Some Notes on the Church Landscape of Rural Missouri Gary Farley At the recent meeting of the advisory committee a question was raised about the meaning of the names of several of the smaller denominations one finds in Missouri. For example, one finds Missionary Baptists among the African Americans in the Bootheel and in the white Ozarks. Are they related? How are the connected to the dominant Southern Baptist denomination? After answering as well as I could from the hip, it came to mind that it might be helpful to the interviewers to have a brief typology and some bibliography upon which they might draw as they prepare for their interviews. First, I looked up the list of Missouri denominations (p. 24) in Churches and Church Membership in the United States, 1990. It is helpful, but misses several denominational groups that I know are there. Second, I consulted my copy of Handbook of Denominations in the United States, by Frank S. Mead and rev. by Samuel S. Hill. This is helpful in identifying the history and theological perspective of many of the denominational groups to be found in Missouri. Third, I developed a typology of denominational families one informed mostly by history to use in categorizing the churches in rural Missouri. Please view this as only a first draft which can be revised and expanded as the study moves along. One may consult the references for a fuller treatment of these churches. And I hope that other advisory committee members will share their insights and understandings. (I imagine that this exercise will have some application to subsequent elements of the larger study and applications. I. European Imports. A. Roman Catholic. In places such as the German Ozarks, west and south of St. Louis, one finds what seems to be transplanted parish churches from Germany. Elsewhere one finds similar congregations of French, or Irish, or other origins. Culture, ethnicity, and religion are often closely tied. In addition, particularly in the Lake areas, one also finds new Roman Catholic parishes that are mostly comprised of exurbanite retirees. B. Lutheran, Missouri Synod. Most rural Lutheran churches in Missouri have a similar origin. They were established to serve the spiritual needs of a colony of immigrants from German principalities. They were formed in the second half of the 19 th century. They have a tradition of being very conservative theologically. St Louis is the home of the denominational offices for this Lutheran denomination. There are several ECLA congregations in the state, also, but I imagine that most of them are urban. C. United Church of Christ. This denomination resulted from the merger, several decades ago, of the Congregationalists and the Evangelical and Reformed groups. The latter is mostly Germanic in origin. Both are Calvinistic. In rural Missouri most UCC congregations are former E & R congregations. Often in the German Ozarks and on along the Missouri river counties one finds towns dominated by one of these groups Roman Catholic, Lutheran, or UCC and one or the other present.
D. Episcopalian. Like the three above this was an import from Europe where it like each of the others was the established church in one or more nations. There are few rural Episcopalian churches in Missouri. In part this is the consequence that by the time that this state was being settled, the Methodist effort at reform within the Episcopal church had broken away from its mother and many of its traditional members had gone with the Methodists. The denomination has the reputation of being urbane, and across the years its members have tended to move into the professions and into the cities. (I recall a rural American Episcopal church on State Route 37 in Barry County. I think that this was a small break away sect.) E. Presbyterian. An established church in Scotland and Northern Ireland, it was the church of nativity of many early settlers in Missouri. Presbyterians participated in the Frontier revivals early in the 19 th century, but apparently the lack of trained ministers to start churches in the emerging communities placed them at a disadvantage in conserving the fruits of this revival. This denomination lost large numbers to the revivalistic, conversionist denominations as presented in the next section. Today there are not many rural and small town Presbyterian congregations in Missouri. F. Peace Churches. Unlike the other imports these denominations were never the establishment. Rather then were often the subject of persecution in Europe. They came to American seeking freedom and often established rural colonies. Some continue. Due largely to high birthrates, some have expanded in resent years as new colonies have been developed in rural Missouri. Included would be various branches of Amish, Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Friends. Most share some elements with Baptists. All are pacificist, unlike Baptists in America. But they do share with the other imports an eccesiology that sees the local church as a church that serves an important centering function toward the community which it serves. This is the parish tradition, one that is less strong among the other denominations that will be presented later. Using the Troeltsch-Weber typology of Church/Sect, these six groups tend toward the church side. (The peace churches originated as sects, but because of persecution they have become primary groups, forming church-like colonies.) And the established denominations have had to adapt to the different climate, a kind of market economy, in the United States. It has been my observation that one of the major difficulties in discussions between the European Import and the Made in America (the denominations to be treated below) comes at this point the expectations of each in terms of the relationship of a congregations to the community in which it is located. The former tend to want to be a parish and serve the community is great depth. The later tends to be much less connected. It may struggle with its role in the community, particularly in those places where it has become dominant, but this is new for it, not its legacy. II. Conversionists. The two Great Awakenings in America ( ca 1740 and 1800) had tremendous implications for denominations in the United States. With no group having enough power to become the established church of the new nation, the concept of separation of church and state became accepted. (The practice in Europe had been for a particular expression of Christianity to be the
