation built on rebirth. “Our motto is, ‘It’s OK not to be OK,’” said Jason Kemerly, lead pastor. “Jesus comes to all who are broken and weary, and we’re all broken. But we tell people Jesus doesn’t want you to stay that way. He wants you to find healing and hope.” Every week, Kemerly and his ministry team challenge people to take the next step in their faith. For many, that next step is baptism. Christ’s Church has seen 40 to 45 baptisms per year during the last four years. In a church of nearly 250 people, that is a high percentage of spiritual rebirth! This growth in new believers results from the church recognizing they needed their own rebirth to reach a changing community. When Kemerly moved from being the worship/outreach pastor to leading Christ’s Church in 2016, the congregation was struggling. Attendance had reached 700 people in 2008, yet the church dwindled to 160 people by 2016. Those who remained didn’t want to let the church die. Kemerly said they prayed, “God, do not let the light go out here. How do we draw people not just to church but to repentance and hope in Jesus?” Demographics in the city had shifted, so the church needed to shift too. Rather than simply “doing something we like or think is best and missing the boat,” Kemerly said, “we asked, What is needed here in this community, right now?” The people of Christ’s Church were willing to make radical changes in order to serve the people now living in Fort Wayne. After all, with the way things were going, what did they have to lose? So, Christ’s Church went through a rebirth in 2016. They shifted music styles, their online presence, the look of the building, and more. They began partnering with a local elementary school, a lower-income housing complex, and a drug rehabilitation facility. They started a preschool to provide a quality, cost-effective, early learning option for neighboring families. New people began coming to Christ’s Church and found a home. “We’re all family here,” Kemerly tells everyone who comes through the doors. “While [we] may look different than the person next to us, we all have a seat at the family table.” He also points out, “If you come in to our café, instead of multiple tables, we have this one huge table and all different chairs surrounding it.” The family atmosphere includes many humble servants. Kemerly said 110 of the 250 people who attend Christ’s Church—almost half the congregation—serve the church in some way each week. Most serve at least two or more hours per week. From seniors to teens, all ages of this church family are involved. “They want to put others first,” Kemerly said. “They want to be people who shine the light and are truly servants. We always say, ‘The best is yet to come!’”  See our feature on Jason Kemerly’s daughter, “Kendall Grace Kemerly: Founder, Kendi’s Cows of Grace,” in our June 2019 issue, pp. 60-65. Kelly Carr, former editor of The Lookout, enjoys sharing and shaping people’s stories as a writing and editing consultant in Cincinnati, Ohio (EditorOfLife.com).

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meals, music, muscle cars . . . ministry

CREEKSIDE COMMUNITY CHURCH

Hot Springs, AR

2018 Weekly Attendance: 95 Growth in 2018: 7 (8%) 2018 Baptisms: 2 2018 Baptism Ratio: 2.1 Founded: 2016 Pastor: Mark Maybrey Church Website: creeksidecommunitychurch.org Facebook: /cometocreekside

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SPOTLIGHT CHURCH 12 by melissa wuske

“The community knows who we are,” said Mark Maybrey, lead minister of Creekside Community Church, Hot Springs, Arkansas. “From day one, all of us in our core group of 18 people have had a missional heart for the community.” Starting with those 18 people in 2015, the church now averages about 90 each Sunday. The key in this busy resort town is meeting people where they are. When Maybrey moved to Hot Springs, people told him, “There’s always something to do. Your kids are going to love it.” But nothing prepared him for the shock that first summer in a town surrounded by five lakes and featuring a horse racing track. “We compete against people’s recreational time, especially in the summer.” Some Sunday mornings have been sparse, but there are benefits to living in an active town. “People have their work, their home, and a gathering place,” said Maybrey. “We’re trying to strategically find people’s gathering places. They don’t always have to come to our building for us to have fellowship and discipleship moments with them.” The church hosted a 12-week series called “Parables on the Patio” at a local restaurant owned by a couple in the church. People gathered for a meal, then Maybrey taught a lesson each week based on Jesus’ parables. This summer they had “Sunday Sack Lunch.” After a shortened worship service, the congregation gathered in the park across from the historic Arlington Hotel to pass out bagged lunches to locals and tourists. Each recipient was told, “Bless you in the name of Jesus.” The church also has ongoing partnerships with a pregnancy care center, a foster care center, and an organization that helps women leaving abusive relationships. Connection with the community takes the whole congregation, but it starts with the minister. Maybrey’s interests in music and muscle cars help him connect with people. It’s also helpful that he seldom works in the church office. “When I do office work for church, I’m usually in a coffee shop. I’ll post it on Facebook, ‘Come have a cup of coffee if you need prayer,” he said. “People want the opportunity to connect with the pastor.” It’s one of the gifts of serving with a smaller church: Maybrey can be a more hands-on shepherd. Many are surprised Maybrey personally answers the phone number listed on his business card—and he usually has time to talk. Community focus is also a natural opportunity for younger leaders to get involved in the ministry of the church. “That generation has the pull to get out and do something,” Maybrey said. “They don’t want to stay behind the doors.” About a year ago the church appointed their first elder to serve alongside Maybrey as pastor-elder. Soon a third elder, one who is in his early 30s, will be added. “That’s where God has called my fellow elder and I,” said Maybrey, “to broaden the foundation and make for a smooth transition for the next season of leadership.”  Melissa Wuske is a freelance editor and writer. She and her husband, Shawn, and their son, Caleb, live and minister in Cincinnati. Find her work online at melissaannewuske.com. /melissa.wuske

