Evangelism in a Small Town
Do the guardians of permanece need an inward change? Yes -- but how?
Kenneth Vetters with Cindy Vetters Lanning
April 1, 1984
"Small town evangelism" sounds like an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. With no municipal arenas to rent for crusades and precious few new residents to call on, how does a church pursue evangelism? Don't "revivals" attract only the solidly saved? A few wayward teenagers might be threatened into attending one or two nights, but they usually slip out at half time to smoke in the parking lot.
Most people in the five small Midwestern towns where I've pastored have appeared to be either clean-living church members or well-certified non-believers. The lines are clearly drawn and memorized, raising a valid question: What does evangelism mean in a place with fewer than three stoplights?
The Needy Are with Us Always
The starting point is to remember that every community has people with needs; some just hide it better than others. No village or rural area is without the following three types:
1. Active church members who are not in a right relationship with God. Unless these are evangelized, outreach efforts in a small town will fail, since Christians' lives are always being scrutinized.
2. Nominal church members. The children of devout parents, the spouse of the church pillar, the friend from work who occasionally attends church events. . . these and others have a commitment to the church that is cultural rather than personal.
3. The unchurched. Even in the one-gas-station town, where church membership appears all sewn up, some people hide in the crevices. Maybe they moved into the area years ago but kept their membership in a church a hundred miles away. Maybe they quietly dropped out of church over some problem. They may not be hostile to Christianity, but they've never known the difference a joyful, consistent Christian life can ...
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