What's Your Reason for Renewal?

Hosts: TJ Freeman, Joe Wagner, & Josh MacClaren

Summary: In this episode of Rural Church Renewal, TJ and his fellow pastor friends, Joe and Josh, dive into the crucial role rural churches play in God's mission. They discuss how God's Word, from Genesis to Revelation, underscores the importance of these small congregations in spreading His glory across the earth. Despite the challenges, rural church ministry is crucial because each church is a locale for God's presence with his gathered people. They encourage pastors and church members to see their efforts as part of a divine mandate to represent God's glory, even in the 'middle of nowhere.'

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Transcript

Rural ministry is not easy, but you know that. Some days it feels like the church is thriving. You have neighbors coming together. You see transformation happening in people's lives, and it just feels like God's presence is right there with you. But then there are the hard days when you look out and all you see is empty pews.

The budget is tight, and there's that nagging feeling that maybe small towns are being left behind. So why does it matter? Why should you keep pouring yourself into a rural place that so many people overlook? Well, the answer isn't found in numbers or in programs. It is found in God's Word. Today, we're unpacking why the rural church is central.

To God's mission and how a thriving church in the middle of nowhere can bring glory to God everywhere.

Well, hello and welcome to rural church renewal. My name is TJ Freeman. I'm a rural pastor and I am joined by my friends today. Hey everybody, that's Josh over there. Hi guys. Go ahead, Joe. Who are you? Tell us about yourself. I'm a pastor in a rural place. Who are you? I'm a pastor in a rural place too.

My name is Joe. I've been in rural ministry for almost 20 years, but more specifically like 17 and a half. I'm an associate pastor here at Christ Church in Wellsboro. Great. And this is a podcast produced by the Brainerd Institute for Rural Ministry. where we equip the saints to lead healthy rural churches.

We're glad you're with us. In this season, we are talking about the sufficiency of scripture and we thought, hey, What better place to start than with why the church matters According to God's Word? And did you know that the rural church is right there in the pages of Scripture? Really? Yeah, where could we go to find the rural church?

I think we should probably start at the beginning very best place to start All right Genesis 1 26 God said let us make man in our image after our likeness Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heavens over the livestock over all the earth over every Creeping thing that creeps on the earth So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him.

Male and female He created them, and then God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves. What in the world does that have to do with the rural church?

Obviously it talks about birds and trees. Oh, there you go. Amen. That's a connection. Nature, you know. Nature. No. I think we see that God has this cultural mandate for Adam and Eve to multiply and to fill the earth. And the question we need to ask is why would God want image bearers to fill the entire earth?

Why not have them just sit in one place like the garden? Yes, that's a great question because of Habakkuk 2. Which says? I did say all of Habakkuk, but my throat Hebrew. Habakkuk 2:14 tells us that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. So I've never been out in the ocean and found any part of it not to have water. I know there's islands, but that's not the point. The island isn't sea. Every part that sea is covered in water, and the earth is meant to be covered Covered in the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

So let's break it down a little bit. There's a lot of stuff around you, especially in a rural place that glorifies the Lord. Joe, What have you been seeing as you've sat in the woods lately that has been glorifying to the Lord? Lots of squirrels and chickadees. Sound like deer chomping through the woods, but It's God's creation, it's out there, it's a beautiful thing. That you're sitting there, even in the clouds rolling by, the sun that pokes his head out there a little bit, or the fluffy little snowflakes that come down, it's God's creation. It's amazing, it's glorious. That covers the entire world.

So the job is done? No. No, no, no. Not at all. Could there be something more? Could there be something that glorifies and represents God greater? Real question, Romans 1, doesn't nature do enough? No. What does it do? It does enough to reveal that there is a God, and that we can know that he exists, and we can know his Eternal power and character, but it's not sufficient.

So nature makes a substantial statement. Yeah. About God. When you sat out there listening to the chickadees and cursing the squirrels. I didn't curse the squirrels, I only cursed once when I cut my finger. Okay, I thought about shooting him when my 30 out six. Yeah, well, you know when you behold the wonders of the snowflake falling and all of that fun stuff, You are in a sense bringing glory to God, As a human, as well, because you're in awe of what he's made.

So there's a sense there, but I think Josh, you're getting at something even deeper. Yeah. Going back to this original mandate, why does God want image bearers? It's because they're unique and really the pinnacle of his creation. In that we are able to do something that creation, animals, plants are not able to do.

