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Along with Trudi Downer (Molt) and Illa Dee Talcott (Broadus) from our Conference, I have been attending the virtual monthly meetings of the Rural Church Coalition of the UCC; the coalition is seeking to gain recognition as a unique group by General Synod in 2025, and they have already begun forming organizing documents and leadership roles in order to be so designated. They have begun to call themselves STAR churches, meaning Small Town and Rural churches.
The US Census describes “rural” as towns under 2500 people, or fewer than 1000 people per square mile. Most of our churches are located in towns larger than 2500 people, and yet the population density of the surrounding county puts approximately ⅔ of our congregations in rural settings. These STAR churches are vital to their areas, and they are all doing fantastic ministry. [note: 7 of our 26 churches are in the 6 largest cities of Montana: Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman, Butte, and Helena]
Those of us attending these meetings have received some things I’d like to pass on to you. The first is an article about rural church building usage that sees hope in churches as community gathering centers. The second is from the latest meeting this week, in which we heard from a Faith Formation leader in the Southern New England Conference, Debbie Gline-Allen about multi-generational. In many places it is difficult to mount the ongoing leadership needed for children’s faith formation (Sunday school, youth groups, etc). So what to do with children and their parents who come to church?
Gline-Allen is a proponent of warmly welcoming kids and keeping kids in worship. There have been long-term studies that suggest that children who stay in worship will have deeper life-long faith and congregational participation than those who leave worship for Sunday school. There are also studies that show that multi-sensory worship helps to engage the youngest (and even the elders!) among us. Gline-Allen has curated a treasure trove of resources for intergenerational worship here, and she highly recommends the work of clinical psychologist, Lisa Miller, who has studied the effects of spirituality on mental health for all ages.
We are similar to the rest of the denomination in that approximately ⅔ of our congregations are STAR churches. Sometimes it feels like our denomination is overly focused on our urban or larger churches, and this coalition seeks to draw our attention to the unique needs or rural areas, like how calving, lambing, and harvesting seasons affects the life of a congregation, how limited access to good
WiFi and cellular service affects communication, and how distance affects a rural community. I am glad that our Small Town and Rural churches are seeking recognition and representation in our denomination.
Please pray for our 19 churches and pastors serving these small towns and rural areas: Absarokee, Baker, Ballantine, Big Timber, Broadus, Buffalo, Colstrip, Columbus, Custer, Fairfield, Glendive, Hardin, Miles City, Molt, Red Lodge, Savage, Sheridan, Sidney, and Worden.
Peace,
Pastor Tony
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