A new Hardee’s just opened. That’s the buzz in our small town right now.
It’s not the kind of thing you’d put on a billboard in hopes to draw tourists, but it’s big news here. While the nearest large city (Raleigh) constantly advertises new restaurants—ones that boast of organic this-or-that and fresh, locally sourced ingredients—we celebrate new fast food options.
That’s one way to sum up small-town life. Everything in a small town is slower and, well, smaller than in large cities. This makes small-town church planting a unique effort.
In seminary, I heard the call to plant churches in large cities. Tim Keller led the way in making our missional target the urban centers. And he’s right. Large cities desperately need churches.
Unfortunately, this call to cities has often been misunderstood as a call to abandon church planting in small towns.
Keller rightly argues that we need more churches in cities because we’re not keeping up with population growth. But some wrongly assume, then, that rural areas must be in better shape. Actually, rural areas often lack clear gospel witness as well—and we mustn’t neglect that need in our urban push. Read More
Related Post:
Ministry in Small Towns: Worth a Lifetime Investment [Podcast]
The Left Behind of Rural America [Podcast]
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