And that is represent God where we are. So we need believers in churches where the chickadees and the squirrels and the occasional deer are. Well you skipped a step. Wait, actually I think he makes a good point. Oh, okay. You make a good point in the fact that having humans be in the same place as squirrels.

Makes the place more beautiful than with just the squirrels. That's exactly what I was driving at. Yeah. Which, because we're made in God's image. Yeah. And given his dominion. So what'd we skip, Josh? And you were gonna subdue them with your 30 06. Yeah, amen, brother. Yeah. Well, we missed the fact that, man fails, right?

Adam and Eve. Adam, as our first representative and first father, fails. Fails to spread? Fails, well, first to, Seek God's own glory and he seeks his own by doing what God told him not to. They made a city. Terrible representative. That does happen. Yeah, you want to pick up that thread?

I do. Prior to making the city, though, We see that man has rejected the spread of god's glory, because he's pursuing something else. And in genesis six. Six. God actually Indicates that the earth is filled with something. So like it feels like mission accomplished. The earth is filled, but not with his glory. It's filled with violence and wickedness.

As man has spread, he's spread more like a cancer, than something beautiful. Sorry, I know you don't like the C word. And so God then decreates. He wipes everything out through the flood. Recreates, and we would think, maybe there's something better than man that could bring God glory. There's surely other plan B.

But when Noah gets off the ark, the first thing God says to him. With the squirrels and jiggadees. All of them in tow. Before he even, He restates the mandate that we saw in Genesis 1 to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. So God's plan A has never changed. He still wants to fill the earth with image bearing, dominion exercising, God glory giving people.

And what happens at Genesis 11? They build a city! They don't disperse. They build a city! Yeah, they build a city. On rock and roll. And bitumen. Well done, my brother! Yeah. So, yeah, they decide. They actually say, We're gonna make a name for ourselves.

That should be red flag warning. They're supposed to make a name for God, and they're gonna do it by staying put. Instead of spreading out so that completely flies in the face of what God told him to do. I always thought the problem with the tower was just that they were worshiping the tower or something I didn't really understand that they were rejecting the whole reason they were created by building this city here. And so to bring that back around to the rural churches and the people that we're talking to in those rural churches. Well, God comes down in that moment, and he sees this tower that they've built in this city, and they, he says, I'm gonna confuse the language.

And again, I thought, oh great, that's why we have different languages. But then it tells us twice after that why God confused the language. So that mankind would have to spread out over the face of the earth. So they're going to be scattered because of that. So the intervention of God is not just to scold them for building a tower in their own name.

It's to ensure that mankind continues to spread over the whole face of the earth in his name. Right. And we know that. Because of the effect of sin, God then brings about his plan of redemption through the person and work of Christ. He redeems his people and he redeems them to make his name known, like in Matthew 28, we're called to make disciples of all nations. And then in Acts 2 we see a reversal of Babel, in that the language is redeemed now to make Representatives where they once were not. So even though man is spread out over the world after Genesis 11, It's still not done, because They're not doing so in the name of the Lord.

They're not doing so for his glory. Well, let me put it this way. Brother Pastor, Brother Deacon, Brother Elder, Sister Piano Player, you might feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere, but you're actually right where God wants you to be. Yes, because God wants his name to be made known through image bearing, dominion exercising Christians, gathered in your community.

So you actually, Have an understated purpose. And rural sometimes feels like yeah I just live out in the middle of nowhere. We minimize the value of rural. We call it the middle of nowhere. We tell people I live in a place you've never heard of. I'm not even gonna bother trying to explain it. And that's wrong, Because God created that place for his glory and he's put you there as a demonstration of it. But there's a even brighter form of God's glory.

We had Creation, we had man, but there's something that testifies to the glory of God even more. I think you're going to Ephesians 3:10. Is that is that correct? Sounds biblical. Yeah, I think Paul talks about the fact that he's been given this ministry to the Gentiles, So that God's manifold wisdom would be made known to rulers and authorities in the heavenly places through the church. Churches what? Because you said ministry to the Gentiles.

Yeah. Connect the dots there. Oh, well, Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles. He's the one who's preaching the gospel to them that they would form local churches. United with? Jews. Yeah, Ephesians 2. One family. One man. Yep. He's, he's made one new man in place of the two. So it's one family, whether you're Jew or Gentile, you know, there is no Jew or Gentile, slave nor free, in the family of God.

