Foothills Reformed
Revitalizing rural ministry, and making the church the church again.
Rural Christianity is Having a Crisis
It’s often assumed that Christianity is doing great in rural areas, while it has struggled and been suppressed in the cities. In reality, it’s precisely the other way around. In the city of Cincinnati (our largest nearby city), 3 in 5 people are adherents of some Christian church. Out in Adams County, the rural county where our church plant is, that number has crashed to a startling 1 in 5.
1. What happened, and why is no one talking about it?
The vast bulk of recent church planting literature is oriented toward cities and suburbs. There’s no money in planting rural churches, ceilings for attendance are low, seminary-trained ministers consistently view country folk with contempt (even if they’re smart enough not to say it), and even urban and suburban churches do not have enough pastors to fill the pulpits. Why would anyone go out to the country, when the fires we have in the high-density areas are more than enough for us?
All the incentives push in one way - toward the cities. And we need to push back.
2. Addressing the crisis
Not only did we launch a church plant in one of these rural areas, but we’re committed to bringing the conversation to a wider audience. A huge part of the crisis is that the cities and suburbs are resource and personnel rich, while the rural church is starving on both fronts. Part of the path in pushing back the crisis requires rural churches partnering with urban and suburban churches, and we’d like to build those relationships.
3. More than a newsletter
This publication won’t be a list of updates for our church folk. We’re going to be putting out content that is intended to argue the point to anyone who sees the crisis clearly. We’ve been putting out articles monthly, and will be ramping that up, but we’ll also be posting sermons and podcasts that address the issue as well. Sermons will be up weekly, and the podcast should be launching soon.
4. No paywalls
The gospel is free, and we should be free in declaring it. We promise that none of our content will be hidden behind paywalls, either now or in the future. If you’d like to support the work, you can give to us through the church’s website here.
P.S. - we just got pews! Come break them in on Sunday, if you’re in the area
5. Reason for hope
When I got out to Adams County, I was stunned by how different it was from my expectations. Folks are turning away from the church in droves, and the churches themselves are slowly falling apart. However, I’ve also discovered that people are hungry for biblical preaching and the courage to confront the issues of the day without apologizing for God’s truth. Our church plant hasn’t done anything flashy or gimmicky, we don’t have any big names or budgets, we sing old psalms and hymns, and we don’t even have our own building yet. Despite that (or perhaps because of it), God keeps sending us people who are looking for the Word of God, preached simply and clearly. We have nothing to offer other than Christ, and perhaps that’s exactly where we should be.