Leading a rural church in America today? In this video, we’ll look at the challenges and opportunities of discovering faithful, effective, collaborative, and sustainable models of leadership for rural churches.

How to rediscover hope and creativity amidst change and loss in Rural America? If you lead a rural church and want to be effective as rural life changes across America, then you’ll want to watch the entire video to learn from Bishop Bill Tesch of South Dakota who has been a church planter, mission developer, and Air Force Chaplain. Discover church future trends across rural churches in America today and rediscover your hope and energy as a church leader.

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Terri Elton: Across today's church an increasing number of congregations are not served by a traditional pastor, and this is especially true in many of the rural areas. But it is also true across other contexts as well. You actually may be leading such a congregation, or 3 or 4 for that matter, and you may see this unfolding in your neighborhood or your region. There are a variety of reasons why these shifts are taking place in how congregations are led and who's leading them. In this episode, we will dive into the challenges and opportunities of discovering faithful, effective, collaborative and sustainable models of leadership for today's church through a case study in a rural church system that is discovering hope and creativity amongst change and loss. Hello everyone, I'm Terri Elton.

Dwight Zscheile: And I'm Dwight Zscheile. Welcome to the Pivot Podcast. This is the podcast where we talk about how the church can faithfully navigate a changing world. We are really excited to have Bill Tesch with us today. Bill is bishop of the Northwestern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Bishop Tesch has a rich background in ministry and leadership, which includes serving on synod staff and as a mission developer or church planter in South Dakota, a rural pastor with a two point congregation and an Air Force chaplain. Bishop Tesch, welcome to the Pivot podcast.

Bill Tesch: Thank you. I'm delighted to be here.

Terri Elton: Well, Bill, I know something about your neck of the woods, as they say in the Midwest. But I'd love you to tell us and our listeners a little bit more about your synod in northwest Minnesota. But also, what are some of the challenges that churches in your rural area are facing today?

Bill Tesch: Thank you, Terri. I'd love to tell you about northwestern Minnesota. We are about 80,000 siblings in Christ in about 220 worshiping communities across the northwestern part of Minnesota. So if you draw a crosshairs on Minnesota, which I'm not sure why you'd want to do that, but in case you did, um, it's the upper left hand corner there. And, uh, we have a beautiful, diverse geography that includes lakes country, as well as boreal forest and prairie and rich agricultural lands. And, uh, and we also have lots of, uh, among those 220 congregations, many small, smaller rural communities, congregations that have evolved over the years to be, um, more the size of what we might think of as a house church with a dozen to maybe two dozen, or at the most, three dozen people gathering. That'd be true of many of our churches. And we have large and medium sized churches as well. So, uh, I've served here since 2019 as bishop and have loved getting to know these people and these congregations.

Terri Elton: So one of the things I know about your context is there's farmers, there's a large farmer, but there's also recreational and people that are seasonal. Can you just talk a little bit about kind of how those kind of dynamics fit into your context?

Bill Tesch: Yeah. Thanks. They, they we have a lot of diversity in terms of context. We have, as you mentioned, Lakes Country, where we have congregations that experience, that their, their busy season is May, May through, through September, right, as people return to the lake and then of course, we have, congregations, some of the first congregations started in this part of the world in the Lutheran Church, where we're in our more, on prairies and in the Red River Valley, where we have a lot of our farming communities, who have been figuring out have been really adapting to change ever since they were planted, but especially in these last several years. You know, our churches now, if you do the, just do the math. You know, we have about half as many people. And that would be true of the whole church in North America. But it's also true of us. So we have about half as many people as we had at our peak in the 1960s and 70s, but we still have about the same number of congregations, which poses some interesting challenges in terms of how do we provide word and sacrament ministry and, and, and leadership in these communities across these different regions?

Dwight Zscheile: Well, tell us a bit more about what that leadership landscape looks like. Who is leading these congregations and, um, and give us more of a description of that.

Bill Tesch: Yeah. So we we have a wonderful, um, uh, cadre of, of professionally trained pastors and deacons, who serve congregations across our region. But more and more, uh, are turning to local lay leaders who are sensing a call to serve the church in a in, in a different way, actually serving as a word and sacrament. Ministers authorized to do so in that particular location and for a particular time. So as we one of the ways that we've responded to that challenge that I mentioned about having just as many congregations that require resourcing around worship and education and service to the neighbor, we also have just way fewer people to potentially staff those. And so by turning to the talent, the local talent, so to speak, and we are finding a lot of, not only practical, you know, sort of practical. Tactical. Um, can I start over there? Yeah. By turning to local lay leaders, we're finding that this is not only addresses the practical concerns, but is also leading to, in many cases, a kind of spiritual renewal and revival in those communities, which is really exciting to see. And I would name that something that we didn't necessarily expect when we began building this sort of system and structure to support this.

