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Small-Town Ministry Replaces Medical Career Dream
CHICAGO, IL (May 6, 2001) - By Craig Pinley
Ten years ago, Heidi Wiebe would never have imagined ministering a town and country church, having never lived in a small town for any significant length of time.
A lot has changed since then, however. God planted a seed in her heart to consider small-town ministry during her orientation year at North Park Theological Seminary (NPTS). That seed has grown in a big way.
Since graduating from seminary, Wiebe has served two town and country churches in the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), the latest in Oberlin, Kansas. She discussed her experiences with NPTS students at a dinner sponsored by the Town and Country Commission of the ECC's Department of Church Growth and Evangelism.
"Town and country ministry is very relational," said Wiebe. "If that's the kind of pastor you want to be - to be one-on-one with people, seeing their lives and interacting with people outside of Sunday service - I think this is a good place to be. You get to do all kinds of ministry, not just the
stuff that happens in the church.
"I have learned there is a diversity in the town and country landscape and it is not just in the Midwest," she continued. "It is in the Central Valley of California, in western Pennsylvania and Maine, the gulf coast of Alabama and the Sierra Madre Mountains of California. The country is as varied as the people in those areas, and ministering to these people has taught me many things about what ministry is all about."
Wiebe shared several tips on how to succeed in town and country ministry:
- Put aside misconceptions about rural life, rural people and rural culture
- Be open to trying anything once
- Ask questions, even if they seem stupid
- Enter people's lives at any level, whether it is in helping with the harvest or riding horses
- Make yourself known to the community
- Know the "ins" and "outs" of the community - the key issues, individuals and norms
- Know that time does not need to be lived at a hectic pace - slow down
- Know what you need personally and know what you can do without
In assessing the joys of her ministry, Wiebe said she appreciates being able to see her congregation every day of the week. That close-knit relationship "tempers how you preach on Sunday morning and it tempers what you do the rest of the week," she observed. Her appreciation of creation has grown considerably and her image of "God as creator" has sharpened, she said, adding that she is more aware of how God created her ministry, healing her after a vocational dream died and giving her a new calling.
Wiebe hoped to be accepted in medical school after earning a Master's Degree in anatomy and physiology. After two years of work at Boston University, however, she determined that her academic progress would not be sufficient to lead to the desired degree, ending her dreams of becoming a doctor.
After leaving Boston, Wiebe said she drifted for a time before landing in New Mexico and working at a church. She sensed God calling her to ministry and went back to school, this time at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, where she earned a Master of Divinity degree. She was in her orientation year at North Park Theological Seminary when she was invited
to the 1991 Town and Country Commission dinner.
"I had always wanted to be a doctor since I was a very young girl," Wiebe said. "And 10 years ago, I sat where you're sitting, looking for the free meal with no intention of going to a town and country church," she told her listeners. "I had grown up in suburbia and had gone to grad school in big cities, so I had no experiences (in small towns) other than childhood ones on the farm. It just wasn't where I felt I could be used."
Wiebe imagined serving as an associate pastor in a large church following her graduation from seminary, but no job offers came. After about a year, she told Covenant administrators she would consider town and country ministry if a position became available. She eventually served seven years at Grandview Covenant Church in Larchwood, Iowa, located in the northeast corner of the state.
"Why did I choose a town and country church? Frankly, it was the only church that called me," she said. "My main concern wasn't that they were a town and country church. My concern was that they would accept me as a woman (pastor). Ninety-eight percent (of the congregation) agreed that it would not be a problem and I agreed to come. I thought that if they were interested in me, I would be interested in them."
In Larchwood, Wiebe found that change was often slow in coming and that traditions were held more strongly than where she had grown up. But, she also found open-minded people who helped Wiebe implement changes and open-hearted people who allowed Wiebe a unique glimpse of their lives.
"People want to get to know about your life and I'm open about that," Wiebe said. "And I don't try to hold anything back from them. They know who I am - I'm not a secret to them as I do not want them to be a secret to me. You can't expect to go into a town and country church and just blast them with everything you know and have them say, 'We've been waiting for you.'
"Trust comes only with time and you have to have a proven record in that setting - you have to wait an appropriate amount of time for certain things to happen," she continued. "You have to allow them to understand who you are and bring them along in that process."
These days, Wiebe serves in a Kansas town of 2,000 people. "It (Oberlin) isn't the middle of nowhere, but I can see the middle of nowhere from there," she joked. "I am six hours and light years away from where I grew up in Kansas City."
She told the NPTS students that she has loved Oberlin in ways she never could have imagined. She has become involved in the community's activities by speaking at a high school Honor Society event, giving devotions at a rodeo, volunteering at a local movie theater and serving
as a waitress at a nearby bed and breakfast. Small involvements like this help people know her as more than a pastor and enable her to communicate in practical ways, both in and out of the church.
"Blasting them with systematic theology isn't going to do it for them," Wiebe observed. "They want to see how the gospel connects to them in real ways."
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