Description
Award of Merit, Christianity Nowadays 2018 Book Awards, The Church/Pastoral Leadership category
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, for ministry in congregations that bear a profound sense of both loss and possibility, and for harvesting fruits of transformation and renewal. Rooted in stories from Scripture, his own ministry, and interviews with rural church leaders, Roth offers a sturdy theological and practical alternative to church-growth strategies that depend on success stories and flashy metrics. Reclaiming God’s vision for the agricultural church, Roth writes, means learning how you can praise, abide, watch, pray, grow, work the sides, die, befriend, and dream. In God’s Country, rediscover the stunning abundance of God’s presence in rural communities. Name the ways in which the agricultural church testifies to God’s glory and goodness. Learn how to live and love and minister right where you’re, regardless of how small or unassuming it is going to seem.