The Rural Think Tank
…It's Different Out Here.
Church life, health, leadership, and ministry in rural and small congregations.
Lessons from a windmill field In my workshop at the 2018 RHMA conference, one of the examples I gave for the need to network for ministry in your community is a windmill field. There are some lessons we can take from these pieces of wonderful technology as churches. They have a purpose that is simple …
2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Galatians 5:14 ESV 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Colossians 3:13 (ESV) 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each …
The Gospel Grows Like Stubble Clover “So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.” — 1 Corinthians 3:7-8 (ESV) I was part of a lot of years of planting seasons as a kid and teenager. Want to know what my least favorite thing …
The Myth of the Self-Sufficient Church Ephesians 4:11-16 — “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” There is a myth in rural ministry that says the church should be self-sufficient. We should be …
Does Your Church Look Like Your Neighborhood? 1 Peter 2:4-10 — “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” Peter’s metaphor is beautiful. The church is a spiritual house, built from …
What Does the Foundation Look Like? Acts 1:8 — “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Matthew 28:16-20 — “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing …
The Gone Generation What happens when a generation leaves the rural area to seek education and employment in other parts of the country? The Southern Illinoisan Newspaper did a series looking at the students that leave small communities. The article points out that we are training our best and brightest to leave, and reaping the …
Useless or Useful? You Decide. Philemon 1 — “Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house.” The letter to Philemon is one of the shortest books in the New Testament. But it …
The Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight If you work in a rural community, there is something you need to be aware of. Farmers are hurting. I am not talking about poor harvests or lack of technology. Farmers have a significantly large suicide rate. The CDC has retracted numbers on their last study, deeming coding errors …
The Phenomenon That Is Reshaping Rural America The phrase “Rural Brain Drain” originated from a book called Hollowing Out the Middle, which looked at the effect that adults were having in their community by preparing their best and brightest to be shipped off to colleges and universities, sometimes never to return. Many outlets have since …