Small towns are a lot like cars. When maintained properly, they can last for years. The trick with cars is to give proper attention to each moving part at the right time. It is to see the needs of the vehicle and be proactive in meeting those needs. It is also important to make sure too much attention is not given to one area over another. To give you a mental picture, imagine pouring engine oil into the car until it overflows into a puddle on the floor, ignoring a flat tire while oil cascades down the driveway, wasted.

Like cars, small towns are made up of dozens of moving parts. Local businesses, non-profits, community recreational entities, and school systems all operate and overlap simultaneously. In the midst of this complex web of community elements, we find rural churches and rural youth ministries, which can often feel overwhelmed or unsure of how to best impact students. In this part of our rural youth ministry series, I want to address how to properly care for our small towns, how to look at the whole picture of our various rural communities and find which spot needs attention. In doing so, I hope our youth ministries can succeed in reaching students by meeting real needs in their communities.

If you fit the profile of most rural volunteers or paid youth staff I have met, you frequently juggle several obligations, family needs, jobs, titles, roles, and functions within your small town. You may find yourself having limited nights to spend doing youth ministry while you are busy working with the PTA, or sitting on local boards, or doing half a dozen other tasks that are integral to small town life. Upon moving to my small community of 1,700 people, I distinctly remember wondering how I was going to handle having so much extra time on my hands. Not long after that, I unintentionally found myself with more to do than I could have imagined and had little time to spare.

In the midst of this rural hustle and bustle, one question then becomes paramount: How do we best reach the students of our community? There are often not enough resources to spare to allow the task to be done inefficiently, and not enough energy to justify trying every new strategy or doing endless events in an attempt to reach people. In addition to this strain on resources, it can be incredibly overwhelming to contemplate doing more, leading to a bit of resignation as we wrestle with our limitations or abilities to minister to students. Another common temptation is to settle for “good enough”, and while we may be accomplishing something, we can often miss out on greater impact.

In the interest of keeping things practical, I want to focus on a few principles of car maintenance that will also keep our ministries running well, and will help us be a working and contributing part of our greater community.

1) Do some scheduled maintenance.

We know that cars require scheduled maintenance (regular oil checks, tire checks, and certain parts that need replaced every 50,000 miles or so), and sudden maintenance, which arises when something breaks. While both are important, for the sake of planning, it is easier to focus on scheduled maintenance than it is to predict problems.

That said, I think many of us need to analyze our small town. Let’s look at the whole picture, and figure out which part needs more attention. Often, small towns are doing many things exceptionally well, and as “part of the team”, we have the opportunity to find areas people are not already taking care of. You may find that sports programs and local scout troops are handling after school activities pretty well. You may discover that your town’s businesses have partnered to handle homecoming week at the high school. You may notice that the schools and a few non-profits are working quietly in the background to produce scholarships for students.

In the course of your analysis, you may also find that no one is partnering with the school on an after-prom party for students, or that no one is helping teens and families with basic needs. You might discover that many students need tutoring and there is no one around to provide a consistent service. You may learn that there is a shortage of substitute teachers that are able to personally step in and help address this need. Getting the whole picture of our town helps us see gaps. These gaps become tangible ways we can meet needs in our communities, which then become opportunities to reach students with the gospel.

2) Figure out what needs the most attention.

We hope this is never the case, but sometimes cars have multiple needs, with multiple lights flashing on the dash highlighting areas of need. Sometimes, it is best to figure out what needs the most attention and do that first. In the same way, after we have identified needs in our community, we begin the process of figuring out which one is the most important for us and our youth ministry to tackle. Jesus had a knack for this. He lived His life with an awareness of the big picture of humanity’s greatest needs, but frequently moved from town to town and person to person by listening to the Father’s specific leading. Mark 1:35-39 describes one such moment where Jesus withdrew, prayed, and followed God’s leading in how to best meet the needs around Him and fulfill God’s will for His life. In the same way, we must become intimately acquainted with prayer in order to clearly see how to proceed.

3) Get the job done!

Once we have a clear understanding of an issue, and a specific direction on what area to tackle first, our next job is to get it done! When working on cars, there are definite moments where a “one-hour job” turns into a whole afternoon of frustrated trips to an auto parts store or many false starts that create a sense of frustration. However, getting the car running and keeping it running is a big enough motivator to navigate the frustration. The main questions are: What do we need to do to get the job done? What resources do we need to gather? Whose wisdom do we need to lean on? How willing are we to keep trying even with a couple setbacks? Is the need big enough to demand your time and effort? The answers to these questions are key in determining how we will do youth ministry successfully in our communities.

