Rural locations
28/11/14 04:35
When we graduated from theological seminary, we expected that we would be called to a small congregation. We were thinking that we would live in a rural area. I’m from a small town and although Susan grew up in the largest city in Montana, Billings, isn’t exactly Chicago. The seminaries that we considered were all in large urban areas: Boston, Chicago, Berkeley. It turned out that moving from Montana to Chicago was a bit of a cultural adjustment, but not as difficult as one might expect. Our seminary, though located in the heart of the city, was a small school where we were known and cared for by a close learning community. The adventure of living in the city - visiting museums, riding the trains, learning to navigate, riding to the top of sky scrapers - all were exciting and interesting to us. We even became relatively competent at driving in urban traffic.
Our classmates who were called to urban congregations began their careers either as associate pastors in large congregations or as solo pastors in small, struggling inner-city congregations. We never seriously considered staying in the city. We wanted to move closer to family and we longed for the mountains of Montana. As it turned out, our home state wasn’t exactly filled with congregations seeking pastors at the time and our search quickly expanded to include neighboring states.
Having been raised on a pretty steady diet of North Dakota jokes, I was uncertain about that state, but there were two congregations in the southwest corner of the state that were looking for a minister and after visiting with the Conference minister and corresponding with the search committee chair, it seemed like a good fit. We served those congregations for seven years and delighted in the people, the place and the experience.
Hettinger, the larger of the two towns, was classified as “rural” with about 1,200 residents. It was also classified as “isolated,” with the nearest city of 50,000 150 miles away. To get to a city of 100,000 was a drive of 300 miles, and the nearest city of a million or more was 1,000 miles distant. In fact, while we were living in Hettinger our local hospital was officially classified as a “wilderness” hospital by the hospital accreditation organization.
We didn’t feel cut off from the world. After a few months, we bought a new car and always had access to reliable transportation. We got used to driving and putting more than 20,000 miles on the car in a year became routine. We had friends who served a congregation 40 miles away and thought nothing of getting together for a meal or an hour’s conversation.
Much of the Dakotas is not that much different today. If you drive SD 20 from West to East across South Dakota you’ll start at Camp Crook, population 64. From there it is 22 miles to Buffalo, home to 335 people. In another 25 miles, you’ll get to Reva - population uncertain, maybe 2 or 3. The post office serves about 120 people, but there’s only one house in town. Another 15 miles down the road is Prairie City. They got the Prairie right, but City might not be the best description for a village of 23 persons. Bison, another 18 miles down the road is about the same size as Buffalo, with a little over 300 people.
From Bison to Isabel (population 143) is 60 miles. Along the way you’ll pass through Meadow, Coal Springs and Glad Valley. All three of those towns have populations too small to make the census reports. In the next 60 miles to Mobridge, where you cross the Missouri, you’ll pass through Timber Lake, with a population of 468. They got the lake part right, but you’ll have to look closely to find any timber. Also along the way is Trail City, another two-word town with one word lacking accuracy.
When you get to Mobridge, nearly half way across the state, you finally reach a sizable (for our territory) city of 3,500 people. You get the picture. There is a lot of territory with very few people. And there are a lot of roads in this country with similar wide open spaces, long distances and few people.
But we aren’t isolated in the way the people were a century ago. The population of the area was a little bit higher back then, with the railroad development and homesteading going on. Most of the counties in Northwestern South Dakota and Southwestern North Dakota peaked in population in the first decade of the 20th century. Sometimes I think about rural isolation when I drive across the southern end of the Cheyenne River Reservation. Red Scaffold is 14 miles from the paved road on the Cherry Creek Road. From there it is 22 miles to Cherry Creek. Mapquest says it takes over 2 hours to drive the distance, but I don’t drive 11 mph even on a gravel road. It only takes a half hour or a little less today. But there was a time, when people didn’t have cars and it did take a couple of hours. In those days it made sense for our denomination to have congregations at Red Scaffold, Frasier, and Cherry Creek: a church every 10 miles or so. If you are walking or even riding a horse, that is far enough to travel to get to church.
Of course the world has changed. Rural congregations can no longer afford recent seminary graduates. With seminary tuition of over $15,000 per year and D.Min. fees of nearly $2,000 per class, most seminary graduates are carrying too much debt by graduation to be able to afford the pay that a rural congregation could afford. Remember that drive across Northwestern South Dakota? Buffalo has only 335 people to support a Catholic, a Lutheran and a United Church of Christ congregation. The UCC congregation is yoked with the United Methodist congregation in Camp Crook, but together they couldn't raise money for salary, housing, insurance and loan payments. Health insurance alone costs more than our total pay package was during there years we lived in North Dakota.
