It can be a great privilege and delight to be called to minister and serve within the context of a church in a small town or village. It's very possible that one may find that there are limited resources, at least comparatively speaking. Facilities may be old and declining with a scarcity of dollars with which to repair or add to the church-building resource.
When the church and town are close enough to more urban
centres for their to be commuters, they may be too tired for meetings through
the week, upon their return home each evenings so they will not want to serve
in the governance or activities of the church that meet then.
There may be limitations of community resources and services
of one kind or another. One may find that the church has a 'bad history' and in
rural areas, that sticks. Gossip travels quickly and church family feuds last longer.
The church and the pastor's house is very much a glass-house and the family may
suffer from 'over-visibility.'
It may be that sports or other recreational events and
activities have taken over the life of the town, especially with those who have
lost or seldom had connections with a local faith community.
The families of both church and community may be very much
inter-woven and this can result in embarrassing results from inadvertent
comments or actions. (The inter-connections can also work very positively too,
as relational interaction and communication help to spread the good things that
are happening and as the good news of the Gospel is lived and shared.
Many students leave the community and thus also the church
programs, ministry and influence, upon completion of high school. The community
may offer few job opportunities. This results often in the overall aging of
communities and with major 'holes' and missing demographics of youth and young
families. Some people leave to get out of town - to get away. A few
come back hoping to rediscover what they have left, and perhaps even to embrace
once more what they have found to be missing in their life, in values,
lifestyle and general 'way of life.'
The church may have several or a remaining few ruling
families who are entrenched and powerful there due, perhaps to history and
tradition, to being powerful personalities, or being influential through their
wealth and distribution or with-holding of it, as for them ministry situations
and opinions might dictate. They may expect things to be done in their way,
which is of course 'the right way' in their opinion. They may be 'provincial'
in that they have not seen more of the world than the confines of their own
land, town and general area. They may be suspicious of any who might usurp
their place and influence and whether consciously or not, they may seek to
'freeze out' newcomers and/or try to 'neutralize' any suggestions for change or
'betterment' that the newcomer may bring. To use a metaphor-like example from old England, when the Squire and the Parson got along, ministry did also, apace; when they
did not see eye to eye, it was not the Squire who moved, but the Pastor who
would have to.
But it is not just true of those who wield power and
influence in the church and community. Many people will be wondering if the new
pastor has come to love them or to seek to change them. Will he/she come to
judge the old and suggest an embracing of new, albeit at present, foreign (even
strange and unwanted) ways of doing ministry in the church and community.
Small town ways and attitudes suggest that folk may be
suspicious of newcomers, of those who are 'from away.' It may take several
years, decades even, for the 'newcomer' to feel that they have equal footing,
that they belong and that their voice and actions are respected rather than
tolerated; that they are even welcome.
There may be the appearance and even the wording of needing
or wanting change 'if this church is to survive, to grow, to move into even
more fruitful ministry in this day. The new pastor may find, however, that in
fact very little change is wanted or will be tolerated. It may even seem
bizarre to discover that some would rather that this church die than that any
new or significant changes be introduced and attempted. It will take time,
trust - many years and lots of coffee, riding combines, relational interactions
of integrity and mutual appreciation, before the shared ministry can and will
happen. Many pastors leave before they see the fruits of such trust and
relationship. They may leave just before fruitful times can break forth.
With all of the above, however, it is true to say that rural
living and rural church ministry can be some of the most fruitful and effective
ministry-locales and enabling of Kingdom work today. It can be a place of
learning and discovery, of patience and endurance, of learning the natural and
supernatural rhythms of the Eternal, where also Kingdom signs and realities can
be set up and lived into.