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small church, growing platform

HAZELWOOD CHRISTIAN CHURCH Pittsburgh, PA

2018 Weekly Attendance: 100 Growth in 2018: 68 (212%, highest among small churches) Founded: 1868 Senior Minister: Ed Gratton Church Website: hcc412.com Facebook: /HazelwoodChristianChurchPgh

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SPOTLIGHT CHURCH 13 by michael c. mack

A 212 percent attendance growth rate over one year gets your attention. Hazelwood Christian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, grew from 32 to 100 in 2018, and it turns out technology is a significant reason for that growth. Hazelwood’s building sits in an older, heavily Catholic neighborhood of urban Pittsburgh, an area that is on the rebound in business and population growth. Senior minister Ed Gratton came to the church in 2016 after they had gone through a split that dropped attendance to 15. “On a good Sunday we had 20,” said Gratton with a chuckle. But those 15 people were “the cream of the crop,” he said. “They get ministry.” For the first couple of years after Gratton took the senior minister role, which he does part-time bivocationally, he focused on healing and building relationships. The church is now working on vision, planning how they can reach out to their neighborhoods through community connections. In April 2018, Hazelwood began livestreaming their Sunday-morning services on Facebook. They occasionally livestream on Sunday evening as well—this service is intentionally geared toward people with no church affiliation and “who don’t want to get up on Sunday morning,” said Gratton. Hazelwood’s website and Facebook pages have been upgraded by associate pastor Eddie Provident Jr., who has led worship at the church since 2005, as a part-time bivocational staff member since 2016. (He also happens to be Ed Gratton’s son-in-law and son of elder Ed Provident Sr.) Gratton said the church is blessed that the worship guy is also an IT guru. This very small church’s web presence is a well-designed platform with consistent branding for their ministry. Nearly all the church’s growth has come through their Internet campus, but it’s “still in infancy for us,” said Gratton. It’s a process. The church bases its numbers on several factors, depending mostly on the stats provided by Facebook but also the feedback they receive from online participants. The experience is interactive, he said. “These are people we are able to touch and reach and have some kind of relationship with.” This year’s Christian Standard survey asked, “What is the best thing your church is doing to engage young adults in worship, discipleship, and/or ministry?” Gratton responded, “upgrades to multimedia,” but also noted the use of more contemporary music as well as relevant messages and terminology. Hazelwood’s priority is to attract youth and young families. With that in mind, they are kicking off a youth ministry, which for years has been nonexistent at the church. In 2018 Hazelwood Christian Church turned 150 years old, but they are focusing forward. “One of our core values is building relationships, but the front door to those relationships is evolving at a faster rate than ever before,” said Gratton. “We’re doing our best, though, to become all things to all people as we learn to navigate in the social media generation, while staying on point with the gospel message. It’s all in God’s timing, but we envision a bright future.” 

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‘God’s reclamation project’

RECLAIM CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Ansonia, CT

2018 Weekly Attendance: 114 Growth in 2018: 21 (22.6%, third highest among small churches) 2018 Baptisms: 7 2018 Baptism Ratio: 6.1 Founded: 1963 Lead Minister: Breandan McTighe Church Website: reclaimcc.com Facebook: /ReclaimCC Instagram: @reclaimcc Twitter: @Reclaim_CC

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SPOTLIGHT CHURCH 14 by chris moon

