Tips for accessing BOOKS on Rural Ministry/Leadership: Many of the titles included on these pages are books found in Luther Seminary Library and only available to seminary students. However, you may be able to borrow these same titles from your local public library. Make note of the title, author and ISBN of the desired book and ask your local library to request the book by "Interlibrary Loan" (ILL). Otherwise, of course, you may choose to buy certain titles from your favorite bookstore or online book source.
Flyover Church: How Jesus' Ministry in Rural Places Is Good News Everywhere (2024) by
Christ is present and at work in rural communities. How do we lead from that reality? The temptation to operate from a scarcity mindset is stronger than ever. The tensions unleashed over the past few years--which led to skepticism, breakdowns of trust, declining church attendance, and uncertainty around community ministry--continue to linger in and among our rural churches. Yet God's loving, redemptive work is happening in all places, no matter how small or far-flung. In Flyover Church, Brad Roth, the author of God's Country, describes how rural ministry shares soul-deep commonalities with the church in every place. And he speaks a hopeful message into the distinct challenges--and promises--faced by rural communities. Tracing Jesus' ministry and bountiful work among the small-town people and places in the gospel of Mark, this book offers a vision for ministry tailored to rural settings. Pastors and leaders everywhere will be encouraged to approach ministry from the reality of God's abundance.
Recovering Abundance : Twelve Practices for Small-Town Leaders (2022) by
Recovering Abundance: Twelve Practices for Small-Town Leaders invites readers to live a new story--to join a movement of renewal for small towns and rural communities. Andy Stanton-Henry provides twelve civic-spiritual practices, rooted in Jesus's miracle among the multitude, that rural and small-town leaders can use to renew their congregations and communities. Each chapter explores how one practice was demonstrated in the story, has been embodied in small-town and rural leaders and communities, and can be applied today. Through these twelve practices, Stanton-Henry helps readers tune in to an alternative story, one he discovered in his own rural Ohio community. Yes, he saw the commonly lamented decline and devastation that have brought suffering to rural Americans and that seem to foster resentment and despair. However, as he dug deeper into the stories of his neighbors, he began to notice that small towns and rural regions are working. They are working to build inclusive, thriving, local economies, to weave a welcoming social fabric in their region, to cocreate a positive future--following the practices he explores in this book. Recovering Abundance is a new story about the agency and creativity of what Stanton-Henry calls "ordinary leaders," not a story about scarcity and deprivation but one of abundance and generosity.
Reclaiming Rural: Building Thriving Rural Congregations (2021) by
As rural America continues to undergo massive economic and demographic shifts, rural churches are uniquely positioned to provide community leadership. Leading a rural congregation requires a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing these communities, as well as a strong theological and community-focused identity. Allen T. Stanton describes how in establishing this identity, rural leaders build a meaningful and vital ministry. Reclaiming Rural explores the myths and realities of rural places, and how those common narratives impact the leadership of rural churches. Ultimately, rural congregations must practice a contextual understanding of vitality, which understands both the strengths and challenges of leading in a rural setting. Arguing for a practice of evangelism imbued with this mission of vitality, Reclaiming Rural promotes the church as a leader in economic and community development, modeled upon a Wesleyan theology of grace. Acknowledging the many challenges facing rural churches, this book is an energetic and encouraging guide to overcoming social and economic obstacles to build a thriving congregation.
God's Country : Faith, Hope, and the Future of the Rural Church (2017) by
With the poetic force of Kathleen Norris and the pastoral warmth of Eugene Peterson, Kansas pastor Roth sets forth a vision for vibrant rural churches. Rediscover the stunning abundance of God's presence in rural communities.
Leadership in Small Churches (2021) by
Leadership in Small Churches inspires and equips men and women who are called to serve in churches of less than 100 people, which are the majority of churches in the United States. Small churches in the United States suffer from a lack of leadership. On the one hand, there is a shortage of leaders. On the other hand, leaders who serve faithfully sometimes feel ill-equipped to carry out their calling due to inadequate training, especially a lack of training specific to small churches. This volume provides guidance from scholars and practitioners with experience in small churches. Because of their experience in and commitment to ministry in small churches, these writers are well qualified to discuss the breadth of topics in this book. These topics include developing vision, handling conflict, pastoral care, preaching, discipleship, ministry to youth and children, missions, and identifying and training leaders.
