A mission-driven ministry never devalues the church, no matter its size. While the angels rejoice when one person is redeemed, Christ himself is present even in the smallest church. When two individuals meet together to mutually encourage one another, they become the local manifestation of the universal church. A church is not determined by the size of the building, the variety of programs, or the number of individuals on staff. The church encompasses believers mutually encouraging one another in the faith and advancing Christ’s kingdom in their sphere of influence. A church of just two people is so important to Christ that he is personally present when they gather (Matthew 18:20). What determines the vitality of the church is the presence of Christ and the mission it has to reach its community with the gospel. If the value of one person is essential in developing our soteriology and missiology, then the value of two is essential in forming our ecclesiology.
Also See: Never Devalue the Value of OneSustaining Rural Ministry
In recent years there has been a renewed interest in rural ministry. Books were written, mini-conferences were established, and web pages were built to equip rural churches and encourage those serving in the neglected landscape of rural communities. But in this wake-up call to recognize the value and importance of rural communities and churches, the question remains: Is this a fad or a movement? The danger we face is that this becomes one of the latest ecclesiastical fads that generate excitement and interest but soon fade into the foggy distance of forgotten memories. In his article, "A Movement or a Fad?" David Fitch points out, "The difference between a fad and a movement is that a movement produces long-term enduring change. A fad, on the other hand, feeds off something that already exists: a cultural awareness, a disenchantment, or even a novel idea and expands on it. Through media, publishing, and viral exchange, it becomes a sensation that sells books, creates a lot of activity, makes people feel something exciting, but in the end it doesn't produce enough substance to sustain lasting change in history."[i] Fads are comparable to a lake. The waters are still and tranquil. When you throw a rock into it, there is a splash and ripples, but soon the water returns to tranquility. Movements are like a river. The flow of the water is continuous, always moving, constantly changing its course to adapt to new impulses...
5 Things I Love About Rural Ministry
What do I love so much about ministry in a small place? At least five things.
Ministering in Rural Places
Christian congregations serving rural areas are places of worship, prayer and spiritual formation. Like churches everywhere, they make sacred the pivotal moments in the lives of individuals and families through baptisms, weddings and funerals and are places where Christian traditions are passed on to new generations.
Yet congregations in rural areas often play larger roles in supporting the civic life of their communities. They host town meetings because a sanctuary may be the largest meeting place for miles around. Many also provide space for social and community service organizations and may house their community’s only child-care center.
What Is a Microchurch, and Is It a Good or Bad Development?
A microchurch is a local community of God’s people seeking to love God and its neighbors by participating in God’s mission in a simple and relational way in its context. In other words, it’s the church in micro form! Microchurches find their purpose and identity in being God’s sent ones. That missional grounding shapes their worship, discipleship, and life together in their neighborhoods. They usually meet in one another’s homes, often sharing a meal in the context of their worship gathering (though during COVID, many have had to adapt to online gatherings). Leadership is circular rather than triangular, and the integrity, posture, and accountability of the primary facilitators is critical for the healthy formation of the community.
5 Cultural Trends Driving the Growth of Microchurches
Microchurches are the primary form of church in the New Testament and in most movements around the world. However, they have often struggled to be recognized as such in the Western world, which includes my homeland of Australia. Given what we see in the early church, it’s clear that “microchurch” is simply a new name for an old idea. It is a form that has existed throughout time in different movements, such as the Moravian Revival and other non-Western church-planting movements that have brought the gospel into new places.
The Difference Between Small Groups and Microchurches
A few weeks ago, I was facilitating a preconference at Exponential Central titled, Starting, Leading, and Multiplying Networks of Disciple-Makers and Microchurches. During the discussion, a leader shared, “We are a church of small groups and highly committed to prioritizing them over the weekend service. Now, we want to transition further. We want to transition our small groups into a decentralized network of microchurches. What are your thoughts on that?”
Gulp. These moments are tricky. I had so little context about their story, but a wealth of experience to share—experience that I knew might sound like “bad news” for their hopes of transitioning small groups into microchurches. I had personally led similar initiatives in two large churches where I served as pastor and had access to numerous other churches on comparable journeys through my coaching endeavors.
So, I threw up a mercy umbrella and offered the following story as a provisional response...
The Overlooked Group Fueling Conservative Evangelicalism
Our friend David French joins for a look back on what has changed since 2016 in American politics and American evangelicalism. Russell and David examine the influence of Pentecostalism in this clip from the full conversation, which you can find here...
2 Pseudo-Christian Religions That Claim To Be Christian
Two of the fastest-knocking religious movements in the world insist they are Christian. Both send missionaries to your door. Both talk about Jesus, salvation, and the Bible. And both teach a Jesus the apostles would not recognize. That is what makes a religion pseudo-Christian, and it is why every church leader should be able to explain the difference.
