Lasting Principles for Rual Churches

Purpose Driven: Lasting principles for rural churches by Doug Boyer

Every now and then, I hear someone argue that the purpose driven church process is simply an attempt to create Saddleback clones. As the senior pastor of a church that has transitioned to the purpose driven philosophy, I bristle with that assessment. One of the beauties of the PDC process is how transferable it is regardless of the setting -- urban or rural, white or blue collar, mega church or small church. That’s because the entire process is built on lasting principles, not temporary strategies.

I’ve experienced this firsthand. When I came to Christ Church 10 years ago, it was an ingrown family church of about 175 people. It had plateaued at that level for about five years, and the church needed to rediscover its purpose. We now average 650 people in two services each Sunday morning, and we’re planning to plant a daughter church in September 2005. Almost half that growth has come from conversions.

What’s exciting to me is that this isn’t happening in Southern California or suburban Chicago but in rural Pennsylvania. Our church is literally in the middle of a corn field just outside Strausstown -- population 350. Transitioning to the purpose driven philosophy has been key to the health and growth we have experienced. But we’re definitely not a mini-Saddleback.

Here are some things I have learned to become a purpose driven church in a rural setting:

Know your culture

The second step is to understand the spiritual culture of your area. Are they churched or unchurched? Conservative or liberal? Take the spiritual temperature of your community. For example, most people in our community would call themselves Christians -- but few truly are born again. They’re not unchurched per se; I call them underchurched.

They’re cultural Christians without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ or any meaningful connection to a local church. They may have been baptized as babies, but haven’t walked through a church door in 30 years.

This makes a tremendous difference in how we approach our community. Many hunger for God and his Word but perceive church as a religious ritual. Knowing this, we focus on helping people discover that Christianity is a relationship, not a ritual -- which has led many to saving faith in Christ.

Train your leaders

I finally gave up trying to teach during the elders meeting and devised a new plan. We carved out Wednesday nights in the summer months as a study time to work through The Purpose Driven Church . We read the chapters and discussed them in an informal setting where no agenda had to be worked through and no decisions faced us. The slow yet steady exposure enabled us to adopt the philosophy -- and produced tremendous board unity in the process.

Challenge your people

One way we did this was by placing a white rose in a vase in front of the church each time someone came to Christ. This put the value of evangelism front and center (literally). Each time we add a rose, people applaud. I’ve had people tell me how they wait each Sunday to see if any new roses are added.

We also challenged our people to be friendly and outgoing to visitors. Ingrown family churches tend to be friendly to one another but not to "outsiders." Repeatedly communicate the value of welcoming new people into the church. Make sure you model this yourself. Be the most friendly, outgoing person in the church. People are more likely to do what they see than what they hear.

Expand your focus

Take your time Rome wasn’t built in a day -- but it sure burned down fast! Things in rural areas tend to change slowly, so don’t buck the trend. If you try to build a purpose driven church, don’t expect earth-shattering changes the first month -- or the first year. It may take three to five years just to get people on board with the new philosophy of ministry. If you force it too quickly, your next phone call may be to U-Haul.

Commit yourself to long-term ministry; implement change slowly, and communicate profusely. I’ve learned to introduce what and why we need to change, slowly implement it, and then let it settle in. Give people time to adjust to the change before you make another one. As people begin to trust your leadership and become acclimated to change, you can begin to change more things more quickly.

Being a purpose driven church does not mean becoming a mini-Saddleback. It means adapting biblical principles of health to your church context. You can lead your rural church to be a purpose driven church --even if you’re name isn’t Rick!

-Purpose-Driven-^®
Recommended resources:

2005 Purpose Driven Church Conference
: May 17-20 at Saddleback Church.

The Purpose Driven Church Conference on DVD

Transitioning

(Zondervan, 2002) by Dan Southerland: This book describes an eight step process for leading change in the church. It is taken from the book of Nehemiah and from Dan's experience at Flamingo Road. Dan and his team have taught this Transition process to over 30,000 church leaders world wide in the past four years. They teach it annually at the PDC Conference at Saddleback.

, Bethel, Penn. Contact him at Doug@christefc.net

In many rural areas, people are clustered in small towns with homes and farms scattered in between. Look beyond your local town limits to the surrounding towns and areas. Consider sending mass mailings throughout your region. We send out a bimonthly paper to more than 12,000 people in 14 different zip codes. This regional exposure enables us to expand our outreach beyond our small town of 350. Help your people catch the vision of reaching your region or county for Christ. The third key to transitioning a rural church to PDC philosophy is to challenge your people with a passion for evangelism and outreach. Personalize it: Let them see and feel the need to reach their neighbors, friends, and family members who don’t know Christ. Set the standard that conversions are not a unique occurrence but a regular experience for a healthy church. Gather your leaders and work through the Purpose Driven process together. Carve out a specific time for reflection and study. Don’t train during your regular elders' meetings. I discovered this doesn’t work for several reasons. One, the study was always viewed as "the preliminaries" before the real meeting, and the elders’ minds were not engaged. Second, time pressures ensured we could not engage in any meaningful discussions. We had an agenda staring at us and only a couple of hours to get through it. Third, because elder meetings are decision oriented, the teaching time began to feel like something we needed to decide on rather than a philosophy to understand and embody. The first step in transitioning a rural church to PDC philosophy is to know the culture around you. Every church, town, and region possesses its own unique values and distinctives. Begin by understanding the ethnic subculture of your area. Most rural areas have clear ethnic roots. For example, our church is located in Pennsylvania Dutch country -- people who trace their roots back to German immigrants who settled the land more than 200 years ago. They tend to be reserved, conservative, and financially very frugal. However, just north of us is a coal mining region with a Polish and Ukrainian cultural background. Understanding your ethnic subculture is key to building bridges with people.