Everyone Must Eat : Food, Sustainability, and Ministry (2021) by
Rural contexts are often over-looked, treated as "flyover land." But because everyone must eat, rural communities and their work in food production are important to the whole of society. Mark Yackel-Juleen spent many years in rural ministry and is the founder and executive director of Shalom Hill Farm. He offers valuable insight on the present issues of food production and environmental sustainability, and connects it in profound and practical ways to the biblical and theological tradition. The result is a clear set of powerful and actionable tools to help rural leaders and ministers address issues of sustainability and land use in their ministry. Everyone Must Eat masterfully shows how one can integrate the sociology of community, the secular realities of economics and public policy, and the powerful presence of God's word in order to practice faithful leadership.
Fresh Expressions of the Rural Church (2022) by
The rural church was a community's centerpiece. The place where people gathered to worship and hear a sermon, break bread together, and support each other through the joys and struggles of life with the land. In many ways, the rural church captured a central aspect of the church's mission: to be the guiding hand for the life of the place. Can rural congregations flourish again? Can new Christian communities succeed in rural areas? Could health rural churches catalyze a better future for their declining communities? This book collects stories from diverse rural contexts across the United States. It lays out a fresh theology for rural life and offers principles for harnessing the potential of what some consider the forgotten spaces. Each chapter includes a helpful Field Exercise -- questions for discussion and suggested actions for leadership teams to work through together. Chapters conclude with a Field Story illustrating how the chapter's main ideas can work in a real church setting.
Ministry in an Oral Culture: Living with Will Rogers, Uncle Remus, and Minnie Pearl by
Explores the world of oral culture in the United States, arguing that many people are not functionally literate and so verbalize their faith through the spoken word. Discusses how pastors can tap into this trend in order to bring about social change that is faithful to the gospel and oral individuals.
See this select list of over 50 books by Wendell Berry, American poet-farmer, activist: Wendell Berry books.
Rural Church Turnaround: Real life experiences of rural pastors, (ISBN: 9781633572058) by D. Davis (2020)
Sea Change: Equipping Rural Churches for the Tides of Cultural Upheaval, (ISBN: 9781956267044) by J.Davis (2021)
Mission shaped and rural: growing churches in the countryside, (ISBN:9780715142806) by S. Glaze (2011)
Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America (2014), by Wenonah Hauter (ISBN: 9781595587909)
Agrarian Spirit : Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land (2022) by
This refreshing work offers a distinctly agrarian reframing of spiritual practices to address today’s most pressing social and ecological concerns.
For thousands of years most human beings drew their daily living from, and made sense of their lives in reference to, the land. Growing and finding food, along with the multiple practices of home maintenance and the cultivations of communities, were the abiding concerns that shaped what people understood about and expected from life. In Agrarian Spirit, Norman Wirzba demonstrates how agrarianism is of vital and continuing significance for spiritual life today. Far from being the exclusive concern of a dwindling number of farmers, this book shows how agrarian practices are an important corrective to the political and economic policies that are doing so much harm to our society and habitats. It is an invitation to the personal transformation that equips all people to live peaceably and beautifully with each other and the land.
Agrarian Spirit begins with a clear and concise affirmation of creaturely life. Wirzba shows that a human life is inextricably entangled with the lives of fellow animals and plants, and that individual flourishing must always include the flourishing of the habitats that nourish and sustain our life together. The book explores how agrarian sensibilities and responsibilities transform the practices of prayer, perception, mystical union, humility, gratitude, and hope. Wirzba provides an elegant and compelling account of spiritual life that is both attuned to ancient scriptural sources and keyed to addressing the pressing social and ecological concerns of today. Scholars and students of theology, ecotheology, and spirituality, as well as readers interested in agrarian and environmental studies, will gain much from this book.