official or established form, supported and tied to the state.) Basic to this paper is the concept that the Awakenings shifted the understanding of what it means to be a Christian toward the concept of a transformational conversion experience and away from being baptized at birth and subsequently confirmed into the membership as was the case with the establishment churches. Further, this refocusing of soteriology had significant implications for ecclesiology. The local church or congregation became less an institution of society, in the classical sense of Structural-Functionalist sociology, and more like a social group which was a part of a social movement, gathered out of the society. Conversionist churches did not see themselves so much as a religious expression of community life, but rather as a special group within the community. It was more like Weber s sect than like his church category. A. Methodism. This denomination began just prior to the Revolutionary War as an effort to reform the Church of England. It focused on personal holiness. It organized classes in existing Episcopalian parishes with the intent of reforming the life of the church. These were led by pious lay persons. Following the war the movement spread rapidly in the new nation and benefitted greatly from the frontier revivals. During the settlement period of Missouri, Methodism flourished. But within Methodism there was an element that identified with its churchly, Episcopalian origins and another which was informed by the revivalistic, conversionist understanding of the Christian life. After the Civil War it seems that the former gained ascendency in the denominational hierarchy. Toward the end of the 19 th century several groups splintered off. One reason for the early success of the Methodists in harvesting the results of the frontier revivals was their Arminian theology with an emphasis on free will was better fitted to the spirit of the age than was Calvinism which often so stressed the sovereignty of God and predestination, that there was little place for the radical conversional experience that was normative at the camp meetings. One may find African American Methodist churches AME, AME Zion, and CME. in the rural Missouri sample. The origin of these group goes back to the time of Emancipation. Numbers of African American Methodist Christians formed separate congregations and from them grew several black denominations. B. Cumberland Presbyterian. Within Presbyterianism on the frontier were those who sought to modify Calvinism to the spirit of the age. It embraced elements of free will and determinism. Finis Ewing, one of the founders, came to Central Missouri in 1820 and formed a training school for ministers in Cooper County. This movement did well on the frontier. Many of the churches ultimately went back into the larger denomination and it is but a small presence in rural Missouri. C. Baptists. According to the statistics found in Churches and Church Membership in the United States in 1990, Southern Baptists rank a close second to Roman Catholics in numbers of adherents in Missouri. When the various elements of the Baptist movement are aggregated, it is the largest. And certainly in rural Missouri it is the largest presence both in number of congregations and membership. The Baptists came early to America. From the beginning they were divided into the Regulars who were Calvinistic and the Generals who were Arminian. Following the First Great
Awakening a third group emerged the Separates. They took their name from the fact that they had departed from the Congregationalist churches of New England to form Baptist churches. About 1800 many of the Regulars and the Separatists agreed to come together as the United Baptists. And after 1845 most of the United became either Southern or Northern Baptists. However, along the way there were always some who where not willing to be a part of the merger, so one finds some United Baptists still in rural Missouri. And also across time some who had merged became uncomfortable and splintered off. One such group present in rural Missouri is the Primitive Baptists. Their roots are in the hyper-calvinistic Regular Baptists. When the old United Baptists began to form mission societies (ca 1820), the Primitives found this running contrary to their theology, and so they splintered off. The United were often called missionary and the Primitive were called antimissionary and hardshell Baptists. Today, in the Ozarks one finds a newer set of rural churches labeled Missionary Baptists. Many of these are affiliated with the Baptist Missionary Association. This a group which broke with the American Baptist Association which in turn was formed by churches that withdrew from affiliation with Southern Baptists early in this century. Essentially, the first break came over the issue of supporting missionaries through missionary boards. They felt that churches and associations, not national conventions, should send and support missionaries. (It is felt by many that sociological and ego issues were also involved.) Still another splinter group, Baptist Bible Fellowship, may be found among the rural churches included in this study. The fellowship is headquartered in Springfield. Its issue is connectionalism. Their churches are independent. They fear that belonging to an association and/or a convention compromises these freedom. Each of these groups is very fundamentalist. (An aside: there is a lot of fellowship among the current leaders of the SBC and the BBF. To wit: Jerry Falwell is a featured speaker at a major SBC church leadership training event this summer. And Jerry Vine, a former SBC president is chairman of Falwell s University Board..) In the Bootheel and in Little Dixie one will find some African American congregations that also go by the name Missionary Baptist. Most of them are actually connected with the National Baptist Convention, an African American denomination. Many of the churches were formed shortly after the Civil War by freed slaves who had been members of multi-racial Baptist congregations, but who now wanted to form congregations led by Blacks. Since in 1865 the Southern Baptists were still called Missionary, as distinguished from anti-missionary, the African Americans carried this name out with them. Two Arminian Baptist groups will likely appear in the study, as well. One is the General Baptists. Their headquarters are in Popular Bluff, and they are a presence in that area. The second is the Free Will Baptists. They are also mostly rural and will be found around the state. Each was founded by a charismatic leader. I do not know why they have not merged, unless there are differences in eccelsiology. Most of the Baptists churches in Missouri are connected with the Southern Baptist Convention. But actually, they are connected to three extra local church entities an area association, the Missouri Baptist Convention, and the SBC. As a general rural the rural pastors are local men with no seminary training. The town pastors tend to be seminary trained and more cosmopolitan. The town churches tend to be more toward the moderate stance and the rural churches more toward the conservative stance. Both will tend to see themselves as less fundamentalist than the BMA, ABA, and the BBF. Many Southern Baptists struggle with their
