When I think back on my years in parish ministry, my biggest errors came because of assumptions. I recall assuming how a parishioner might view a change or assuming a particular type of program was needed or assuming I understood why the people in the pews kept showing up, Sunday after Sunday.
My lessons about assumptions have been hard learned, but by and large, I have taken some of them on board. Nowadays I slow down and try to ask better questions. This has been particularly important in my job working with rural churches and pastors in Arkansas.
I have learned a great deal about rural ministry since I began this work in 2021. I have learned a small group of people can make a big difference in their community — like First Presbyterian in Jacksonville, Arkansas, a town of just under 30,000 outside of Little Rock. First Presbyterian in Jacksonville, has an average worship attendance of about 30. Yet, they are the hub for the houseless in Jacksonville. They hand out snack bags, hygiene kits and blankets and host a clothes closet year-round. They have started a community garden in the backyard of their church. Vegetables are given to those who ask or are used in their monthly community potluck. In the winter, they open their fellowship hall as a warming center and have managed to connect with a large group of civic leaders who help with that. When I asked Mary Jane for permission to tell their story, she wrote, “Sure. But I don’t want it to sound like we have everything figured out. We are just trying to do what we can with what we have. You know, to be faithful.”
Now let’s get back to assumptions. I wonder what series of questions led to First Presbyterian’s homeless ministry. We can imagine that they probably had to push through a series of assumptions about the church’s role resources and the needs of the houseless population to get to where they are, but they did it. Where they will go next and how their work will continue to develop will depend a great deal on the next set of questions.
I wonder if their story challenged your assumptions about how big a church needs to be to make an impact. Has it challenged your assumptions about the vital role commissioned ruling elders can play (although Mary Jane is quick to deflect any credit)? Has it challenged your assumptions about what is happening or can happen in our rural churches?
I have found in my work, much to my delight, is that most of the assumptions we encounter about church size, church location, or church leadership, are either incorrect or incomplete.
I have found in my work, much to my delight, that most of the assumptions we encounter about church size, church location, or church leadership, are either incorrect or incomplete. I say this in no way to scold, and if you already have a fulsome appreciation for what small, rural, lay-led churches can do then that is wonderful. But if you do not, I encourage you to challenge your assumptions in much the same way as First Presbyterian in Jacksonville had to challenge their assumptions about their homeless neighbors or how they could help them.
I feel like many of our congregations are bursting with potential, large and small, urban and rural. I think many of those churches are already doing great things, and more and more I believe those great things are being led by lay people. Can we, as we sit in mission committee meetings, session meetings, or committee on ministry meetings challenge our assumptions? Can we ask different questions? Can we embrace, over and over again, a holy spirit of curiosity and wonder? Can we be delighted throughout our lives at what God can do with a small group of flawed but committed people? I think I know the answers to these questions, but I am going to ask anyway. I don’t want to assume.
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