I have for most of my ministry served in rural churches in central Indiana. What I have noticed is that rural churches are in a leadership crisis. There are too few available upcoming leaders within our churches. There could be several reasons for the problem but the main reason is lack of loyalty and commitment to the rural churches. In our community the church attendance is down in all churches. More of our young people are leaving for larger churches. They are walking away from active involvement in the small rural church to attend large churches that offer more entertainment, less personal involvement and require no commitment.
The leadership problem is also due to the changing makeup of our families. More of our young people are marrying those who are not Christians and establishing families that are unlikely to provide church leaders. Today’s younger families are more concerned about their children’s involvement in sports than in church activities. The importance of a spiritual life is not a priority in the training of their children. The involvement of the fathers in activities outside the church has taken stolen the hearts of the potential church leaders.
The church must expand its understanding of what leaders do. The church fails to develop leaders when it has a too narrow view of leadership and thinks only of the vocal ministry. The leadership model employed in the typical church does not encourage today’s young people to consider church leadership as a worthy pursuit. We often hear church ministry degraded within the church. The respect given to the callings of God are not taken seriously within the membership of the church. There are often those within the church who are pseudo-leaders or self-appointed and are only concerned about control. This type of leadership is not determined by spiritual values or a Spirit-filled life but by a carnal nature that destroys the work of good leaders.
As the leadership within the church grows older it becomes ineffective in providing examples of meaningful involvement in those works that can advance the local church—teaching, evangelizing, preaching, serving, and personal contact. Why is this? When the greatest number of leaders in the church are in their seventy and eighties they lack the physical strength to continue to provide meaningful involvement.
Planning for the future is important to the survival of the church. Leaders within the church should be training their replacements. Since the church has been caught up in the professional leadership we miss the leadership called by God. It would be in the interest of the church to develop leaders from within than to import a secular professional leadership that is not compatible with the local congregation. When leaders from outside the small rural churches are not from the local meeting, they fail to be sensitive and are not successful in leading the church to growth. Leaders must be among the people, spending significant amounts of time with the community they live in, teaching and mentoring, modeling and equipping.
God develops leaders from unlikely sources. God does some of his great work through the messy and the broken, and he makes such people leaders who can reach out and help others. Church leaders ultimately come forth because they genuinely believe the gospel—they believe Jesus will do what he promised to do. They have been changed, and they seek to change others. Therefore, they are people of prayer, and people of action. They depend on God’s power more than human power. They are called by God to fulfill the Great Commission, spending tremendous amounts of time ministering to people. This is seen in their commitment to sharing the good news and shepherding God’s children. Where are our leaders?
I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet but I will make this prediction based on the information I have concerning the aging leadership within rural churches. If there is not a group of young men and women who accept the roles of leadership in the church in the next ten years most rural churches will cease to exist.
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