Rural Communities: Legacy and Change (2015: 5th ed.) by
Rural America is a complex mixture of peoples and cultures struggling for survival. It ranges in character from workers in manufacturing plants in Georgia to Laotian immigrants who have relocated in Kansas; from farmers committed to sustainable agriculture to entrepreneurs planning a world-class ski resort in California's Sierra Nevadas; from laid-off miners in West Virginia to Native Americans in the Southwest searching for an economy consistent with their cultural values. These are all parts of rural America, seldom heard of in the mass media but deeply reflective of the legacies left by those who settled the land.This revised and updated edition of Rural Communities bridges the gap between social theory and community change by focusing on the problems that face rural America and offering students a framework for applying sociological concepts. The authors explore such issues as the diversity among rural communities; the interactions between communities and the economy; the governmental, economic, and social resources available in rural communities; and how communities organize for action. Although the authors explore community change within a rural context, their findings are applicable to urban neighborhoods as well. The notion of empowerment-that the understanding and analysis provided through the social sciences can result in community action-is unique to this book.This book can be used as a text for introductory courses in rural sociology, social problems, and community studies or by community groups to explore their own responses to a variety of problems. The book is also the companion text to a PBS college-level telecourse and television series entitled Rural Communities: Legacy and Change . The telecourse portrays the experiences of fifteen rural communities from across the United States.
The Lies of the Land : Seeing Rural America for What it Is--and Isn't (2023) by
A "piercing, unsentimental" (New Yorker) history that boldly challenges the idea of a rural American crisis. It seems everyone has an opinion about rural America. Is it gripped in a tragic decline? Or is it on the cusp of a glorious revival? Is it the key to understanding America today? Steven Conn argues that we're missing the real question: Is rural America even a thing? No, says Conn, who believes we see only what we want to see in the lands beyond the suburbs--fantasies about moral (or backward) communities, simpler (or repressive) living, and what it means to be authentically (or wrongheadedly) American. If we want to build a better future, Conn argues, we must accept that these visions don't exist and never did. In The Lies of the Land, Conn shows that rural America--so often characterized as in crisis or in danger of being left behind--has actually been at the center of modern American history, shaped by the same forces as everywhere else in the country: militarization, industrialization, corporatization, and suburbanization. Examining each of these forces in turn, Conn invites us to dispense with the lies and half-truths we've believed about rural America and to pursue better solutions to the very real challenges shared all across our nation.
Open Secrets : a spiritual journey through a country church (2001) by
Open Secretsis Richard Lischer's story of his early career as a Lutheran minister. Fresh out of divinity school and full of enthusiasm, Lischer found himself assigned to a small conservative church in an economically depressed town in southern Illinois. This was far from what this overly enthusiastic and optimistic young man expected. The town was bleak, poor, and clearlynota step on his path to a brilliant career. It's an awkward marriage at best, a young man with a Ph.D. in theology, full of ideas and ambitions, determined to improve his parish and bring them into the twenty-first century, and a community that is "as tightly sealed as a jar of home-canned pickles." In their own way, they welcome him and his family, even though they think he's "got bigger fish to fry." Thus begins Richard Lischer's first year as a pastor: bringing communion to the sick (but forgetting to bring the wafers); marrying two unlikely couples--a pregnant teenager and her boyfriend, and two people who can't stop fighting. Often he doesn't understand his congregation, and sometimes they don't understand him; for instance, why does his wife hire a baby-sitter and instead of leaving, put on her bathing suit, grab a stack of novels, and hide from the kids? Or why can't Pastor Lischer see how important it is for a woman with little money to buy an elaborate coffin to bury her husband in? There are also the moments of grace, when pastor and parishioner unite for a common goal: when he asks for prayers for his infant son, and can feel everyone in the congregation ministering to him; when old hurts are put aside to help a desperate young woman finish college and raise her baby; or when he helps save a woman from dying of a drug overdose. InOpen SecretsLischer tells not only his own story but also the story of New Cana and all of its inhabitants--lovable, deeply flawed, imperfect people that stick together. With his sharp eye and keen wit, Lischer perfectly captures the comedy of small town life with all of its feuds, rumors, scandals, and friendships. In the end he learns to appreciate not only the life New Cana has to offer, but also the people who have accepted him, at last, as part of themselves. From the Hardcover edition.
The Politics of Resentment: rural consciousness in Wisconsin and the rise of Scott Walker (2016) by
Since the election of Scott Walker, Wisconsin has been seen as ground zero for debates about the appropriate role of government in the wake of the Great Recession. In a time of rising inequality, Walker not only survived a bitterly contested recall that brought thousands of protesters to Capitol Square, he was subsequently reelected. How could this happen? How is it that the very people who stand to benefit from strong government services not only vote against the candidates who support those services but are vehemently against the very idea of big government? With The Politics of Resentment, Katherine J. Cramer uncovers an oft-overlooked piece of the puzzle: rural political consciousness and the resentment of the "liberal elite." Rural voters are distrustful that politicians will respect the distinct values of their communities and allocate a fair share of resources. What can look like disagreements about basic political principles are therefore actually rooted in something even more fundamental: who we are as people and how closely a candidate's social identity matches our own. Using Scott Walker and Wisconsin's prominent and protracted debate about the appropriate role of government, Cramer illuminates the contours of rural consciousness, showing how place-based identities profoundly influence how people understand politics, regardless of whether urban politicians and their supporters really do shortchange or look down on those living in the country. The Politics of Resentment shows that rural resentment--no less than partisanship, race, or class--plays a major role in dividing America against itself.
