Little Church, Big Faith

There are plenty of challenges for small congregations, but they also bring unique strengths.

On Sunday mornings, Caleb Fugate drives down a road in Pennsylvania’s rolling hills 70 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, past old houses on roomy plots of land, and parks in the gravel lot behind Diamondville United Methodist Church. The small, white building would resemble a single-room schoolhouse from the front if not for the giant Methodist logo—the cross and flame—beside the red door.

He officiates the 9 a.m. service and budgets 30 minutes to visit with members afterward. Then, it’s back in the car to drive 3 miles into town for the 11 a.m. service at Clymer First United Methodist Church, just a few blocks from a small strip of restaurants and local businesses in downtown Clymer.

The two churches are located in towns with a combined population of fewer than 1,500 people. By lunchtime, Fugate has preached to no more than 60 people, most of them elderly. During the week, he sees a younger crowd; he also runs the Methodist campus ministry at the nearby Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

This call is not what Fugate, 27, envisioned for himself when he graduated from divinity school. He turned down an associate pastor job at a large Methodist church in Houston to follow the advice of his childhood pastor in Punxsutawney: Return to rural Pennsylvania and minister in a context you know well.

“Coming to this little charge,” he said, “has been the best thing for my growth and maturing as a person.”

Small congregations like the ones Fugate serves are increasingly common in the US. According to a 20-year study from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, small churches (100 or fewer in weekly attendance) now make up 70 percent of US congregations.

But the growing number of small congregations ...