role of being the dominant congregation in their community. With their heritage being conversionist, they do not know how to behave like a parish church, but feel pressure to do so. One way this is expressed is in a dichotomy between evangelism and ministry. Some really focus on the former, so much so, that they do not support community activities very well. III. Restorationists An important strain in the Great Awakening was the effort to restore the church to its original, first century, purity. This is an important element among the Baptists, but it more of a focus in the denominations associated with Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone Disciples of Christ, Independent Christian, and Churches of Christ. It seems to me that this has taken two primary forms. One is to be strictly literal in application of the Scriptures, as in the case of the non-instrumental Churches of Christ (many of whom have roots in the Baptist movement.) The other found in the Disciples is to focus on the central elements of the Christian message and not worry about the non-central issues. A. Disciples of Christ/Christian Church. This denomination came to Missouri about 1830 as thousands of people moved west from Kentucky. They settled along the Missouri river in what is often called Little Dixie. And as the Ozarks were settled many thousand moved there, many from West Tennessee where the movement was strong. In not a few places after the Civil War as the American Sunday School Union organized rural Sunday Schools, the Disciples would furnish a minister for worship one Sunday a month, with the Baptists, Methodists, and one of the Presbyterian denominations taking the other. Because of their stance related to Christian unity, the Disciples may have a resurgence of popularity in the emerging retirement communities of the Ozarks. B. Churches of Christ. Not to be confused with the United Church of Christ. These churches splintered off from the Disciples toward the end of the 19 th century. They tended to be literalistic, rural and poor. They loved to debate theology with their Baptist neighbors. Mostly present in the Ozarks. C. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. This seems to be a rather significant presence in Missouri. This probably reflects some defection by some conservative Disciples, particularly after the 1968 decision to form a more structured national denomination. (But John Bennett can probably be of help here.) D. Church of God (Anderson). This group seems to have much in common with the Disciples. It seeks to promote Christian unity by getting beyond sectarian concerns. IV. Millennial During the second half of the 19 th century several millennial groups emerged in the United States. They are often considered cults by other Christian bodies, but they have some presence in rural Missouri.
A. Seventh Day Adventist. B. Jehovah Witnesses V. Holiness and Pentecostal Deep in both the conversionist and the restoration movements is a call for personal holiness. But as Methodism became more mainline and identified with the Episcopalian roots, some defections were experienced. Likewise as Baptists relaxed their stress on a disciplined church membership, they also experienced some defections. Several of the resultant denominations have Missouri connections. Further, for some the logic conclusion of the restoration movement was the restoration of spiritual gifts including speaking in tongues, prophecy and miraculous healing. Both of these movements occurred near the turn of the century. Then in the 1960s there was a second serge of interest in gifts of the Spirit, some of which have issued in new independent churches, and in some quasi-denominations. Examples of these are also to be found in rural Missouri. A. Church of the Nazarene. This Weslyan denomination is headquartered in Kansas City. B. Assembly of God. This group stressed spiritual gifts in addition of holiness. It is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. C. Pentecostal Church of God. Headquartered in Joplin. D. United Pentecostal Church. Publishing House is in St. Louis. E. Church of God in Christ. An assembly like denomination with roots in the National Baptists. Rapidly growing. Primarily African American. F. Independent New Charismatics. As one travels rural America, he or she will become aware of many congregations that seem to be independent ones. This is particularly true of new charismatic groups with nondenominational names. It seems that most towns now have such a group meeting in a metal building on the outskirts of town. Note a dove on the sign and on the side of the building. The pastor is often either a local fellow who broke with some existing congregation, or a product of some charismatic or fundamentalist Bible school. These will be Some may be tied to parachurch groups,etc. VI. Mormonism Independence, Missouri, played an important role in the history of this set of groups. Mormonism is sometimes treated as a restorationist movement. But many Christians see it as cultic. This is based on its treatment of the Book of Mormon being at least as inspired as the Bible, its heterodoxy on such topics as the Trinity, the uniqueness of Jesus, and polygamy, in the
past. The two groups most likely found in rural Missouri would be: A. Reorganized LDS B. LDS (Note: on these and the other denominations concerning which I have not written anything, I would encourage the researcher to look at the Mead and Hill book. It will provide an adequate introduction into the theology of each.) Conclusion This will probably need some refinement and expansion. But I hope that it will be a good beginning that can be used by interviews who have not been students of Church history and theology and therefore are not in the position to understand the rudimentary nature of the many different groups that they encounter. These categories should help the interviewer understand which many of the groups fit into the larger church.