Dwight Zscheile: So, uh, I'm curious to hear a little more about your kind of leadership philosophy framework and really kind of ecclesiology around some of this shift in leadership. Um, and what are you learning about that and how how are people interpreting what it means to lead the church and who's called to leadership? And how are you helping the synod and the congregations understand some of these shifts?

Bill Tesch: Yeah. Thanks. I've long believed that, that God has provided the gifts and the resources that are needed for each community and in an authentic way. Uh, and oftentimes we've practiced a kind of mismatch by, I would say, even often ignoring those gifts and insisting on doing things a certain way that we've always done it before, which is a a seminary trained, ordained pastor for every congregation. Um, but I think really embracing this idea that the gifts that are needed are there and, and the wisdom as well, um, has uh is and by and one of the ways we do that is we for example, we, we invite people who are working on a similar problem or serving in a similar context or living through a similar era of ministry or of life in the congregation to become part of affinity group with people who are struggling with the same things and who, uh, they meet with a coach and with each other to share the wisdom that already resides there. But we've, as we've shared this, I this invitation to for congregations that struggle and probably always will struggle maybe never will find a full time or even part time seminary trained or ordained pastor, as we've invited them to consider whether or not God might be calling someone in their midst to step forward and serve, we've just been overwhelmed in a positive, in a good way with the response of people who have raised their hands. In many cases, they've said, you know, this is something I've really wanted to do for my whole life, but for a variety of reasons, I didn't think I could. Um, a lot of, though not all, and maybe not even most anymore, but but for a long time, most of our, uh, initially synod authorized ministers were people in their 70s, even 80s, uh, oftentimes women who, when it came time to select a career path may have considered ministry but it was a path that they felt was not open to them at the time. And now they're able to step forward in that way. And it's exciting to see. I was visiting with some of our Sams just this last week, and they knew I would be, uh, joining this podcast. And so I invited them to share some stories. But Lorene, in one of our congregations shared that her stepping forward to serve in this new and unexpected way has also led to an influx of other leaders stepping forward for other kinds of people. Basically said, well, if Lorene can do that, then I can probably help with the children's ministry. And she's and they're seeing a revitalization of those ministries of the congregation that are largely lay led.

Terri Elton: So you and I have talked a little bit about this before, and one of the things you said to me that I've been noodling on since that is you really feel a call as a bishop, that word and sacrament ministry is available to everyone, I would say, within your geography, right? Yeah. For those of you that aren't ELCA, our synods actually are defined by geography, right? There's invisible and visible borders sometimes. There's a river, for example, between you and eastern North Dakota. But in that, as the professional idea of leadership, right, in the the clergy are less available, that doesn't mean the call to word and sacrament ministry has gone away. Right. So part of what's interesting to me is your sense of the whole, right, of a large geography has not only invited missional imagination and new leaders to come, but also a sense of, I think collaboration or like this is our calling, right? Would you say something about what that's been like?

Bill Tesch: Yeah. Thank you. Well, it's been, it's been exciting and in many ways, I would say heartwarming to see, people stepping forward in ways that in many cases they've for a long time long to and in other cases are surprised to sense a call within themselves for that. Um, but it is it only happens. We can only do this work together because, um, for in order for us to continue to steward our unique witness to the gospel. You know, we each, each of us in our different denominations has, has some part of the gospel that we cherish and we want to lift up and and ensure is carried on to future generations. It's really important that the synod authorized ministers also be equipped and and be stewarded, um, have their gifts be stewarded. And so this system depends on the cooperation of councils and congregations and of course, our synod staff and our synod council. But also in another important player, are seminary trained, ordained pastors who function as like New Testament bishops. Right? They oversee a small cadre of synod authorized ministers. And they and in doing so, provide on the job training. If someone is brand new to the role, they'll they'll walk them through. How do I preside at the sacrament? How do I, I'm being asked to do a wedding. How does that work? And really walking. Of course we, uh, we have a requirement for some formal training that must be completed over the course of two years, but they don't have to wait to complete that training because of the presence of that mentor pastor who who, um, accompanies them in that role. And so that's been really critical for us. And a key, one of the key learnings we had, I think if I often say that the the rate, your rate of innovation is directly proportional, proportionate to the number of "oh duh" moments that you have. An "Oh duh" for us was if we could do it over again, we should have started with the mentors, right? We should have began by saying to the seminary trained, ordained pastors, hey, here are the needs out there. We believe that there are people that God is calling into this into this work. And and your gifts, uh, are going to be your seminary education. It'll be more valuable now, perhaps, than ever, as you function in some ways, like a teacher and a and an overseer, um, and figure out some sort of system of organizing that group of mentor pastors. But we did it the other way around. Um, and, and we're running to catch up now, but it's really going well. And, uh, we're getting good reports from those relationships between mentor and minister. So.

