“If you want to be truly successful, you plant a church in the city.”
“Rural churches can only afford the leftovers from the leadership pool.”
When pastor Shannon O’Dell felt a calling to a small country congregation, he wondered what he was in for. Listen as he joins guest host Bill Arnold and shares what he’s learned about the blessings and challenges of the rural church.
Here are some of the things Shannon learned:
• The country is the most over-churched, unreached people group in America.
• People love their traditions.
• Learn to laugh at the challenges while trusting God to provide. Shannon shares his early experiences.
“We had a deaf organist, we had no children’s space, we didn’t have a sound man… we had $883 dollars per week in our giving. Even eight years later with hundreds attending and multiple campuses – even today, we’re believing God for a miracle. If you’ll just be passionate about what He is passionate about, He will grow your church.”
• Sometimes effectiveness means change.
“People are always excited about reaching people for Christ until you’re reaching people for Christ. And then the changes have to come.”
• The vision of the church – to bring people to Christ – will hold people together over generational, cultural, and musical differences.
• Small doesn’t have to mean boring.
• Rural doesn’t have to mean a lack of innovation.
• People aren’t drawn to a facility but to authenticity and the truth of the gospel.
• Many will tell you you can’t do something because of the location of the church, but, in Shannon’s words, citing the example of Nehemiah, “keep a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other, and build an effective order. Don’t be discouraged with the naysayers and those who are trying to pull you off the wall.”
Shannon’s book is Transforming Church in Rural America: Breaking All the Rurals.
Key Scriptures: Proverbs 3:5-6
Featured Songs: Amen by Chris August; Strength of My Heart by Rend Collective; Glorious Unfolding by Steven Curtis Chapman
