What Makes for Good Country Pastors?
I ran across an interesting blog article, posted on June 2006 but just tagged in my Google Alerts called “What Makes for Good Rural Pastors?” I think we might have something to say about that as we have many good rural pastors in Village Missions and have had many more over the years. This was my response to Peter:
I served two very different rural churches in 17 years and since serve as director of an organization, Village Missions, dedicated to keeping country churches alive. I grew up on Long Island—the first cow I saw was in a zoo and I always get the feeling that I have failed my personality test. In spite of my background and personality, probably not because of it, God was pleased by His grace to use me.
Your article is very helpful to me as one who actively seeks couples willing to go to often difficult rural situations where the church is near closing. We have found that it takes couples who are passionate to reach people for Christ and become involved in people’s lives but not with one typical personality. I would say, however, that someone given to outbursts of anger would not last very long in a country setting.
The type of church also makes a difference. Our first church was in rural Iowa, yet also a bedroom community near a moderate sized city. Our second church was in northern Colorado, fifty miles from banks and doctors and, of course, Wal-Mart, but with an urban population of retirees. The two churches required different approaches to ministry. Some pastors do well across the broad spectrum of rural situations and others relate better to specific rural contexts.
It would be great to learn your thoughts about what makes for good rural pastors. Allen Sparks did his doctorate on the subject but I am not sure what is available online.
October 10th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Brian, it was interesting to read Peter’s question and answer. When he asked “So what makes for a good rural pastor? Surely a good rural pastor is more than a guy with a used pick up truck,” I remembered how I had used the pick-up as a metaphor for an effective rural pastor. I described the pick-up as a utility vehicle, usually plain and simple in design. Most pick-ups, especially the earlier makes, are humble, though tough vehicles. The pick-up may be slow and uncomfortable, but it is multi-use. Its owners employ the pick-up for delivering, pulling and hauling almost anything. The truck is valuable because of its versatility. The effective rural pastors are versatile like pick-up trucks. They do specialize in their willingness to identity with rural culture and adapt to it.
My study was most concerned with who should go to the rural fields, that is, who is most uniquely fit to adapt, adjust, and cross over to the values and worldview of the rural community in which they are placed. The study described the traits of effectiveness.
Effective rural pastors love people. The rural community defines love as the time a pastor is willing to spend, the willingness to listen and be involved with them. Knowing people is just the beginning, for effective rural pastors also like and enjoy people. The church and community experience pators as compassionate and caring when tragedy strikes. Love is seen not only as relational, but personally relational as the community touches the pastor as the pastor has touched them.
Effective rural pastors are strong biblical thinkers, having broad biblical convictions so they can accommodate those with differing biblical understanding and fit into a community having a particular theological mindset or methodology. They are able to take the biblical truths and apply and integrate them into their own lives in very tangible and practical ways. Effectiveness continues through the hard work of study as they prepare for preaching and teaching. They speak eternal truths concerning contemporary issues in the language familiar to the community residents.
Humility is one of the most important traits for the effective rural pastors. Church boards noted the submissive qualities in their pastors. Rural ministry is ineffective if pastors are domineering experts who have arrived with all the answers for the “unfortunate” rural church. Effectiveness is, on the other hand, built around sharing ownership of the ministry, freeing others to minister. It is an influencing rather than a dominating work. Humble pastors do not see themselves as above people, but as a leader among leaders. They listen to others, delegate the ministry tasks, and adapt their plans as necessary with flexibility in order to best function as pastors.
Identity with a community, its culture and its people is also important. The methodology for the pastor is being with the community, the adopted home. The community is not “theirs” but “ours” from the view of effective pastors. As Christ made His home with the people, so pastors must make their home with the people, an incarnational ministry, fitting into a community, adapting to it even if it is cross-cultural for them. Effective rural pastors can carry on a conversation without using “church talk” since they know the language of the community as students of its mentality, interests and values. Pastors who stay in the security of their home or office will likely be ineffective in rural ministry.
Patience is coping with disappointments and waiting with perseverance for change. It takes time to overcome opposition, hopelessness and distrust. Resources available in other ministries may not be available in the rural church. The patience of rural pastors shows up in their resilience and hardy personalities. They ride the waves of successes and failures, rebounding from the discouraging times and disappointing people to finish the race and experience the victory.
Pioneering confidence is an attitude born from personal security. Rural pastors cannot wait for others to take the initiative. Instead they must boldly go to people. Pioneering church planters and revitalizers must be self-starters, hard working and energetic. Ridley calls this trait “intrinsic motivation.” They do the work of evangelism, and then see the possibilities for the church as well as for individuals. Since they know where they are going, they seize the day and tackle the challenges without losing heart.
Integrity is a very valuable trait in the rural community. People expect everyone, including the pastor, to be real. No pretense is allowed. Rural people also expect hard work; the traditional ones especially enjoy watching pastors work with their hands and get dirty. Rural pastors must pay their bills without complaining about their salary or trying to find a way to manipulate a raise. Keeping confidences is extremely important for rural pastors as is pure speech, honesty and proper relationships with the opposite sex.
Though not true of all organizations, Village Missions recognizes both husband and wife as missionaries. However, even in the organizations designating the husband as the missionary, spousal support is still essential. Mission organizations understand this reality. Foreign mission organizations test the spousal agreement before they make an appointment. In their home, the couple must have precise agreement about the role and involvement of each spouse. The couple must cooperate and work together as a team. So that they are able to cooperate and support each other, the couple must agree about how they will use their house for ministry.
It is always fun to think about rural ministry, especially rural pastor effectiveness. Allen Sparks
October 13th, 2007 at 7:14 am
I would also add that the pastor must not see the rural church as a stepping stone to something bigger and better. The rural church is comprised of people for whom longevity and consistency is a way of life. If they feel that you are simply waiting for a better job to come along…they’ll simply wait for a better pastor/missionary. The effective rural pastor must not aspire to be an “important” pastor of an “important” church. He must believe that the small rural church he pastors, is important to the ONE that matters.
November 6th, 2007 at 6:40 am
You are absolutely right about that, Tim. Just because the congregation is rural does not mean that they are “stupid.” They know when they are being used as a stepping stone, and they are generally a better judge of character than those in city congregations. This is because relationships matter so much more.
I have served (or tried to keep up with) the metro-urban church. They cry out for people to love them and be authentic with them. But the time and transient nature of urban ministry seems to mitigate against that.