God's Country: Faith, Hope, and the Future of the Rural Church

by Brad Roth

With the poetic force of Kathleen Norris and the pastoral warmth of Eugene Peterson, Kansas pastor Roth sets forth a vision for vibrant rural churches, for ministry in congregations that bear a profound sense of both loss and possibility, and for harvesting fruits of transformation and renewal. Rooted in stories from Scripture, his own ministry, and interviews with rural church leaders, Roth offers a sturdy theological and practical alternative to church-growth strategies that rely on success stories and flashy metrics. Reclaiming God’s vision for the rural church, Roth writes, means learning how to praise, abide, watch, pray, grow, work the edges, die, befriend, and dream.

In God’s Country, rediscover the stunning abundance of God’s presence in rural communities. Name the ways that the rural church testifies to God’s glory and goodness. Learn to live and love and minister right where you are, no matter how small or unassuming it may seem.

Genres: Church, Theology, Spirituality

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in a small community in the Texas panhandle, then later pastored a church in an even smaller town in the heart of Oklahoma. Brad Roth's insights and wisdom are solid. He has his finger on the pulse of the culture and traditions of these towns, as well as the churches that form part of their life together. Any pastor and any congregation--rural or otherwise--will profit from his words. And his words are well-written. There's a poetry and simple beauty to his writing that is refreshing and kept me turning the pages. I look forward to reading more of his work.

[Ian Caveny · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a rural pastor, I am drawn and compelled by all pictures of church that seek to make a unified whole out of diversified pieces that I've been called to work amidst: the unique culture of rural America (in particular, the unique culture of south-central Illinois), the complex socioeconomics of small towns, my own nuanced evangelical-yet-also-mainline theology [that rails against all attempts to put it into easy boxes; just like the people I serve!], lofty evangelistic and sacramental and ecclesiological visions, and the like. Brad Roth has offered something to that end in this little book, God's Country. And it works. Sometimes.

It works when he discusses several crucial factors that even in my past two months I've learned about rural ministry (and ministry in general): that our real questions must always be "Do I love this place and these people?" (Roth, 207) and "Is my love compelling me to dream of their/our future?" (cf. ibid., 218) Putting love at the center of his "ecclesioculture" (a term he anoints in the first chapter and then ignores until the last chapter; I wish we could have an entire monograph dedicated to this concept), Roth's thoughts on prayer, watchfulness, patience, and praise in opposition to the typical rural acedia and apathy is fantastic. The vision of love here has done more than inspire; it has actually changed how I see my shepherding role in the church (for the betterment of our worship!). In that sense I am indebted to Roth.

But the vision of love falls short, for a few reasons, in certain places. At times, it falls short for a very simple reason (on that Roth himself would agree regarding): it is still too generalized, too idealized. Discussing "the Rural Church," as the subtitle suggests, might be an impossible task; or, at least, as impossible a task as discussing "best farming strategies for corn." Any good agrarian will tell you that you must discuss, rather, "best farming strategies for corn in the lower Midwest," or "on a hill", or "for feed". There is no such things as "the Rural Church." There are vast swaths of wide varieties of rural churches. And, while Roth waves at this idea, he never quite reaches escape velocity from the gravity of his own context and his (unconscious) disposition towards writing a generalized manifesto. As such, there are sections of God's Country that I nod in agreement to - they absolutely reflect my south-central Illinois world - and other sections where the world they represent is so Kansan or Nebraskan or Texan that it is absolutely unfamiliar to an Illinoisan. I wonder what Roth's book would have looked like if, instead, its subtitle could have been "Faith, Hope, and the Future of the Rural Church in Kansas." Then, generalizations would have been Kansan generalizations, and I could have made the proper analogical relations to transform them into Illinoisan revelations. At the very least, I think a book on the rural church in Kansas would be insightful; and I certainly think it would be more insightful than an attempt to over-generalize too diverse a whole.

But this problem of delimiting is relatively minor. In some sense, I am taking Roth to task for a problem that is characteristic of writers and theologians of our day and age. Very few of us (myself included) have the skill and vision to see in a visionary-particularized way. Far greater a problem is Roth's brashness with regards to the "church growth movement." He is obviously bitterly opposed. As often is the case with critics, there are two ways for us to critique: there is a cool-headed way, in which we patiently unravel an entrenched problem; and there is the hot-headed way, in which we denigrate claims and ideas as so subpar or so unimportant that we will give them exactly what we think of them.

Roth choose this later direction with regards to "church growth," to his detriment. One can taste a little bit of the bitterness of some kind of failure, or some kind of disillusionment underneath these ideas when they surface (especially in chapter 8, "Learning to Die"). Lest my readers think me a "megachurch growth specialist" (Lord have mercy!), I do think that there are plenty of solid critiques that we can given contra-"Church Growth"; but Roth's tone and line-of-attack is so antagonistic and so embittered that his critiques are unuseful. Also like typical "hot-headed" critics, he valorizes the opposite: just as Barbara Brown Taylor, finding her calling in question when her soul was under fire, valorized fleeing the ministry in Leaving Church, so too Brad Roth valorizes congregational death, stigmatizing those who would claim such thing as indicative of "failure."