Small towns are a lot like cars. They have a lot of moving parts that demand attention. Instead of covering an area that is already being maintained or spending our energy on areas where needs are being met, we can better utilize our limited time and resources by finding an unmet need and filling it. Meeting one community need effectively opens the door for new relationships with students. These relationships then provide open doors for the gospel. It is my hope that by taking care of one overlooked area in our communities, we can have a greater impact on students in the long run.

To read part one of Joe Epley’s series, “Principles for Rural Youth Ministry” click here: “Principles for Rural Youth Ministry: Making Blind Eyes See.” For part three, “Principles for Rural Youth Ministry: Crab Claws and Candy Ships.”

The post Principles for Rural Youth Ministry Part 2: See a Need, Meet a Need appeared first on Rural Advancement.

by Hope Mayes

A woman nine months pregnant, kicked out of her house by her husband, had almost no belongings, and baby arriving soon. Feeling hopeless and alone, she surprised New Life Assembly of God by stumbling into the building of what would soon become the Woodstock Hope Center. Upon seeing her situation and the opportunity to show the woman she was welcome and loved, the lead Pastor Chad Payne and church volunteers packed her car with a baby crib, play place, car seat, diapers, baby clothing and food. As she drove away, they thought this act of compassion would not change her life forever, but it would give her threads of hope.

Threads of Hope in the Form of Community

Right at the top of the second poorest county in Alabama lies a unique church, equipped with creative vision and eyes that see through the lens of hope. New Life Assembly of God, led by pastor Chad Payne in Woodstock, lives out their motto “healing for your past, hope for your future” with every person that stumbles into their church. However, in the twenty years Pastor Chad has pastored at New Life, he learned the importance of knowing he pastors every person that walks into his church, and every member of the community as well.

 “It’s an essential and key component to see yourself as pastoring the community and not just the church” – Pastor Chad Payne

Pastor Chad has intentionally spent significant amounts of time “being present in the community,” representing the church in the restaurants and marketplace, and becoming acquainted with the people, culture and changing needs of Woodstock and the surrounding area. Payne finds it amazing what opportunities open up when “spending a lot of time being seen in the community.” Because of this, New Life has stayed attentive and addressed the essential needs with doses of hope prescribed specifically for the community’s symptoms.

Threads of Hope in Unique Forms

By adopting this mindset, New Life has begun to imagine new ideas for their small town! They have started to ask questions such as, “How can our church make a difference in the community?” and “What about our church would make the community sad if it went away?”

As a response to these queries, New Life has developed the Woodstock Hope Center, which provides hope to many foster families and individuals in hardship situations. In partnership with the Department of Human Resources, the Hope Center has already made available essential provisions, groceries, and clothing to foster families. Even before the grand opening in April 2020, the Woodstock Hope Center lived up to its tagline, where hope comes alive, by helping over two dozen foster families.

In order to address more needs unique in their community, God provided a 15 ½ acre property directly behind the church to be creatively used for ministry purposes! On one end, Pastor Chad plans to construct a fully functioning park with a softball field, walking track, picnic tables and much more. On the opposite end, Pastor Chad hopes to fill with tiny homes for senior citizens. The goal provides smaller homes for senior citizens to stay near the church and receive needed help rather than moving to an assisted living facility.

These solutions fulfill needs and place their church as a central hub within the community. Pastor Chad and his church have seen this building plan as an opportunity to build relationships with people who join from all around their area of Alabama and become a witness with their words and love for community.

 “Everywhere I go in the community I treat every person like they are the most important person in my life at the moment… If I can communicate to each person that they are valuable, if I don’t treat them like a counselor or something like that, but if I treat them as a friend and if I try to encourage them, it’s so much more effective in bringing out the best in people” – Pastor Chad Payne

If the Church takes the attitude of communicating to every person they encounter that they are wanted, valuable, and that someone believes in them, hope catches like a wildfire.

Threads of Hope That Endures

Pastoring the whole community, imagining what can be, and treating every person with importance remains the culture New Life exhibits in Woodstock, Alabama. New Life has made the most impact by involving themselves in their community and finding essential elements for their unique area and people. This proved more effective than trying to emulate a big city church in a small community.

 “When you take that approach, then the possibilities in your community are endless. There’s so much we can invest in. Whether the church grows numerically or not, we can still make a big difference in the community” – Pastor Chad Payne

Pastor Chad and New Life Assembly of God represent true testimonies that God’s people must take the attitude of relational service in all they do. Then ministry matches the needs of the community around them and quickly finds areas in which to invest resources, time, and love. Discover ways to communicate and deliver hope to the people around you, the options are endless.

Reflective Engagement:

1. How can you and your church get creatively administer of hope to the people and community?
2. What unique needs occur in your community?
3. How does ‘pastoring the whole community’ look in your ministry?
4. What does ‘treating every person as important’ change?
5. What new creative idea can you imagine?

Click here to read Senior Pastor Chad Payne’s recount of his battle with cancer while in a pastoral role.

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