Rural Church Pastors Face Obstacles With Optimism
Life in rural America has its charms and challenges. Those who pastor in small towns across the United States recognize the trials inherent to those areas but believe God is working in their congregations and communities.
A Lifeway Research study of pastors in small towns and rural areas identified unique features of ministry in those places. The Center for Rural Ministry at Grove City College, The Rural Home Missionary Association and the Rural Church Institute at the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center sponsored the study.
“While national surveys of Protestant churches include rural churches, there has previously been very few national studies that focus on rural churches,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “These interviews with a probability sample of Protestant pastors provide an overview of ministry realities while also capturing what pastors find rewarding and difficult.”
Most rural church pastors are where they are, not specifically because it is a small town, but because their church happens to be there. Almost two in three (63%) say they feel called to ministry to their specific church that happens to be in a small town or rural area. Around a quarter (24%) do feel called to rural places. Fewer say they don’t sense a specific calling to ministry in that context (9%) or aren’t sure if they’re called in that way (5%).
Small town successes
Despite others’ perceptions of their ministries, pastors in rural areas see current ministry wins and are optimistic about the future.
Small-town pastors say success in their context often involves churchgoers making specific applications of their faith. More than nine in 10 say they consider it a ministry success when they look at their church and see members showing care (98%), broken relationships healed (94%), members consistently present (94%), members stepping into leadership (93%) and new commitments to Jesus Christ (93%).
Slightly fewer also point to becoming a trusted part of the town’s life (88%) and seeing attendance growth at the church (77%).
Most pastors, though perhaps not as many as would like, say they’re regularly experiencing each of these potential signs of success in their churches. Almost all (97%) say it’s a regular occurrence for them to see members showing care, while 90% say they see members consistently present.
Around four in five rural pastors (83%) say they’re becoming a trusted part of their town’s life. Close to three in four regularly see members in their congregation stepping into leadership (77%), broken relationships healed (77%) and new commitments to Christ (75%). Two in 3 (66%) say their congregation regularly experiences attendance growth.
“Since most rural communities are not growing, it’s harder for churches there to increase attendance. Yet 3 in 4 pastors still aim for attendance growth,” said McConnell. “Even more rural pastors aim for success in the spiritual growth of their congregations evidenced by their focus on salvations, care, forgiveness and serving.”
With these signs of success, it’s no wonder small-town pastors are optimistic. Almost nine in 10 (88%) expect their church to be stronger in 10 years, including 53% who strongly agree. Just 11% disagree, and 1% aren’t sure.
Attendance and budget also play a role in a pastor’s future expectations. Pastors at churches with fewer than 50 people in attendance are the most likely to disagree that their churches will be stronger in 10 years (24%). Those at churches with a budget of $300,000 or more are the most likely to agree (97%).
“The future outlook of most rural pastors for their churches is more positive than past statistics might support. Clearly, pastors in rural areas are putting their confidence in God’s capabilities rather than widespread trends,” said McConnell.
Effective rural ministry
In the past 12 months, the median rural congregation has seen five new commitments to Jesus Christ as Savior through their church. A few churches (13%) have not seen any new decisions recently. A third (33%) have seen from one to four commitments in the past year, while another third (32%) reports from five to 10. Less than a quarter (22%) say more than 10 people have made a new commitment to Jesus in the past 12 months at their church, including 10% who said 21 or more.
Evaluating based on new commitments per 100 attendees presents another data point that may better represent the effectiveness of a congregation. One in 4 churches (27%) had more than zero but less than five new responses. Around three in 10 (29%) saw five to 10 commitments. Another 3 in 10 (31%) say more than 10 people made a new decision, per 100 attendees at their church.
The new commitment numbers among small-town churches are slightly lower than the average U.S. Protestant church, according to a 2024 Lifeway Research study. Among all Protestant churches, 52% have seen at least 10 people indicate a new commitment to Jesus in the past 12 months.
“Change can happen more slowly in rural areas, but rural churches continue to be dedicated to reaching people in their communities with the gospel in hopes of lives being changed,” said McConnell. “New commitments to Jesus Christ reported by rural churches include both children of church members and people in the community who had not previously had faith.”
Rural pastors say their churches are trying several outreach activities to share the gospel with their communities. More than four in five say their church has tried members inviting people to church (92%), members sharing the gospel in conversations (84%) and serving people with food distribution, toy giveaways or helping in schools (81%).
Around three in four say their church conducted kids events such as an Easter egg hunt, fall festival or VBS (77%) and tried using social media or online ads (73%). Two in 3 (64%) tried conducting community events like cookouts, parenting classes or craft fairs. More than two in five (42%) conducted evangelism training. While 3% say another activity, fewer than 1% say they have not been able to do any of these recently.
As far as which ones are most effective, pastors are most likely to say conducting kids events (26%), church members inviting people (24%) and serving people with food distribution, toy giveaways or helping in schools (20%) have had the greatest evangelistic impact on their communities.
Personally, small-town pastors say they’re most likely to see evangelistic results from individual relationships. They say their greatest evangelistic impact comes from spending time one-on-one listening to people (23%), being present in people’s lives (17%) and building friendships over meals and activities together (17%). Pastors also point to preaching evangelistic sermons (16%), serving individuals by meeting practical needs (13%) and sharing seeds of truth that may emerge later (12%).
