If by church we mean a community of believers, there is every reason to expect that the rural churches will be with us for a very long time. If, on the other hand we view churches as institutions within the local community, the question of their survival in the rural communities is less certain ...
Rural communities tend to be small and built on cooperation. According to Shannon Jung, "given the pressures on small communities from the outside world, congregations that squander precious resources on simply keeping a building open, instead of pooling resources, are sinful." The reality might well be that rural poverty will eventually force churches to work together to survive. It is now recognized that the days are gone where everyone was assumed to be a Christian and church member. Yet this assumption lives on in the "status quo," making new initiatives very difficult, if not seemingly impossible.
The challenge of advancing God's Kingdom in the rural church. I have been amazed at the desire to hang on to the good old days, the desire to return to the programs that worked in the past. But this article nails it on the head in rural churches...we must boldly work against the status quo.
If your church experience consists of "but we've always done it that way" kind of people read this article.
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