Over the years, most of our rural church closures were in communities that could not provide sufficient employment opportunities for bivocational pastors. Other times, rural churches were unable to attract younger families because of their inability to provide a suitable salary for a younger pastor with a family. More often than not, these churches become overly dependent on older ministers who already have retirement incomes but may also have health challenges.
There are several reasons why we must begin helping our rural pastors realize subsidized income from outside their local contexts. Let me mention just a few.
1. Maintain a gospel presence. Many of our rural churches are the only gospel and/or Spirit-filled witnesses in their communities.
2. Subsidize income. Provide a way to partner with the family and friends of rural pastors to subsidize their income on a monthly basis.
3. Increase longevity. Increase the likelihood and longevity of quality leadership in our rural communities.
4. Lighten the burden. Decrease stress, discouragement, and burnout due to excessive bivocational demands. Having two jobs is doable, but counting their church job, many rural pastors have three.
5. Foster dignity. Provide the opportunity for rural pastors to have dignity and value in being able to adequately provide for their families.
6. Embrace culture. With nearly 40 percent of our RMMN churches being rural in nature, this strategy would help us embrace the rural culture and geographic obstacles of our Network.
7. Support churches. Assist churches that cannot presently support a lead pastor with a full-time salary.
To better sustain our gospel presence in Colorado’s and Utah’s rural communities, we must assist our ministers, both young and old, by connecting them to financial partners who can subsidize their income.