Brent Lacy grew up on 160 acres of corn, soybeans, and cattle in Southern Illinois. He has spent his ministry in rural communities. He has made the mistakes this guide is designed to help you avoid. What follows is the honest version of what year one in a rural church actually looks like, and what to do about it.
What Nobody Tells You Before You Arrive
The Community Has a History You Do Not Know
Every rural community has a history that shapes how people respond to you. Old conflicts. Previous pastors who left badly. Families that have not spoken in years. Decisions that were made decades ago that still affect the church today. You do not know any of this when you arrive. The community does.
Your first job is not to lead. It is to listen. Spend your first year learning the history before you try to change anything. The pastor who arrives with a vision and starts implementing it in month three will almost certainly create conflict he does not understand and cannot navigate.
Trust Is Earned in Years, Not Months
In a rural community, trust is not given. It is earned over time through consistent presence, reliable follow-through, and demonstrated care. The pastor who has been in the community for five years has a level of trust that the pastor who has been there for five months cannot replicate, regardless of how gifted he is.
This is not a problem to solve. It is a reality to accept. Your job in year one is to begin earning trust, not to have it.
the typical time required to build genuine trust in a rural community
is for listening, learning, and building relationships, not implementing vision
is the most important thing you can offer in your first year
The Congregation Will Test You
Not maliciously. But they will watch how you handle conflict, how you respond to criticism, how you treat people who disagree with you, and how you behave when you think nobody is watching. In a small community, somebody is always watching.
The pastor who passes these tests, who handles difficulty with grace and consistency, will earn trust faster than the pastor who performs well on Sunday but struggles in the harder moments.
What to Do First
Learn Names
Learn the names of every person in your congregation and every person in the community you interact with regularly. Not just first names. Full names. Family connections. Who is related to whom. This is not a small thing in a rural community. Knowing someone’s name communicates that they matter to you.
Show Up
Attend the school events. Eat at the local diner. Stop by the feed store. Go to the county fair. Show up at community events. Be present in the community’s life before you ask the community to be present in yours. This is the foundation of the theology of presence that underlies effective rural ministry.
Listen More Than You Talk
Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Ask follow-up questions. Resist the urge to share your vision, your ideas, or your experience. In year one, your job is to understand the community, not to improve it.
Preach the Word Faithfully
This is the one thing you should do with full confidence from day one. Preach the text. Be faithful to Scripture. Do not try to be clever or impressive. Just preach the Word honestly and consistently. Over time, this is what will matter most.
Not to the worship style. Not to the order of service. Not to the budget. Not to the leadership structure. Learn the reasons things are the way they are before you decide they need to change. Some of those reasons are good. Some are not. But you cannot tell the difference until you understand the history.
What to Avoid
- Criticizing the previous pastor. Even if he left badly. Even if the congregation criticizes him. You do not know the full story, and criticizing him will make people wonder what you will say about them when you leave.
- Taking sides in existing conflicts. You do not know enough yet to know whose side is right. Stay neutral until you understand the full picture.
- Making promises you cannot keep. Rural communities have long memories. A promise broken in year one will be remembered in year ten.
- Neglecting your family. The pressure to prove yourself in a new community can lead to overwork. Your family is watching how you handle this transition. So is the congregation.
- Comparing your church to your previous church. “At my last church, we did it this way” is one of the fastest ways to lose the trust of a rural congregation.
Surviving the Hard Moments
Year one will have hard moments. A conflict you did not see coming. A family that leaves. A decision that goes badly. A sermon that lands wrong. These are not signs that you are in the wrong place. They are part of the process of becoming a pastor to this specific community.
When the hard moments come:
- Do not make major decisions in the middle of a crisis
- Call a trusted mentor or peer before you do anything significant
- Give yourself permission to not have all the answers
- Remember that the congregation is also figuring out who you are
For more on rural ministry from someone who has lived it, read Brent’s book Rural Youth Ministry. And for ongoing research and analysis of rural ministry realities, visit the Rural Think Tank.
Year one is hard. Year two is better. Year five is when you start to understand what you are actually doing. Stay. Learn. Serve. The community you are entering needs what you have to offer, even if it takes a while for both of you to figure that out.