And it's like when we gather, when we are together in a place, a location, a geography. It's like a light shoots past our atmosphere to rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. God is displaying himself through a gathered people, not just individuals, but a gathered people, which is insane.

So now not only are you making God known by being his image bearer and exercising his dominion, but you're testifying to a whole other realm. Rulers and authorities in the heavenly places or the principalities some translation. Oh, that only takes place in cities, right? That's where we want those great big spotlights and all those cities and suburban areas Blasting into the heavenly places to display the glory of god, right?

That has been the argument of some even within evangelicalism, that we should prioritize the cities. Because when we go there we have the largest pool of light available. So There's a huge population. But does the light rely upon the people or? Ooh, that's a good question. How about that? Where two or more are gathered in my name.

So when you have the presence of the church like that, that church, even if it is two or more, and they're gathered together as the body of Christ locally, and they mean to practice the ordinances, they are a demonstration of God's glory right there. Amen. And here's the way I like to think about it.

When you're in the city, if you are driving at night and you turn off your headlights, Is that a problem? No, because I did this. Wow. Remember we were in Buffalo? Yes. And I drove, like, I'm not kidding, three miles without my headlights on. Until? And I get pulled over by a police officer, and he's like, Did you know your headlights aren't on?

I'm like, Officer! Like Christchurch is plastered on the side of this vehicle. And he's like, listen, buddy, you know, he ran my license and whatever. Well, I actually didn't have my license. I told him my address and he's like, you're fine. Just turn your headlights on, man.

And I got off with a warning. I could not believe it, but I couldn't tell because there were so many lights. Yeah, that's the great point. Your headlights, you couldn't tell because there were so many lights, so many lights. Out in the middle of nowhere, though. Can't get away with that. Yeah, you turn your headlights off and you're gonna crash.

Yep. You'll hit a deer, you'll hit a tree, you'll drive off a cliff. There's gonna be a problem. And, you can think of the rural church in that way. In the cities, there are going to be more churches than there are in the countryside. Per square mile. So, it is a little bit of a brighter concentration of the church there.

But, If one church closes its doors, the concentration of light doesn't diminish that much. But then you move out into the countryside, and you have that sweet old church that was there for 150 years, that can't find a pastor. And the congregation dwindles and dies, and they close their doors and it turns into an apartment building.

You had one light that has now turned off and it is a very dark place that. So your church is so vital to the display of God's glory, especially if your church happens to be in the middle of nowhere. Your strategic value is off the charts in terms of God's heart for his creation. And I just want to say that to encourage you that as you think about your role in that church. It needs to be informed by what scripture says. I'm gonna be captain segway and you just segwayed into my segway Segway section. 

The reason for renewal is is not all about filling your church with more people or Tending and caring for those saints. Those are good reasons, But the greatest reason for renewal is in scripture: to go out and display the glory of God in the church, Over all the earth. Whether it's out in the rural places with the squirrels and the chickadees and the chipmunks and the deer. Or whether it is in a city or a more urban area.

We have a heart for those rural areas that have been Possibly neglected and we want the glory of god to be shown forth there. That's a scriptural mandate for us. So for the sake of god's glory, we're trying to light up dark places. We're leading not with let's target high populations Evangelize, even though we do want to evangelize in our area. But we're not leading with proclamation. We're leading with Representation, saying we want to make sure we don't lose sight of the fact that we have a mandate clear back to Genesis To go out and represent God's glory to the ends of the earth. Which means we must keep going Into lesser and lesser populated places. So that God's glory might be seen through man Gathering together in the local church. So that that low population area might also radiate God's glory. So that it's seen like the way the waters cover the sea.

Your church has worth and purpose in the grand scheme of God's glory. Even in the middle of nowhere. Even in the middle of nowhere. And with that thought, we leave you. So here's the challenge for you as we kind of recap what we've covered here on this episode. We've walked all the way from the book of Genesis, into the New Testament, into Ephesians 3, and we've realized that the church really matters as a display of God's glory, and your role in it is vital.

And that means that having a church in the middle of nowhere is really important because we want to see God's glory on display in places where there's not that many people thinking about it. You have just an incredible responsibility, but it's a joyful responsibility to make Christ known through the local church right there in your small town.

And we can't wait to talk more about that next week. We'll be coming back for another episode that really challenges whether or not you believe scripture is all sufficient. Can't wait to see you there.