Rural Ministry Conference
Special Notice
In 2025, Village Missions received a grant from the Billy Graham Center for Rural Evangelism. As part of this initiative, eight missionaries—one from each Village Missions district—are currently partnering with the Billy Graham Center to receive specialized evangelism training. Over the coming year, each of these missionaries will host a regional conference to share what they’ve learned and equip other rural pastors and lay leaders for effective outreach.
Meanwhile, the Village Missions Stewardship Department (conference support team) is quietly working behind the scenes to develop a comprehensive manual and support network to strengthen these conferences and ensure long‑term impact.
Please check back or fill out our Contact Us form. We will send you an email when more details are available.
The Rural Ministry Conference was designed specifically for pastors and lay leaders serving in rural America. We recognize that you may have a hard time finding a conference that provides practical advice and encouragement for a church of under fifty people and may even become discouraged attending larger conferences. You might find large conferences for larger churches discouraging. That's why we created this conference!
Village Missions has faithfully partnered with small churches by supplying missionary pastors for over 75 years, so we understand the unique joys and challenges you face.
The Rural Ministry Conference celebrates the strengths and potential of small-town and rural churches. We also acknowledge the challenges of rural ministry and explore ways to work through them. We glean wisdom from veterans in rural ministry, and we encourage one another to persevere.
The goals of the Rural Ministry Conference are:
- provide relevant content to pastors and lay leaders serving in small towns and rural communities.
- encourage pastors to faithfully serve where God has placed them.
Village Missions has held these conferences in Kearney, NE. We are looking for other locations. If you and your church would be willing to partner with Village Missions on a rural ministry conference, please contact Village Missions.
We hope to see you at one of the conferences!
This conference is hosted by Village Missions as part of our goal to help country churches thrive.
Excellent! I found it very encouraging. Just what I needed. – Dan Callister, pastor in Sunizona, AZ (First Baptist Church)
Fantastic fellowship and nicely targeted teaching sessions. – John Lewis, InFaith
We came to this conference looking for resources for rural churches. We left encouraged. The best part was the fellowship with pastors and leaders from other rural churches. – Allen Widdows, pastor in Joseph, UT (Little Green Valley Calvary Chapel)
There aren’t many conferences like this one that focus on rural ministry and on small-town churches with ranchers and farmers on their elder board. This was extremely valuable for rural pastors. -- Zane Hall, pastor in McCook, NE
I’m not a pastor, but I like spending time with my heroes who are. I come away encouraged and with a better understanding of the challenges and rewards of ministry. – Steven Younger
Rural Ministry Conferences
Kearney, NE
Cornerstone Berean Church
1004 30th Avenue
Kearney NE 68845