A mysterious 'cold blob' in the ocean has puzzled scientists. A new study says it's an ominous sign
In the North Atlantic Ocean, south of Greenland and Iceland, a large patch of water is doing something very strange. While the rest of the ocean heats up, it’s been getting colder. A new study says it has the answer to this mystery — and it’s an ominous sign the world is hurtling toward one of the most alarming climate tipping points.
We think norms spread by imitation, but one deceptively simple rule tells a more human story
A paper appearing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers a strikingly simple answer to a longstanding question: How do people learn and settle on shared social conventions, from everyday habits to workplace norms? Researchers from the CUNY Graduate Center, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University have found that people do not primarily learn by copying others or by calculating the most likely choice. Instead, they follow a two-stage process—sampling behaviors at first, then committing once enough evidence accumulates.
Would you return a favor? Scientists say it depends on the relationship
When a friend buys you a cup of coffee, it's likely that next time, you'll return the gesture. This type of reciprocal generosity has been well-documented in behavioral economics studies. However, anthropologists and other social scientists have known for decades that in the context of relationships where one person has more power, status or influence, reciprocal generosity is usually not the norm.
5 Biblical Ways To Heal Broken Relationships in the Church
Every pastor eventually learns the same hard lesson. The people who wound you most in ministry are rarely strangers. They are close friends, board members, core group leaders, treasurers, and sometimes your own children. Broken relationships are not a sign that your ministry is failing. They come with the territory of ministry itself, and Scripture tells leaders to expect them.
To heal broken relationships in the church, Scripture gives a clear pattern: be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger (James 1:19-20). In practice, that means addressing conflict quickly, filtering anger through the gospel, talking face to face instead of over text, and owning your part in the breakdown.
Establishing A Daily Rhythm of Prayer
Although God certainly delights in our obedience, the various spiritual disciplines we are assigned in Scripture are not ways to please him by mechanically “doing spiritual things.”
Artificial intelligence systems programmed to refuse harmful requests can be persuaded to break their own safety rules when prompted with classic psychological techniques. A recent study published in PNAS provides evidence that these models respond to human-like persuasion strategies, suggesting a hidden vulnerability in current safety protocols. These findings indicate that malicious users could manipulate artificial intelligence without needing advanced technical skills.
Leading OB-GYN group releases vaccine advice differing from CDC's
The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists published a vaccine schedule for pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding people on June 10, saying it was seeking to provide the public "reliable, evidence-based information on maternal immunizations."
"Changing national recommendations coupled with rampant vaccine misinformation are resulting in confusion for both patients and health care professionals," ACOG president Dr. Camille A. Clare said in a statement.
Thirteen other medical societies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the National Medical Association, endorsed the new schedule, which differs from the version released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year.
Want your children to keep the faith? Study points to 1 key factor
Amid ongoing discussions about religious participation among younger generations, a new study has found that children whose parents attended church weekly were more than twice as likely to attend church regularly as adults.
The study, “Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations,” released in June by the Institute for Family Studies and Communio, draws on data from four national studies involving thousands of Americans raised in religious households. Researchers examined which factors most effectively help children retain their faith into adulthood.
For years, reading struggles seemed obvious. This massive analysis points to a very different cause
For decades, the common explanation for why children struggle to read has stayed remarkably consistent. Smart kids read well. Kids who don't simply aren't smart enough. And when children strain over a page, the assumption has often been that something about how they see the text is getting in the way. By this logic, reading comes down to intelligence and visual processing.
Lunch shaming is happening in schools—what parents need to know
“Lunch shaming” is happening in schools, leaving some kids too anxious to eat in the cafeteria.
Traditionally, the term referred to schools publicly identifying students who could not afford meals.
But today, it has taken on a new meaning—one shaped by smartphones and social media.
The Difference Between Small Groups and Microchurches
A few weeks ago, I was facilitating a preconference at Exponential Central titled, Starting, Leading, and Multiplying Networks of Disciple-Makers and Microchurches. During the discussion, a leader shared, “We are a church of small groups and highly committed to prioritizing them over the weekend service. Now, we want to transition further. We want to transition our small groups into a decentralized network of microchurches. What are your thoughts on that?”
Gulp. These moments are tricky. I had so little context about their story, but a wealth of experience to share—experience that I knew might sound like “bad news” for their hopes of transitioning small groups into microchurches. I had personally led similar initiatives in two large churches where I served as pastor and had access to numerous other churches on comparable journeys through my coaching endeavors.