Rural pastors also believe the personal touch matters among their congregations, not just for reaching their communities. Around nine in 10 (89%) believe being present in people’s lives is more effective ministry than having good church programs, including 55% who strongly agree, while only 10% disagree and 2% are not sure.
Small town church challenges
Despite any optimism rural pastors have about the future or current success they’re seeing, they still recognize real issues that confront their ministries and congregations. Three in five (60%) say their church is currently challenged by developing and empowering lay leaders. Lifeway Research’s 2022 Greatest Needs of Pastors study found developing leaders and volunteers to be the top need for all U.S. Protestant pastors.
Half of small-town pastors (50%) say their church is struggling with resistance to change right now. Slightly fewer point to people being Christian in name but lacking real transformation (44%) and financial limitations (44%). Around a third (36%) say their congregation is inwardly focused. Around a quarter are facing relational difficulties among people in the congregation (27%) or distrust in the community due to past church mistakes (25%). One in five rural pastors (21%) say politics is creating division or given too much importance. Only 7% say none of these are an issue in their church.
“The focus of rural pastors is definitely on the spiritual growth of the individuals in their congregations. Pastors celebrate when they see their congregations showing the impact of Jesus Christ, and they lament when there is less spiritual movement and engagement,” said McConnell.
As many rural pastors say developing leaders is one of their challenges, 65% say they spend time each month developing lay leaders’ skills and experience. Still, most (53%) say they often feel like the congregation looks to them to do most of the church’s work.
But pastors agree they have someone else in the church who leads or helps significantly with many ministry areas, including caring for the needs of church members (87%), serving ministries in the community (83%), women’s ministry (82%), kids ministry (80%), adult small group Bible studies (72%), teen ministry (63%) and evangelism (61%). Just 1% of small church pastors say they don’t have someone helping in a significant way in any of these areas.
“While 99% of rural pastors describe lay people in their church with ministry responsibilities, it doesn’t mean they have enough leaders. Of the seven ministries listed, churches average five lay leaders. Either the pastor has to cover that work or the congregation lacks that ministry at their church,” said McConnell.
Beyond their congregational challenges, rural pastors say they face their own personal struggles within the ministry. Almost half (47%) say they are currently dealing with the weight of carrying other people’s pain. Around two in five are facing difficulty disengaging from work and ministry to relax and have fun (43%), exhaustion from over-commitment or overwork (40%), difficulty taking one day each week to get away from ministerial work and rest (39%) and feeling ineffective (38%). A quarter currently struggles with burnout (26%) and loneliness (26%). One in five (19%) say they aren’t facing any of these.
With these challenges, 99% of pastors say they currently invest in meaningful friendships with at least one other possible relationship. Around nine in 10 point to one or more adults in their church (92%), another pastor (88%) and one or more adults who live outside their community (87%).
Slightly more than four in five say they have close friends who are unbelievers in their community (83%) and a believer in their community who is not in their church (82%).
Small finances?
Despite 44% of rural pastors saying their church is being challenged by financial limitations, four in five (81%) say their congregation has the financial resources to support essential ministry, including 50% who strongly agree.
As these churches prepare their budgets, most pay their pastor to serve full-time. Around seven in 10 (71%) small-town pastors say they work full-time and earn their only income from their church.
Still, some are serving in non-full-time roles. Almost one in seven (15%) are part-time and only earn income from the church. One in 10 (9%) are bivocational. Fewer say they are a volunteer (4%) and earn no income from the church or interim (1%), temporarily serving until a new pastor is named.
Among those pastors who serve bivocationally or as volunteers, most work more than 20 hours in their other job. More than a quarter each say they work more than 40 hours (27%) and between 20-39 hours (27%). Fewer say they work less than 20 hours (20%), while 26% don’t work an outside job.
The predominant source of income for the families of rural pastors is the payment from the church. Nine in 10 (90%) say their family gets at least part of their income from compensation from their role at the church. Half (50%) have income from their spouses’ jobs. A third have money coming in from pension or retirement funds (33%). A quarter (26%) have income from a job or work outside the church. Few (4%) get money from funds raised from donors, while 1% say none of these.
“The attendance and budget of many rural churches would not suggest they could support a full-time pastor. Yet we see 7 in 10 rural churches making it work. This number likely would not be possible without spouses also working and 27% being at or near retirement age (age 65 and older),” said McConnell.
Rural area inspirations
Pastors in more rural areas say many things inspire them to serve in what some consider out-of-the-way places. Many of their inspirations are common across pastors in other areas, but some are unique to or more likely in small-town communities.
Nine in 10 rural pastors say they’re inspired to pastor in this context by seeing someone take a step toward Jesus (95%), seeing the potential to make a difference (92%), getting to preach God’s Word (92%), establishing long-term relationships (91%) and serving in their local community (91%).
Four in five say small-town church ministry inspires them because they are present for everyday activities in their community (81%) and they enjoy the pace of rural life (80%). Only 1% said none of these inspired them to pastor in a rural or small town.
“The role of being a pastor is not easy, and pastoring in a rural setting also has its challenges. But rural pastors find great delight in this work,” said McConnell. “Pastors enjoy the role they get to play in their churches and communities but also are inspired by what God does in individuals’ lives.”
For more information, view the complete quantitative and qualitative reports.
Aaron Earls is the senior writer at Lifeway Research.