Small Places, Big Callings
By Zoe S. Erler
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Last February, Karen Cook, placement director for pastoral search for the PCA’s Administrative Committee (AC), received an email from members of a PCA church in a South Dakota town of 1,200; they were looking for a new pastor. Cook posted the job opening on the pastoral job website. Six months later, no viable candidates had surfaced.

“We get a lot of requests from small churches to help them find a pastor … but people coming out of seminary don’t even think about small towns,” explains Cook.

“[The denomination has] a lot of resources for people in large churches and church plants, but for the small-town, small-church pastor … we don’t have much of anything,” says Paul Kooistra, placement and church relations consultant for the AC.

Invisible Flocks

Despite the seeming forgotten-ness of churches such as the one in South Dakota, together they make up a large percentage of congregations in the PCA. According to annual statistics submitted by PCA churches and missions, 45% have 125 members or fewer. While this includes small churches in urban and suburban areas, more than half of these are in small towns or rural areas, many of which have static or declining populations.

“This is not a small group; this is who we are in many ways,” says Kooistra.

Face Time and Shoe Leather

At the 2019 General Assembly, a panel of veteran small-town church pastors led a conversation about the challenges and opportunities for those considering the calling of a small-town pastor.

Among them was John Kinser, assistant pastor at First Presbyterian Church Macon, Georgia, who spent the bulk of his ministry pastoring small churches. When Kinser arrived in Florala, Alabama — a town of roughly 2,000 — for his first pastoral assignment in the early 1980s, one of the first things that struck him was how church members took ownership of his family, in a good way. “The people just loved it that we had our children there. They loved us, they loved children.”

Similarly, Kinser felt that the same expectations were placed upon him — to care for his flock very personally. Elderly couples, widows, those in poor health — they all expected Kinser to visit, to listen to them, and pray with them. They wanted to see his face and hold his hands, not simply receive a phone call.

Kinser also made it a priority to get to know as many non-members as possible, and on foot.

“I called it shoe leather,” he says. “Instead of driving to the post office, I’d walk. At the post office, you talk to people. You go to the pharmacy and the power company. People get to know you; you find out about them, it was bigger than the church family.”

Learning from the Locals

It takes patience. A new pastor has to be willing to listen and learn, and to bide his time. When Tim Diehl, who also spoke on the panel, took a calling at a small church in Ackley, Iowa, in 1984, he made a commitment not to change anything for a year, unless the change was initiated from within and supported by the session. In many churches, and especially in small-town contexts, change can be seen as a threat, he explains.

“Too many of us want to move things immediately,” Diehl says. So he immersed himself in preaching the Word, loving the people, and getting to know their personalities and preferences. One thing he quickly learned was that Vacation Bible School was very important, and they had strong feelings about the way they did things — things Diehl might have otherwise changed.

Instead of viewing these small towns as obligations or last resorts, Diehl says that he has found them to be overlooked treasures.

One of the things they promoted at VBS was a penny drive — something the church became known for all over town. “Children from across the community came,” Diehl says, “and they collected hundreds of dollars to give to missionaries.” At one point, the local bank told them they had run out of pennies because of the drive.

“If I would have changed things, I would have suggested they change the biggest ministry they had to the community,” Diehl admits.

Detractors

Compensation is high on the list of reasons pastoral candidates don’t raise their hand for assignments such as the ones in South Dakota, Florala, or Ackley. Kooistra says it is helpful if a pastor’s call package is close to $75,000, but for many churches in small towns or rural areas with static or declining populations, that number is often closer to $50,000, and sometimes less. A church that is able to pay a salary of only $40,000 (including benefits) is going to have a hard time recruiting a young pastor who might still be paying off his seminary degree and trying to support a family.

For those able to figure out the finances and accept callings in these more remote areas, loneliness can be a formidable opponent. “Who do you talk to when you’re discouraged?” asks Diehl.

While presbytery meetings can bring together small-town church ministers, these gatherings are occasional and not always very personal.

Kinser says he has seen some small-town pastors seek fellowship in the wrong places, particularly blogs and other online forums, which can lead to further isolation and even internet addiction.

Treasures in Tiny Spots

The AC’s placement program is responding to the need for new pastors in small towns and rural areas and is encouraging the denomination to better support those who are currently pastoring churches in these contexts. It also wants to better equip and inspire the next generation of pastors to see the value of small-town ministry.

As a starting point, it is building an online library of resources, books, and blogs. But more significantly, it wants to pull together a network of small-town pastors who can come together for fellowship, challenge, and encouragement.

Instead of viewing these small towns as obligations or last resorts, Diehl says that he has found them to be overlooked treasures — people and places with stories and wisdom to share.

To learn more about the PCA’s work in small towns and rural areas, contact kcook@pcanet.org or pkooistra@pcanet.org.

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