Hope is restored. Self-esteem is enhanced. The presence of God is experienced in deep and powerful ways, personally and collectively. Certainly, there are the down times as well. Sickness and accidents strike loved ones.
Death too comes, mostly in inconvenient ways.
Sometimes, problems disrupt the harmony of the congregation. Families have troubles. Many of the rural congregations are smaller and the membership older that they were in the remembered past. Questions about the future of the church sometime rise to the surface. Generally, however, the people in these churches seem to see the hand of God working in the life of the congregation.