Today most rural persons live in a much larger world. Many drive daily 15 or 20 miles to work in a town. They also educate their children, buy necessities, and obtain a variety of services in these town. Typically, the community served by the old six-mile village or the open country church has become a neighborhood in a larger community. Normally, the congregation of today's rural church comes not from only one to three miles away, but from five, ten, fifteen and even twenty miles away.
Place is less important in the lives of the contemporary ruralite than in the past.
Relationship, ministries, programs, beliefs, and worship style are now the important attractions. If you come to serve a rural church, it may be important for you to recognize that it now has a much larger field, one that overlaps, hopefully in a complementary way the traditional fields of neighboring congregations. Many Rural Churches Need to Discover a Signature Ministry. Fifteen years later nearly 30,000 people came to see the 12 performances of last season. In Missouri, a village church has formed a country gospel band which performs around the region.