Rural & Small Town Mission

Providing Guidance and Support to Rural and Small Town Churches

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Rural & Small Town Mission supports pastors, professional church workers and lay leaders to meet the challenges of leading Christ-centered outreach in their unique communities.

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News

Webinars

Rural & Small Town Mission webinars provide LCMS pastors and congregational leaders with practical, relevant ideas for engaging the community with the Gospel. Webinars are typically offered monthly.

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Resources & Services

‘Engaging’ Events

Engaging Your Community events can help leaders identify congregational assets and make plans for using resources to engage communities with the Gospel.

Engaging the Wandering events are designed to assist congregations with practical approaches for engaging and reaching inactive members with the Gospel.

Cost per individual is $25. For more information, or to schedule an event in your district, contact LCMS Rural & Small Town Mission.

National RSTM Conference

The annual conference addresses the blessings and challenges facing rural and small-town congregations, encouraging them and their leaders in cultivating healthy churches.

Outreach Strategies

Congregations face unique challenges, and Rural & Small Town Mission offers several outreach strategies and resources, including:

Contact LCMS Rural & Small Town Mission at 888-843-5267 or at rstm@lcms.org if you have questions about specific resources.

Welcoming Workshops

Welcoming Workshops focus on three areas: Welcoming Buildings, Welcoming Publications, and Welcoming People.

LCMS Rural & Small Town Mission will offer practical resources and communication skills for making our congregations welcoming places to provide God’s Word to members and visitors.

Cost per individual is $25. For more information, or to schedule an event in your district, contact LCMS Rural & Small Town Mission.

Reaching Rural America for Christ

The monthly RSTM newsletter offers suggestions for building, strengthening and supporting congregations.

Read current issue and archives

Rev. Dr. Mark A. Wood
Managing Director — LCMS Church Planting, Renewal, and Support

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Ask a question 1-888-843-5267

Ministry Overview

RSTM supports rural and small-town congregations because, while the work to which God has called them is the same across the country, the context in which that work is carried out varies from setting to setting.

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How to Help

The LCMS Office of National Mission works within the borders of the United States to support the programs and resources available to congregations, districts, schools, Recognized Service Organizations and other Lutheran organizations.

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RSTM Emails

Complete our easy sign-up form to receive free newsletters, webinar invitations, and resources from LCMS Rural & Small Town Mission.

Also, select other LCMS ministry topics to receive related information.

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Mission and Vision

The Lutheran Witness Magazine

MDFL Resource Center

Million Dollar Life Match

Church Work Recruitment Initiative

Caring for Ukraine

Contact Us

Email us

Church Info Center: 888-843-5267
Staff Switchboard: 800-248-1930
Donor Care Line: 888-930-4438

1333 S. Kirkwood Road, St. Louis, MO 63122-7226

Auxiliaries and Seminaries

Partners

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Inc., including Mission Central (in Mapleton, Iowa), is an IRS registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity.

A contribution designated (restricted) for a specific purpose, when accepted, will be used only to fund expenses related to that purpose. Occasionally, we may receive more in contributions for a particular purpose than can be wisely applied to it in the foreseeable future or the purpose may cease to be feasible. In these situations, the LCMS will make reasonable attempts to contact contributors to apply their contribution toward another aspect of ministry that aligns closely the contributor’s goals and values. If a contributor cannot be contacted, the LCMS will use the gift to meet a similar pressing need that most closely matches the contributor's original intent.

Consistent with Synod Board policy and in recognition of a more challenging economic and philanthropic/fundraising environment due to inflationary pressure, not more than 13.5 percent of any charitable contribution will be allocated to administering gifts and communicating with contributors. Contributions received and accepted by the LCMS are deemed to be in agreement with this statement.

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