So, I threw up a mercy umbrella and offered the following story as a provisional response...
The Overlooked Group Fueling Conservative Evangelicalism
Our friend David French joins for a look back on what has changed since 2016 in American politics and American evangelicalism. Russell and David examine the influence of Pentecostalism in this clip from the full conversation, which you can find here...
2 Pseudo-Christian Religions That Claim To Be Christian
Two of the fastest-knocking religious movements in the world insist they are Christian. Both send missionaries to your door. Both talk about Jesus, salvation, and the Bible. And both teach a Jesus the apostles would not recognize. That is what makes a religion pseudo-Christian, and it is why every church leader should be able to explain the difference.
A mysterious 'cold blob' in the ocean has puzzled scientists. A new study says it's an ominous sign
In the North Atlantic Ocean, south of Greenland and Iceland, a large patch of water is doing something very strange. While the rest of the ocean heats up, it’s been getting colder. A new study says it has the answer to this mystery — and it’s an ominous sign the world is hurtling toward one of the most alarming climate tipping points.
We think norms spread by imitation, but one deceptively simple rule tells a more human story
A paper appearing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers a strikingly simple answer to a longstanding question: How do people learn and settle on shared social conventions, from everyday habits to workplace norms? Researchers from the CUNY Graduate Center, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University have found that people do not primarily learn by copying others or by calculating the most likely choice. Instead, they follow a two-stage process—sampling behaviors at first, then committing once enough evidence accumulates.
Would you return a favor? Scientists say it depends on the relationship
When a friend buys you a cup of coffee, it's likely that next time, you'll return the gesture. This type of reciprocal generosity has been well-documented in behavioral economics studies. However, anthropologists and other social scientists have known for decades that in the context of relationships where one person has more power, status or influence, reciprocal generosity is usually not the norm.
5 Biblical Ways To Heal Broken Relationships in the Church
Every pastor eventually learns the same hard lesson. The people who wound you most in ministry are rarely strangers. They are close friends, board members, core group leaders, treasurers, and sometimes your own children. Broken relationships are not a sign that your ministry is failing. They come with the territory of ministry itself, and Scripture tells leaders to expect them.
To heal broken relationships in the church, Scripture gives a clear pattern: be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger (James 1:19-20). In practice, that means addressing conflict quickly, filtering anger through the gospel, talking face to face instead of over text, and owning your part in the breakdown.
Establishing A Daily Rhythm of Prayer
Although God certainly delights in our obedience, the various spiritual disciplines we are assigned in Scripture are not ways to please him by mechanically “doing spiritual things.”
This is one of the dangers of Prayer Book worship.Human psychology tricks can bypass AI safety guardrails
Artificial intelligence systems programmed to refuse harmful requests can be persuaded to break their own safety rules when prompted with classic psychological techniques. A recent study published in PNAS provides evidence that these models respond to human-like persuasion strategies, suggesting a hidden vulnerability in current safety protocols. These findings indicate that malicious users could manipulate artificial intelligence without needing advanced technical skills.
Leading OB-GYN group releases vaccine advice differing from CDC's
The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists published a vaccine schedule for pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding people on June 10, saying it was seeking to provide the public "reliable, evidence-based information on maternal immunizations."
"Changing national recommendations coupled with rampant vaccine misinformation are resulting in confusion for both patients and health care professionals," ACOG president Dr. Camille A. Clare said in a statement.
Thirteen other medical societies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the National Medical Association, endorsed the new schedule, which differs from the version released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year.
Want your children to keep the faith? Study points to 1 key factor
Amid ongoing discussions about religious participation among younger generations, a new study has found that children whose parents attended church weekly were more than twice as likely to attend church regularly as adults.
The study, “Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations,” released in June by the Institute for Family Studies and Communio, draws on data from four national studies involving thousands of Americans raised in religious households. Researchers examined which factors most effectively help children retain their faith into adulthood.
For years, reading struggles seemed obvious. This massive analysis points to a very different cause
For decades, the common explanation for why children struggle to read has stayed remarkably consistent. Smart kids read well. Kids who don't simply aren't smart enough. And when children strain over a page, the assumption has often been that something about how they see the text is getting in the way. By this logic, reading comes down to intelligence and visual processing.
Lunch shaming is happening in schools—what parents need to know
“Lunch shaming” is happening in schools, leaving some kids too anxious to eat in the cafeteria.
Traditionally, the term referred to schools publicly identifying students who could not afford meals.
But today, it has taken on a new meaning—one shaped by smartphones and social media.
Image Credit: St. Matthew's-in-the-Pines, Seale, AL (Episcopal Asset Map)
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