Terri Elton: So here's one thing I was thinking about as you were talking. I actually have a college friend who married a high school and college friend that is a farmer in your synod, and I'm watching him pass the farm on to the next generation. And it's much more an apprenticeship accompaniment model than an educational university type model. And I think that is something we we, those of us that live in the Academy can learn from people that teach and equip leaders differently. Right. Like an apprentice? Right?

Bill Tesch: I think so.

Terri Elton: And and I wonder how has how have people taken to that in, in your area, has that been hard for them to see that role or that way of learning be different? Because if you're looking for a trained pastor, if that's all you've known, with the master's degree, this is a very different thing, right?

Bill Tesch: Well, yes and no. In our part of the world, I, you know, the history of, of of immigration, of European descent people here mostly mostly Scandinavian, mostly Lutheran, is such that some of this is just in their DNA. I mean, people came here largely to escape people like me, bishops and the big church. Right? And so in the DNA of these congregations, for the most part, is, is a is already a, an openness to and a healthy appreciation for deep engagement by the laity. And, and much of that's gone underground in the last 50 years, whereas we've become a more clergy centric church. And now as we move away from that, once again, it's starting to re-emerge. And so, um, it's largely welcomed. We we receive very little pushback. I do hear on occasion, maybe some some undertone of anxiety from our, from our pastors, who wonder, whether or not, um, I think some of it has to do with, well, what does this mean about me and my future in ministry? Right? And we reassure them that it means that their role is going to be even more vital and more important as, um, as, as this continues to unfold and, we do have congregations who who can't imagine this as a way forward, right? I mean, it's not very many, but there are those who for them if if the model of a seminary trained, ordained pastor and, uh, and the people can't if that model can't be lived into, then that probably means we're headed towards holy closure. Um, and that's okay, too. I mean, we will work with them in that way. I don't know if that answers your question, Terri, but, yeah.

Terri Elton: No, I, I think it's important to remember we have to look further back than just the last couple decades. Right? And I think that's really good history to remind us of. Maybe we just need to go back further in: What's the DNA of which these churches were planted? And there might be assets there, right? Gifts there.

Bill Tesch: I certainly have bishop colleagues in other parts of the country where this would simply not be possible because of that piety that exists in the DNA that that lives there and and how I have a deep respect for them and, and an appreciation for the challenges they face, because they're facing the same challenges in terms of just the numbers of potential candidates for ordained ministry.

Terri Elton: So that's actually what I was just going to ask you. So I see you on a front edge of leading on this challenge. And I think there are, like you said, more than one way to answer the challenge, to respond to the challenge. Right? But how are you taking what you're learning and trying to foster other creative conversations? Number one. And second, what are the pushbacks or where are the places that within the ELCA, your denomination, our denomination, that this is just really too big of a stretch for people? Some people.

Bill Tesch: Yeah, it's been a process. Um, I'll take the last question first. It's been a process, that's been unfolding, probably since before I came into the Conference of Bishops in the ELCA. But certainly, seemed to be a conversation that was coming to the fore. Uh, what, since 2019, when I came in, which is, you know, the how do we live together as a church where we have very different polities and understandings around how what's possible for lay ministry in terms of word and sacrament ministry. And I think that we have arrived at a place that where we where we can appreciate each other's diversity and differences, but also understand that context can drive different solutions and different ways forward. And so we have some guidelines that we adhere to in order to, uh, I often cynically use the word fulfill all righteousness, but also to but but really more seriously, so that we can live in good community with the rest of the church, right? Rules around, that you are authorized only for a particular place and only for a year at a time. And at the end of that year, we have a serious conversation about candidacy and about whether or not as long as you're doing word and sacrament ministry and you seem to be thriving in it, why not go and go to seminary and become a pastor? And we have those conversations every year. And many people recently have been responding positively to that conversation. So those are some of the ways that we have agreed to be together as a diverse church. Um, that that, uh, allows our colleagues and who live in places where it's this kind of way of doing ministry wouldn't be possible, allows them to feel okay, to be in partnership with each other, in relationship.