The rural voter : the politics of place and the disuniting of America (2024) by
"The divide between rural and urban America is vast and growing. Electoral maps separating deep reds from vivid blues expose not only political rifts, but a nation on the cusp of disunion. While others have touched on elements of this historical change, this book offers the most comprehensive, systematic exploration of the rise and consequences of the "rural voter." Through a mix of historical research, contemporary narratives, and the largest survey of rural Americans ever conducted, political scientists Nick Jacobs and Daniel M. Shea explore the roots of this unprecedented change and lay bare the dangers of rural America's steadfast alliance with one party. The authors leverage two hundred years' worth of data on voting patterns, census information, and novel historical detail to document the growing chasm between urban and rural voters. Their findings challenge traditional stories of the 1920s, the New Deal, and the Reagan Revolution and explain how the Republican Party has come to dominate rural America in the twenty-first century. Moving beyond case-study approaches, common in many recent works, Rage and Rebellion explores the attitudes and opinions of voters themselves: a set of three national surveys boasting 10,000 rural respondents and five thousand non-rural Americans. The book argues that rural Americans today are not inherently conservative. Instead, their vote is the consequence of a distinct cultural resentment. Rural voters believe they are the last guardians of a uniquely American way of life, a culture rooted in hard work, family, love of country, and place. In the end, this book offers a cautionary tale to pundits and politicians who believe they can paper over differences with better policies, sharper talking points, or more stops in the flyover country"-
Strangers in Their Own Land : Anger and Mourning on the American Right (2016) by
The National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestseller that became a guide and balm for a country struggling to understand the election of Donald Trump "A generous but disconcerting look at the Tea Party. . . . This is a smart, respectful and compelling book." --Jason DeParle, The New York Times Book Review When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, a bewildered nation turned to Strangers in Their Own Land to understand what Trump voters were thinking when they cast their ballots. Arlie Hochschild, one of the most influential sociologists of her generation, had spent the preceding five years immersed in the community around Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Tea Party stronghold. As Jedediah Purdy put it in the New Republic, "Hochschild is fascinated by how people make sense of their lives. . . . [Her] attentive, detailed portraits . . . reveal a gulf between Hochchild's 'strangers in their own land' and a new elite." Already a favorite common read book in communities and on campuses across the country and called "humble and important" by David Brooks and "masterly" by Atul Gawande, Hochschild's book has been lauded by Noam Chomsky, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, and countless others. The paperback edition features a new afterword by the author reflecting on the election of Donald Trump and the other events that have unfolded both in Louisiana and around the country since the hardcover edition was published, and also includes a readers' group guide at the back of the book.
Demon Copperhead : a novel (2022) by
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century * An Oprah's Book Club Selection * An Instant New York Times Bestseller * An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller * A #1 Washington Post Bestseller * A New York Times "Ten Best Books of the Year" "Demon is a voice for the ages--akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield--only even more resilient." --Beth Macy, author of Dopesick "May be the best novel of [the year]. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love." --Ron Charles, Washington Post From the acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees, a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero's unforgettable journey to maturity Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities. Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.
Population: 485 : Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time (2015) by
"Part portrait of a place, part rescue manual, part rumination of life and death, Population: 485 is a beautiful meditation on the things that matter." -- Seattle Times Welcome to New Auburn, Wisconsin (population: 485) where the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Michael Perry loves this place. He grew up here, and now--after a decade away--he has returned. Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Perry figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, Population: 485 is a comic and sometimes heartbreaking true tale leavened with quieter meditations on an overlooked America.
Check out the course that accompanies this resource guide: The Art of Leadership in a Rural Parish
and these other related Faith+Lead courses: Entering Rural Ministry: Rural Curiosity ; Re-Discovering Hope - Faith+Lead