No Little Places: Why Rural Cultures Need Good Apologists

Country churches do not come up enough in conversations about culture and apologetics. In conversations about apologetics and culture, the assumed and unspoken ministry setting is often large urban areas, debate stages, or various YouTube channels devoted to apologetics as a ministry platform.

As the lead pastor of a church in a more rural area, I can tell you that apologetics are needed in rural culture as well. Just how “rural” is the church? Well, behind the church sits a ranch where cattle graze in the woods and fields. We baptize new believers in the creek that ambles through the woods to the left of the church.

The scenery is less car and franchise and more cow and fowl. In this beauteous place, both beasts and brethren move at a different, often slower, pace. It is a blessed place in ways that only people drawn to such places will understand.

Now, as pastoral and picturesque as our context may sound, it is not devoid of the need for apologetics. The truth is that my rural church and culture, along with other subcultures in the United States (e.g., New England or the Midwest), need good apologists.

So, why do rural cultures like mine need good apologists and solid apologetics?

Reason 1: Many of the needs and questions are the same.

Country folk and city folk are all asking the same questions, and country folk give just as bad answers to many of the most important questions as any other culture. It is not uncommon to hear rural folk espouse theological musings that directly contradict biblical orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

Rural people are also asking some of the deepest, personal questions: why am I here, and what is my purpose? They are asking some of the biggest questions in some of the littlest places. But this brings me to my second point.

Reason 2: There are no little places.

In the eyes of Hollywood or Washington, D.C., rural cultures like mine are “little,” and they matter little. They have neither economic hubs nor entertainment districts. Nonetheless, they matter. They matter because there exists a parallel to people.

A person’s dignity and worth are not (and should not be) attached to what they do, what they contribute, or what can be gained from them. A person’s dignity is (and should be) rooted in the fact that they are a human created in the image of God. As Christians, we would rightly be suspicious of language that ties a person’s worthiness or dignity to what they did rather than to who they are.

What is true for people is, in some sense, true for places as well. Now, places are not made in the image of God. But a place’s worthiness for apologetic ministry should not be measured by what can be gained from that place. Furthermore, the fact that a place promises a total lack of the possibility of prominence should not count as a strike against the dignity of serving in that place. Francis Schaeffer said it best: “[W]ith God there are no little people… [and] as there are no little people in God’s sight, so there are no little places.”[1]

Rural cultures need good apologetics and good apologists because the people in those places matter to God. They need truth. There are cultural strongholds that persist. Rural cultures are not little places for apologetics but are some of the biggest opportunities for fruitful ministry!

Action 1: Do apologetics where you are.

For the reasons above, begin doing apologetics where you are. The Lord, through his meticulous providence in your life, has you in a place where you can do apologetics. It may not be in the most glamorous setting, and there is a good chance it will not get you social media street cred. But it will be valorous and, to paraphrase a wise (but fictitious) king, there is a need for valor without renown, even if none shall remember the deeds that are done, and those deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.[2]

Begin to look or listen for the deep questions being asked where you are. Pay attention to the “C’s” of your locale: confusions, curiosities, convictions, and challenges. Look where there is confusion. Confusion is an opportunity for you to speak with clarity and conviction. Look for the curiosities of your setting and bring the Scriptures to bear on them. Mine the convictions of your place to see if and where they contradict the Scriptures and offer gentle correction. The challenges people experience might raise questions that need biblical answers; they might prompt action that demands justification or condemnation; or they might provide an opportunity to be a life-giving witness to Christ and his gospel.

You can begin in the place that matters most right now, the place where you are.

Action 2: Consider going to rural communities.

This is not to say that cities are unimportant or that rural areas matter more. Surely, the work of the local pastors contributes to the overall apologetic efforts in those places, but many rural pastors would not refuse reinforcements!

Yes, rural communities are tough in their own way, as is each subculture. Rural cultures do, however, provide unique opportunities for apologetics. It has been my experience that rural cultures value substance over show, depth over breadth, and relationships over being right. Each of these facets of rural culture provides fertile ground for apologetics and ministry in general.

Maybe the Lord would have you plant your life in a context where you and others can be present and “to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15). Start where you are and ask the Lord if he’s calling you to plant your life in some rural context, because that context needs good apologetics and good apologists, too.

[1] Francis A. Schaeffer, “No Little People, No Little Places,” in No Little People (Crossway: 2021), 25, 30.

[2] That king is Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings.