There is gospel-motivated power in thankfulness to God. When we celebrate and remember what the Lord has done, what he is doing, and trust that he will continue to work for his glory, he gives us new strength for each new day. It’s not that we use thankfulness because of the power that we receive when we express thankfulness to God privately or publicly, it’s simply the way that God has designed thankfulness. Thankfulness opens our eyes to his work and his glory even when at other times we can’t see it. Thankfulness helps us to trust and helps us to persevere.
The Small Town Summits Leadership Team answered the question, “Why are you thankful to be a small-town pastor?” We pray that the Lord will encourage you as thankfulness engenders more thankfulness, and as you think of your own unique reasons that you are thankful to serve Christ in your small town.
David Pinckney
Pastor, River of Grace Church, Concord, NH - Co-Director, Acts 29 Rural Collective
There is a unique glory in the hidden work of the gospel. I am so thankful for getting glimpses of that glory experienced in small-town ministry. It should be a big thing that Jesus promises reward for hidden gospel work. The Bible gives pointers to a value God places on this secret work of ministry in obscurity (Matthew 6:1-6 and Luke 12:2-3). I’m so grateful for my dad who was a rural New Hampshire pastor. He modeled the significance of faithful and fruitful pastoring in small-town settings. And he did this with genuine joy on earth which he is now fully realizing in heaven.
This past July our little congregation saw hidden glory. It was the first opportunity we had to gather since COVID. In the backyard of one of our elderly core coupes, Neil and Victoria, two former addicts—now Christ followers—were married. We then moved around a hedge to bury the ash remains of Van in a flower garden. He was a special-needs member who had come to Christ in 2013, but passed away this past April. And then we proceeded to the beautiful backyard pool, the same one Van had been baptized in. And there we baptized several including Amelia, a 25-year old code writer. She professed Christ in January after 9 months of being a part of our church family. There were no major news networks covering the small events of that day. Twitter didn’t explode with comments about a wedding, burial and baptism. But with hearts bursting in gratitude, this small-town church family tasted a bit of heaven’s glory that day.
Stephen Witmer
Pastor, Pepperell Christian Fellowship, Pepperell, MA - Author, “A Big Gospel in Small Places”
A couple of weeks ago, I took my kids to the town library—an exciting and much-anticipated excursion in the time of COVID (masks, reserved time slot, one family at a time). As we browsed the books, I heard a familiar voice. It was our friend, the head librarian Deb, who had come down from her office to say hi and swap stories about her dogs and ours. We chatted with her for several minutes before we had to leave. We’ve been friends with Deb for more than a decade now.
Last week I spent an hour reading the Bible with my friend Bill (we’re reading through Ephesians). Bill doesn’t have much education. He doesn’t have a job. He doesn’t have good health. He doesn’t have much money. He’s not all that confident. But in the past couple years Jesus has saved him. He’s reading the Bible and growing as a Christian. There are significant changes in his life. There are still more steps for him to take toward obedience to Jesus, and we’re pursuing those together. When I got busy recently and didn’t call him for our weekly time together, Bill called to check in with me and tell me he had missed it. We have a deep affection for one another.
Last week I visited with my friend Fran, recently widowed from the love of her life, a brilliant and humble man named Bob. Fran is grieving. Her eyes spilled over with tears as she told me about the pet names they used to call each other and the inside jokes they shared. In this time of pandemic and distancing, she’s experiencing a double isolation and lots of loneliness. She was glad to spend the time together.
The reason I’m thankful to be a small-town pastor is that I get to spend time with people like Deb, Bill, and Fran. No one in my town is a world-changing leader or a cutting-edge thinker. Most are quite ordinary people. They all need Jesus, and I get to know many of them for a long time (there’s not a lot of turnover) and grow in friendship with them. I get to love them and share Jesus with them. And this is a great privilege for which I am very, very thankful.
Ben Ruhl
Pastor, BeFree Community Church, Alton, NH
I love being a small-town pastor because it feels like Jesus and I share a special secret. It’s a secret that most people in the world don’t know. It’s a secret that most people in the world wouldn’t understand if they were told. The secret is that the small town of Alton, New Hampshire and its people are delightful.
Most people in the world don’t even know my town exists, but Jesus and I know. Most people might not think twice about my town as they drive through it on their way to the lakes or the mountains, but Jesus and I think twice about it. This place might not matter to people living in other states and other countries, but it matters to me and Jesus.
I love being a small-town pastor because I get to talk to Jesus about a place and a people we both love. We get to delight together in the way his people are working here. We get to mourn together the things that are broken here. We get to conspire together over how we can bring the gospel here. Alton, New Hampshire and its people matter to Jesus and they matter to me, and we get to share together in our mutual love.
Ben Whittinghill
Pastor, Rivertown Church, Brattleboro, VT - Leadership Team, Vermont Church Planting
I’m not native to a small town, so it is a pleasant surprise to me that now, after almost 7 years in Brattleboro, Vermont, I’m struggling to isolate just one reason why I love shepherding here.
One major reason is that I get to know and love all of the members of our church with a familial closeness that I’m not sure I’d get to experience to the same degree in a larger setting. Since Stephen already expounded on the joys of knowing folks in the flock, I’ll shift gears to one of the other major joys that comes to mind: God has used pastoring a small church in a small town to teach me much about the breadth and depth of his measureless love (Ephesians 3:18-19).
There has been a sweet fellowship with Jesus in loving him through feeding his sheep and caring for them with him (John 21:15-17). Our town is not big. It’s not important by the world’s metrics. We are not influencing culture. People flock here from other places to look at leaves in the fall, and then life resumes its slow pace. But Jesus cares deeply for the people of our town, deeply enough to send them a gospel witness. And the love and heart God has given our elders for each person in our church has taught me much about the heart of the Good Shepherd. He still leaves the ninety-nine for the one, because every one is important to him. He loves all kinds of people in all kinds of places. What a joy to witness that first hand in pastoring in a small town.
Tim Counts
Pastor, Northshire Baptist Church, Manchester Center, VT
I am thankful for the clear providence of God that I get to witness regularly as a small-town pastor. God is always at work in churches and places of all sizes, but I have found that in our small place sometimes it seems more obvious and surprising when God works than when I served in a larger town.
When the Lord called us to serve in our small Vermont town over 3,000 miles away from our family, in God’s providence he made it so obvious to us that he wanted me to pastor here that we felt we would have been disobedient if we did not go. Why would we move so far away to a little town nestled in the mountains in the southwestern corner of one of the smallest states in the U.S.? Because God has called us here and Jesus is calling people to himself, and it makes me thankful to think that God wanted us for that mission.
I have been astounded again and again by the Lord’s provision and direction for our church. I am thankful for his providence when, after prayer, he provided pastoral help for me which is making our ministry stronger and more sustainable, and leadership for a youth ministry that is now helping to disciple our teens and is already reaching youth in the community. Who would have ever guessed that a couple would move their young family here to help us pastor our church and lead our youth part-time?
When we were planning our building project, we didn’t know where the next funds were going to come from. But gift by gift the Lord provided in providential and praise-inspiring ways that moved our plans forward by years and has provided more ministry opportunities.
Being a small-town pastor has shown me again and again that God is more committed to his mission and glory than I am, and that when we pray he loves to work in powerful, unexpected ways. He doesn’t always answer prayers the way I hoped or expected. But I have found that his ways are higher than my ways and his thoughts higher than my thoughts, and that makes me thankful.
For more information about Small Town Summits, including upcoming Summits, click here.