In America, small town people sometimes get treated as what rural sociologists call “residual” populations. Let that sink in for a minute. Residual. Extra. Non-important. Leftovers of urban colonies. Residual even phonetically (and semantically) reminds me of the word residue. In many circles of American Christianity, that’s the way small town churches and their pastors are viewed.
A fine (and extremely current) example of this comes in a situation occurring in Virginia Baptist life (a statewide group with which my church affiliates). Allow me to explain.
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