Reclaim Christian Church in Ansonia, Connecticut, is living up to its name. The church last fall moved into its new sanctuary space after doubling the size of its building. Since then, Reclaim has seen its average attendance grow by more than 25 percent—and that after the church had grown steadily for nearly a decade. It’s God’s reclamation project, which is just how lead pastor Breandan McTighe likes it. “Taking something that is old, which is who we were, and something that is beaten down and tattered and weathered and has the markings of past pains and hurts—and reclaiming it . . . that’s what God did with our church,” McTighe said. Reclaim Christian Church is remarkable in having experienced steady growth in the nation’s Northeast, an area where churches have struggled. McTighe credits the growth to God’s grace and the church’s willingness to take advantage of opportunities God placed before it. The church made a commitment to take “prayerful, calculated risks,” McTighe said. For instance, McTighe came to the church in 2013 without a guaranteed salary. He initially shared the ministry with Jim Wagner, a 70-year-old pastor who had preached at the church for more than a decade. Some warned that such a partnership—a seasoned pastor alongside a younger one— wouldn’t work, McTighe said. But Wagner and McTighe worked well together. The two-year transition was smooth, and Wagner continues to serve the church. And the salary for McTighe materialized. The church also began holding an annual “Journey to Bethlehem,” an event that takes about 100 volunteers to pull off. That’s a risk for a small church. But God provided, and at one point the church had 3,600 people come to the outreach event. The church also supervised construction of its building expansion rather than hiring a general contractor. Some members framed up walls, others called contractors for bids, and others visited the job site regularly to check progress. Most recently, the church hired a student pastor without being able to guarantee a salary. But, again, God provided, and funds for the position now exist. “God has been so amazingly faithful. None of these risks were haphazardly walked into,” McTighe said. “We knew we needed to do something.” The church has directed its attention toward raising up disciples who have a passion for the gospel and are willing to share it with others. “Let’s lead people to Christ and grow them up,” McTighe said. “They will naturally become evangelists if you focus on discipleship.” “All of our elders and all of our staff are almost always discipling someone,” McTighe said. McTighe emphasized that the church is walking according to its own calling from God, and that not every church is called to do the same things. That’s close to the only iron-clad advice McTighe is willing to offer: “Don’t follow the formula,” he said. “Follow the opportunities God puts in front of you.”  Chris Moon is a pastor and writer living in Redstone, Colorado.

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unintended changes bring unexpected growth

WOODSTOCK CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Woodstock, GA

2018 Weekly Attendance: 190 Growth in 2018: 20 (11.8%) 2018 Baptisms: 20 2018 Baptism Ratio: 10.5 Founded: 1977 Lead Pastor: Kirby Lloyd Church Website: woodstockchristian.org Facebook: /woodstockchristian

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SPOTLIGHT CHURCH 15 by justin horey

When Kirby Lloyd accepted the call to serve as senior minister at Woodstock (Georgia) Christian Church in 2017, he didn’t intend to make sweeping changes. In fact, Lloyd didn’t even displace the minister who preceded him. Instead, Lynn Eynon, who had served as Woodstock’s senior minister for more than three decades, remained on staff as the minister of pastoral care. Instead of launching a variety of new ministries upon arriving, Lloyd encouraged Woodstock Christian to do a better job of promoting what it was already doing. Like many smaller Southern churches, Woodstock offers a food pantry, a clothing closet, and a soup kitchen (which it calls Yahweh’s Table). But while most churches in the area offer those services just once a month, Woodstock offers them twice each week. At Lloyd’s urging, the congregation began advertising its community ministries more aggressively—through pamphlets, social media, and even the sign in front of the church building. As demand for those ministries grew, so did the number of weekly volunteers. Lloyd quickly noticed this pattern: People would volunteer in the church’s community outreach programs, then attend a worship service on Sunday morning, and eventually join the church. To Lloyd, the reason is clear: “If you feel like you are part of something, you’re more likely to stay.” For the past year, most of the growth at Woodstock Christian Church has come through those community outreach ministries. In 2018, the congregation grew by more than 11 percent, despite initially dropping in attendance immediately following the transition of senior ministers. Now the church is celebrating new baptisms almost every week, Lloyd reported. The growth has led to another unplanned and unintended change—a building campaign. Last year, Woodstock Christian began a $900,000 renovation of its 14-acre property, joining the two existing buildings together, remodeling the kitchen, increasing sanctuary seating, and updating the children’s ministry areas. Though the building project was not part of his plan, Lloyd said it was important for the church’s ongoing ministry. “This church, small as it is, does more than a lot of larger churches.” Woodstock is now running two worship services on Sundays: one modern and one traditional, with Bible study in between. Thanks to the construction project, all of the community ministries now happen in one place. The renovated building is now in use every day as the church reaches an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse group of people. Kirby Lloyd didn’t plan most of what has happened at Woodstock Christian Church since his arrival, but he did intend to lead a congregation that loves the Lord and loves its neighbors. In that respect, everything has gone according to plan. “This is truly one of the most loving congregations I’ve ever seen,” Lloyd said. “We welcome everybody.”  Justin Horey is a writer, musician, and the founder of Livingstone Marketing. He lives in Southern California.

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Every rust belt city has one—a shuttered factory, silent steel mill, empty warehouse, or other large building that symbolizes the region’s decline. In Detroit, Michigan, looming over the Corktown neighborhood, just blocks from downtown, is the shell of the old Michigan Central Depot, a once magnificent train station that symbolized the wealth and power of Motor City in the early to mid1900s. But since 1988, when the last train pulled out of the station, the closed structure—more than any other in Detroit—has symbolized urban decay. Detroit is not alone. From Buffalo to Pittsburgh to Gary, Indiana, to Milwaukee, “rust belt” became the term to describe a once vibrant and thriving region whose best days had passed and where there was little hope of revival. As businesses and families moved south and west, churches also were impacted. In many rust belt cities, churches are struggling to regain the power and prestige of their “glory days.”