Terri Elton: How are you sharing your learnings with others?

Bill Tesch: We there there are about, I would say, a half a dozen synods who are kind of real similar to us in terms of, that they've worked hard to build out some kind of structure and to provide some kind of education and support and have similar contexts. These these synods are mostly in the Midwest. And we do we have a, a channel on our teams channel that where we, we share around these matters. And of course, we talk about it when we're together. Um, one of the things we're trying to solve is we when it comes to training, we've kind of, each done our own thing, and that's sort of endemic in the way we do church in the ELCA. We have we and we're trying to figure out better ways to collaborate around that. And frankly, Luther Seminary's Certificate in Christian Ministry is a way forward for training for synod authorized ministry that I think all of us can embrace. And we're really excited that to see that that that's growing. B ut we're wondering about are there other ways that we can share the resources that we have for preparation and training for lay ministers.

Dwight Zscheile: So if we think ecumenically let's kind of step back to the larger picture in America right now. Um, this reality that we're talking about is more and more common. I just read an article yesterday by a PC- USA, um, pastor talking about a pastor less church, and this was in a, you know, I think it was Kansas, um, in an area in that, in that denomination. And so many others are are experiencing this as well. And so, um, so I'm just curious, as we think about this shift taking place and we've been talking about it in this podcast series as a shift from primarily clergy led, lay supported ministry to primarily lay led, clergy supported ministry. What are some of the other challenges and opportunities that you're seeing in this?

Bill Tesch: So I think there's an opportunity you mentioned, um, ecumenical the ecumenical realities. And, and and we certainly have ecumenical partners. And each one regards this differently, um, very differently. But one interesting just side note is I've been working with, won't name the denomination here, but I've been we've been working closely with an ecumenical partner, to develop a new ministry, a shared ministry among indigenous neighbors. And when we began talking to each other two years ago, this particular ecumenical partner indicated that there was no pathway that they could imagine where a layperson could function in a word and sacrament role. And just in the last two years, that's changed inside their denomination, which has opened up all kinds of new ways that we can collaborate. So that's really exciting. You know, some other challenges are, frankly, as a bishop, one of the things we worry about is, what if congregations just decide, okay, well, anybody can do this and we're just going to pick somebody and have them go ahead and do it. And our our concern isn't so much control as it is, as I mentioned earlier, just ensuring the long term integrity of our of our unique witness to the gospel and, and putting some structures in place to do that. And so, you know, that requires a lot of communication, a lot of, education. We do, uh, zoom meetings in this format with um, presidents and congregational leaders and folks that are interested in or might consider synod authorized ministry for them to ensure that they just understand not only what we do and what the expectations are, but also why you know that there is a why behind, um, some of these guidelines that we have in place around Synod authorized ministry. So I'd say that's that's been one challenge. I think another one is nothing ever unfolds exactly perfectly. I mean, and if I could design the world to my specifications, we would have a mentor pastor. And within 20 miles, 3 or 4 synod authorized ministers. But it's never that clean. And so we have to work hard to knit together relationships, sometimes across some distance. So that would be another challenge here in our territory. Um, so yeah, that's a couple that I've thought of.

Terri Elton: So Bill, I want to know about some stories. Um, is there a story or two that you could share with us that are just motivating you and encouraging you to keep doing this work?

