Small & Slow: Rural Ecclesiology and Effective Missional Praxis

[Luke Geraty]

The primary purpose of this paper is to explore and suggest that combining what can only be described as “small town ecclesiology” (i.e., rural church) with “small town missional praxis” could serve as a healthy, constructive and transformative resource for the Vineyard movement to consider in its quest toward developing a distinct ecclesiology. In fact, I might be so bold as to suggest that healthy Vineyard churches, and I do mean to stress health, in small towns are crucial to the movement’s health, longevity, sustainability, and continuation as a missional church planting movement. Integrating constructive, empirical, and practical theological methodology from the perspective of a Vineyard pastor, missional practitioner, and aspiring theologian, this paper is written unashamedly from a Small Town USA perspective. In other words, this is my attempt to integrate a variety of methods, ideas, and experiences from an intentionally rural missional context.

The full paper is attached to this post as a PDF.

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