Such an approach is misguided and wrongheaded. To be sure, megachurch or multi-site approaches, businesslike hypermanagement, overevangelistic pseudo-Billy Grahams, or relativizing emergent churches are all just as misguided and wrongheaded. But it is no condemnation to tell a dying church that they are failing. After all, what other rubric do we have for "church success" than Matthew 28? If a church hasn't baptized anyone in a year, shouldn't we ring a bell of alarm? What are we doing if we're not following Jesus' command to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you"? As Roth suggests, we can (and must) "weird" the "axes" of growth - we must begin to see growth in polyvalent ways - but I do not think that we should (or even can!) take the axis of numeric, evangelistic growth off the table. To do so seems to treat the church lesser than it is (and to add to dying church's misery, not placate them). The whole metaphor connecting dying churches to dying individuals in Chapter 8 is disingenuous and, honestly, deceptive. It lets us off easier than we need to be let off.

All that being said, I don't want to give off the impression that I was disappointed by God's Country. Overall, I found the book as an insightful follow-up to other rural texts I've been reading (from Wendell Berry to J.D. Vance), and it was immensely useful for my own pastoral practice here in south-central Illinois. It inspires me to long for an Illinois-contextualized theology - maybe I'll write it! - and it reminds me of the core call of rural ministry: to Love.

[papasteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book description drops names like Kathleen Norris and Eugene Peterson, in comparing this book. I’ve read all of Kathleen Norris’ books, and all of Eugene’s. I’ve met and know both. Though this book is OK, it does not compare to the depths and insights of Norris or Peterson. It’s a book that tries, but does not deliver the kind of punch that Norris and Peterson do that make you stop reading and go, “Wow!” I’ve been a rural/small town pastor for most of my 40 years in the ministry, and this book would be an OK introduction to rural/small town ministry for a seminary graduate who grew up in the city and has no idea what ministry “out here” is like. And, I might add, that having grown up in and lived in a few large cities, the introduction to Roth’s book made me cringe a bit with some of the generalities he threw out there about city people and their lack of “connection” with each other. His assertions are not defensible. But like I said, all-in-all, an OK book.

[Jennifer Barten · Rating 2 out of 5]

I work in a rural church and we are getting ready to hire a new pastor. The person in charge of our Pastor Nominating Committee asked that everyone read this book to see what a new pastor might be coming into and maybe help us see what we should be looking for in a new pastor. I'm not sure I found that, but here is what I did find:
I love the message of this book. That if we love each other and God the rest will follow.
He had a lot of good points, stories, analogies and other other great information to help move the book along and get his point across.
Many of the chapters could have been much shorter. I felt like in some of the chapters he was beating a dead horse.
He had an agenda that wasn't just about the rural church. Even though he says we need to respect the rural farmer and what they do to the ground for planting and harvest, I felt he was still saying it was wrong.
In the beginning I felt he was very negative and though he did come around to being positive I didn't love how the book started.

[Margaret D'Anieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully written, a wry and hopeful view of the place and role of the small church. While it’s addressed to the rural church, I think it provides both grounding and encouragement to all who are part of small churches, particularly leaders - reminding us who we are, and calling us back from the tendency always to want to “be useful” and to measure up. It was a calming and peaceful messenger for me.

[Wes Faulk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a pastor who was born and raised in a big city, who now serves as the pastor in a small rural actuarial town. The first half of the book offers excellent incite into understanding the relational fabric which bind and guide the small town church. I would recommend any pastor serving in a small town read the first two chapters. They are worth the price of the book.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m glad I read this book. The author loves the rural church and it is clear in the writing. He invites people to see clearly the joy and wonder of the rural church - its people, its communities, all of it. He invites people to see the wonder and joy in places that others see the opposite. I really did like this and think it serves an important place in literature of the Church.

[Joe Valenti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow - what an important book! I am so thankful that Brad Roth, his care in writing this book, and the important insight that he brings to the church. Realizing that small or rural does not always mean "dead" or "not doing something right" was an important reminder for me - especially as a country boy gone suburbs. A very important read for pastors, church planters, and seminarians.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the observations and challenges presented in this book on rural ministry.

[John Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book refreshed my love for the rural church without dampening respect for urban or suburban. I found it gently challenging & insightfully encouraging.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roth seeks to find a way forward for the rural church. He finds the balance between romanticizing and denigrating the country. In doing so, he finds hope for rural communities and their churches.

[John Damon Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent wisdom on a subject with no easy answers