Bradley Roth - Gods Country: Faith, Hope, and the Future of the Rural Church

You can sense Brad Roths love for rural people on every page in this book.... This is a book I will assign to divinity students and to a prominent position on my shelf.

LEONARD SWEET, THEOLOGIAN AND FUTURIST, FROM THE FOREWORD

Brad Roth has done a wonderful, unusual thing: he has thought about the rural church in a way that combines both honesty and hope. He is gentle with the flaws that often beset rural congregations while managing at the same time to see the small church as a unique servant of God.

WILL WILLIMON, PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, DUKE DIVINITY SCHOOL

Gods Country is a must-read. It reminds us, wherever we live, of the deep connection we have with the land and the call of this present generation to reclaim the wisdom found in rural spaces. As a suburban gal who has spent most of her life in urban areas, I learned so much from Brad Roths book. It is filled with wisdom and grace and a tenacious love for rural communities, which have much to teach us all. I recommend it highly!

TRACEY BIANCHI, WORSHIP AND TEACHING PASTOR, CHRIST CHURCH OF OAK BROOK

Drawing on his experience of serving the church in rural Washington, Kansas, and Peru, Brad Roth offers a vivid, uplifting, and informed vision for an ecclesioculture that embraces the marginalized rural church. In a time where rural-urban polarization is increasing, Roth draws on the biblical image of Zion, imagined not as the privileged city, but as a place where holy city and holy rural coexist, equally valued and needed in the body of Christ. This is a book of inspiration for the whole church, in all places.

JEANNE HOEFT, COAUTHOR OF PRACTICING CARE IN RURAL CONGREGATIONS AND COMMUNITIES

Brad Roth really understands rural ministryits hard... its beautiful... its dangerous... its worth it! He understands the challenges and yet still loves living and ministering in a rural town. As an author of a book on this same topic, I found Gods Country helpful and inspiring, and I think you will too.

DONNIE GRIGGS, AUTHOR OF SMALL TOWN JESUS AND PASTOR OF ONE HARBOR CHURCH, NORTH CAROLINA

Gods Country is a beautiful book about a beautiful, vital part of Christianity: the rural church. Brad Roth helps us see the unique characteristics of the rural church without the typical, shallow stereotypes. He tackles our temptation to see only the surface, to either deplore the state of the rural church or romantically glorify it. And best of all, he calls us to love. We choose to tell a story of love, and that story shapes who we become. We love the rural church just as it is, and we love it enough to call it forth to new life.

MICHELE HERSHBERGER, BIBLE PROFESSOR, HESSTON COLLEGE

Brad Roth deftly weaves his social and theological analysis of the rural church in America with his own challenging experiences in that context. As the writing shifts between a wide-angle analytical lens and a zoomed-in, standing-in-a-muddy-wheat-field anecdotal lens, readers will come to understand the problem and promise of the rural church in all its complexity.

TOM MONTGOMERY FATE, AUTHOR OF STEADY AND TREMBLING AND CABIN FEVER

Gods Country is a balm to the soul for all who seek the kingdom in rural communities. For anyone who fears that the sun has set on vibrant rural congregations, Brad Roth offers a sage call for hope and renewal. This renewal is not born of imported strategies for church growth. Everything need not change. It begins with loving rural and making ones home among a people formed by ancient ways.

DAVID BOSHART, MODERATOR, MENNONITE CHURCH USA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Roth, Brad, author. | Sweet, Leonard I., writer of foreword.

Title: Gods country : faith, hope, and the future of the Rural Church / Brad Roth.

Description: Harrisonburg, Virginia : Herald Press, 2017.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017011814| ISBN 9781513801612 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781513802398 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Rural churches.

Classification: LCC BV638 .R67 2017 | DDC 250.9173/4--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017011814

All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission of the copyright owners.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture text is quoted, with permission, from the New Revised Standard Version, 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

GODS COUNTRY

2017 by Bradley A. Roth

Released by Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22802. 800-245-7894. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017011814

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-5138-0161-2 (paperback); 978-1-5138-0239-8 (hardcover); 978-1-5138-0240-4 (ebook)

Printed in United States of America

Cover and interior design by Reuben Graham

Cover photo by Stockbyte / Thinkstock

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To Lici, Mateo, and Elijah