Time magazine has an interesting article discussing how many rural communities are closing the doors of their churches. While several reasons for this are offered two explanations in the story are tragic, if true.
The first comes from Shannon Jung, "a rural church expert" in Kansas City, Missouri. She says of young pastors who are foregoing the rural parish: "A town without a Starbucks scares them."
The second explanation is seen through the dismal "warning" given to a student from a seminary professor: "Don't go [to a rural church]. You're too creative for that."
If would-be pastors are determining the call of God by the presence of a Starbucks and an art museum, the American church is in real trouble.