Bill Tesch: Yeah. Well, just a couple of weeks ago, I got an email, and it wasn't even the main purpose of this email from Jan. She's a retired educator. She's in her 70s, and she's serving as a synod authorized minister and has been for two years now. And she's serving a community where they were seeing 35 to 40 people in worship. But since she's been there, they've seen steady growth in worship. And on Christmas Eve, she reported they had 125 people in the building, which they have not seen that happen there probably for 30 years. Right? And, um, much of that, I mean, try to figure out why is that? I mean, they've had they've been served by skilled pastors over the years. But I think, I think the Holy Spirit is up to something in those communities. And people are seeing that, that someone that they know and love from their community and, and functioning and functioning well in this role. And it's inspiring them to take their own faith and their practice, faith practice, more seriously, too. We have a, um, a young woman named Callista who's up on the up on the border, right up on the northern border with Canada. And, I always have to remind potential pastors who are interested in our synod that there's an there's an entire other country above that northern border, that people actually live there. But as you can imagine, it's often a bit of a challenge to get folks to look up in that direction. And when this congregation had a vacancy, um, it was evident to everyone right away that Callista needed to be the person that stepped up into the role of synod authorized ministry for the interim. Well, Callista is enrolled at seminary, and she's applying for some scholarships with us and with others and serving them as a synod authorized minister. And we've we've heard from their leadership, why do we need to form a call committee? Do we really need to do that? Um, because it's going so well here and we can, and Callista isn't planning on moving anywhere. And so why not this as a long term solution for us, for our ministry? And we welcome that. I can tell you a lot of stories. I could keep going, but that's just a couple.

Dwight Zscheile: So, Bill, this is so rich. And I'm going to just reflect back some of the key themes that I've heard from you in this conversation. And one is really an invitation to raise up and empower the gifts that God has given the people who are there and not expecting that, you know, those gifts need to come in from somewhere else, but that God has really provided in that community what God needs to do the ministry God's calling the local church to do. I think that's really powerful. And um, and then also, um, this idea of "just in time" training where people can remain in context and receive the mentoring and the equipping that they need. Those of our listeners who may not be aware of this, uh, here at Luther Seminary's Faith Lead, we have Faith Lead Academy, which is a whole suite of on demand, non-credit digital courses that learners can access whenever they want them and work through at their own pace from wherever they are. And so we've been trying to create and build that as a resource for situations like yours, Bill and so many others where God's raising up leaders who may not initially at least go to traditional seminary or may not ever and but really do need that resourcing and that that education for where they are. So those of you who are more interested, you can find more at faithlead. org. But also I just want to reflect back again the sense of hopefulness that I hear in you and the ways in which God is really stirring and bringing new life in the midst of all of this.

Bill Tesch: Yeah. Thank you. We definitely have experienced it as renewing. And we see God at work in so many ways in this that has its challenges as we've shared. But and you're exactly right. I love the the faith lead resources. We lift them up to our synod authorized ministers as a potential pathway for them. Um, and those kinds of "just in time" resources are exactly what we need. Because, you know, one of the things I'll just add to this, that that I think one of the things that makes this possible is when we when we call a professional from outside the community in our traditional model. And even though it was never intended this way, it often happens that we we sort of turn the whole ministry over to that person. But with synod authorized ministry, everybody understands that the scope of their work is very limited. Right? And that if we're going to do more as a congregation, if we're going to, then that's going to fall on, on the rest of us. And so those "just in time" resources are really perfect for that kind of environment of ministry, where you where you have, um, different people taking different pieces of the ministry and carrying it forward.

Terri Elton: Yeah. And, Bill, I want to thank you for being a good leader with us here at Luther Seminary. The certificate program, which is, is courses in our degree programs, but it's not for a master's or for an MDiv, but there are clusters of 6 to 8 courses in different degree programs. The Christian ministry, one you highlighted, really, that experiment came out of a conversation with bishops, of which Bill shared some of these challenges, and we said, let's try something. And it went so well, we've already done a second experiment and are now making it mainstream for next fall. And so part of what I want to both thank you, Bill, for bringing us into your challenge and your opportunities to kind of partner, but also challenge the listeners to say, who might you be in conversation with and what resources adjacent to you - camps- you have camps in your area, right? You have other, other denominations and other educational partners that might be be a part of that, because I think this is a challenge bigger than any one of us is going to solve or or even get our heads around, as you said, in a neat way in the next few years. It's going to be a bigger adaptive challenge that we do for the sake of the gospel. Right? And that's pretty exciting. So thank you, Bill. And I just want to say, thanks on behalf of the ELCA for being a leader in this in this area and responding in such a good way to your context and being faithful there. Listeners, listeners, thanks for tuning in again and wondering what the shift to lay led, clergy supported ministry might look like. And I encourage you to take something with do an experiment, have a conversation, do something with what's nudging at you today. This is Terri Elton and Dwight Zscheile signing off from another episode of the Pivot podcast. And we'll see you next week.

Faith+Lead: The Pivot podcast is a production of Luther Seminary's Faith+Lead. Faith lead is an ecosystem of theological resources and training designed to equip Christian disciples and leaders to follow God into a faithful future. Learn more at FaithLead.org.