Rural Church Ministry: Agrarian vs Business Thinking

Throughout the course, Pastor McVey will contrast what he calls “agrarian” ways of thinking with the more “business” way of thinking that is more typical of larger and more urban churches. Agrarian refers to the country, especially farm country. The vast “middle” of America. He will also point out in lesson 5 that individuals in a rural community may have different backgrounds and thus be on a spectrum between the two rather than being either one or the other in their thinking.

In this lesson in particular, he emphasizes the more family orientation of a rural church rather than the more task and professional orientation of many larger churches. As we’ll see later in this lesson, a rural congregation is more interested in your belonging to the family than your credentials or qualifications. They are more interested in your loyalty than your effectiveness at reaching strategic goals.

As we dig deeper into this course, here are just a few of the potential contrasts between the way an agrarian congregation might think and the more business-orientation of a larger city congregation:

Relational vs. Professional

Later in this lesson we will explore this dynamic further. Pastor McVey talks in the video about how he did not introduce a new staff person in terms of his professional qualifications but in terms of his relationship with the current pastor. This introduced him as someone in the family rather than a stranger who might “think he is better than everyone else.”

Generalist vs. Specialist

In the next lesson, Pastor McVey will highlight the fact that a small church pastor often has to wear many hats. He or she may have to lead the singing, make the coffee, mow the lawn, and clean the sanctuary. Few smaller congregations have staff who specialize in worship, visitation, youth, or children. The pastor may have to perform multiple functions, depending on who is there to volunteer.

Concrete vs. Abstract

In the next lesson, Pastor McVey will also emphasize the “hands-on” nature of pastoring in the country. You may know the long-standing joke that a pastor only works one hour a week. On the one hand, Pastor McVey emphasizes that you should see this joke as a positive – if the congregation is joking with you, you’re part of the family. But it also reflects the concrete orientation of a country church. Its people may largely work with their hands. If something goes wrong in the church, they fix it themselves. They are generally more doers than thinkers.

Cyclical vs. Linear

Pastor McVey notes that a more business oriented church will operate and think more linearly. You meet in a boardroom. You set strategic goals. You identify the tactics needed to get to those goals. You allot resources. You move forward with outcomes in view. Rural thinking is much more cyclical. You formulate decisions together in smaller relational settings. Then you wait for the right season to enact them.

Adaptive vs. Strategic

Related to the previous point, rural settings have to be adaptive because you never know exactly what nature is going to throw at you. You have to save for an unexpected disaster, for example. You have to plant and harvest when the weather is right for planting and harvesting. Your thinking is more responsive than strategic. You don’t simply put tactics on a date on the calendar. You ready yourself for the right moment.

These are just a few of the ways in which rural thinking and a more business way of thinking might differ. Throughout the course, Pastor McVey will explore some of these differences in paradigm in greater detail.