Purpose

Our Purpose

Our purpose is two-fold: to plant and to strengthen churches in small-town America (usually towns of 5,000 or less). We want to do this in such a way that believers are equipped to serve the Lord effectively as He works through them to build His church.

It is not our purpose to duplicate the many efforts to plant churches in the larger towns and cities. RHMA plants and develops churches in a diversified and spiritually neglected non-urban society. From the deserts of Arizona to the forests of New York, from the southern drawl in Texas to the farmer’s talk about weather in Minnesota, from a white-collar region in Connecticut to a ranching community in Nebraska, RHMA is there.

Our purpose as a church-planting agency is fulfilled as we apply biblical principles and objectives when moving into a community to establish a new church. Of first importance is evangelism which, we trust, will produce converts for the new church. These converts must then be discipled and trained in the use of their spiritual gifts so that they become useful servants in the Body of Christ. As this process continues, a congregation will naturally be formed. At this point the task of building the local congregation into a self-sustaining local church becomes the major emphasis.

Similar to our ministry of church planting is a ministry of strengthening small-town churches which might benefit from outside assistance. We apply many of the principles of church planting to these efforts — in fact, in many ways this is a new beginning (we like to call it a
“re-start”) for the church.

RHMA seeks to help strengthen small-town churches in other ways as well. We conduct conferences for small-town pastors, present workshops and seminars at pastors’ gatherings, counsel with churches which seek our advice, have resources available that benefit the small-town pastor and church, and provide training for new pastors going into town/country settings.