Still, there is great faith in the open spaces of the plains. There are wonderful opportunities for ministry. We’ll need to be creative as we discern how to provide leadership for those congregations in the decades to come.
Our classmates who were called to urban congregations began their careers either as associate pastors in large congregations or as solo pastors in small, struggling inner-city congregations. We never seriously considered staying in the city. We wanted to move closer to family and we longed for the mountains of Montana. As it turned out, our home state wasn’t exactly filled with congregations seeking pastors at the time and our search quickly expanded to include neighboring states.
Having been raised on a pretty steady diet of North Dakota jokes, I was uncertain about that state, but there were two congregations in the southwest corner of the state that were looking for a minister and after visiting with the Conference minister and corresponding with the search committee chair, it seemed like a good fit. We served those congregations for seven years and delighted in the people, the place and the experience.
Hettinger, the larger of the two towns, was classified as “rural” with about 1,200 residents. It was also classified as “isolated,” with the nearest city of 50,000 150 miles away. To get to a city of 100,000 was a drive of 300 miles, and the nearest city of a million or more was 1,000 miles distant. In fact, while we were living in Hettinger our local hospital was officially classified as a “wilderness” hospital by the hospital accreditation organization.
We didn’t feel cut off from the world. After a few months, we bought a new car and always had access to reliable transportation. We got used to driving and putting more than 20,000 miles on the car in a year became routine. We had friends who served a congregation 40 miles away and thought nothing of getting together for a meal or an hour’s conversation.
Much of the Dakotas is not that much different today. If you drive SD 20 from West to East across South Dakota you’ll start at Camp Crook, population 64. From there it is 22 miles to Buffalo, home to 335 people. In another 25 miles, you’ll get to Reva - population uncertain, maybe 2 or 3. The post office serves about 120 people, but there’s only one house in town. Another 15 miles down the road is Prairie City. They got the Prairie right, but City might not be the best description for a village of 23 persons. Bison, another 18 miles down the road is about the same size as Buffalo, with a little over 300 people.
From Bison to Isabel (population 143) is 60 miles. Along the way you’ll pass through Meadow, Coal Springs and Glad Valley. All three of those towns have populations too small to make the census reports. In the next 60 miles to Mobridge, where you cross the Missouri, you’ll pass through Timber Lake, with a population of 468. They got the lake part right, but you’ll have to look closely to find any timber. Also along the way is Trail City, another two-word town with one word lacking accuracy.
When you get to Mobridge, nearly half way across the state, you finally reach a sizable (for our territory) city of 3,500 people. You get the picture. There is a lot of territory with very few people. And there are a lot of roads in this country with similar wide open spaces, long distances and few people.
But we aren’t isolated in the way the people were a century ago. The population of the area was a little bit higher back then, with the railroad development and homesteading going on. Most of the counties in Northwestern South Dakota and Southwestern North Dakota peaked in population in the first decade of the 20th century. Sometimes I think about rural isolation when I drive across the southern end of the Cheyenne River Reservation. Red Scaffold is 14 miles from the paved road on the Cherry Creek Road. From there it is 22 miles to Cherry Creek. Mapquest says it takes over 2 hours to drive the distance, but I don’t drive 11 mph even on a gravel road. It only takes a half hour or a little less today. But there was a time, when people didn’t have cars and it did take a couple of hours. In those days it made sense for our denomination to have congregations at Red Scaffold, Frasier, and Cherry Creek: a church every 10 miles or so. If you are walking or even riding a horse, that is far enough to travel to get to church.
Of course the world has changed. Rural congregations can no longer afford recent seminary graduates. With seminary tuition of over $15,000 per year and D.Min. fees of nearly $2,000 per class, most seminary graduates are carrying too much debt by graduation to be able to afford the pay that a rural congregation could afford. Remember that drive across Northwestern South Dakota? Buffalo has only 335 people to support a Catholic, a Lutheran and a United Church of Christ congregation. The UCC congregation is yoked with the United Methodist congregation in Camp Crook, but together they couldn't raise money for salary, housing, insurance and loan payments. Health insurance alone costs more than our total pay package was during there years we lived in North Dakota.
Still, there is great faith in the open spaces of the plains. There are wonderful opportunities for ministry. We’ll need to be creative as we discern how to provide leadership for those congregations in the decades to come.