The word “apologetics” can conjure up visions of Paul at the Areopagus or gifted communicators holding their own against the attacks of New Atheists under the glare of stage lights. Ministry in small places can feel worlds apart from philosophizing on Mars Hill or debating in the urban thought centers of the world. But when Peter urges believers to always be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15), he wrote to a group he calls the “elect exiles of the dispersion.” Who were they? “The picture that emerges of the regions to which Peter wrote is one of a vast geographical area with small cities few and far between…”[1] Does that sound familiar to you? Though we often look to Paul’s Mars Hill speech or defense before Festus and Agrippa as our examples of apologetic engagement (and there is in Paul much that speaks to our context) the exhortation to give a defense just as surely applies to our ministry in small places. In our smaller contexts we are afforded unique challenges and opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus as the hope at work within us.
Unique Small-Place Apologetic Opportunities
Ministry in small places presents some unique benefits as we seek to share the gospel—benefits which help us counter some of the chief challenges in answering the questions of the not-yet believer. When it comes to apologetic dialogue and communicating the truth of the gospel, it can be all too easy for Christians to assume—to assume that one understands the skeptic’s objections, to assume the apologist’s language is understood, to assume what is motivating a question or objection. Instead of presumption, the apologist should humbly seek to understand the other side of the conversation to the best of his or her ability. Small places help us avoid this propensity through the gifts of shared experience, pace, relationship, and observability.
While larger places may offer greater diversity and cultural opportunities, smaller places benefit from greater overlap in daily life experiences. As the message and perspective of the Bible grow increasingly unfamiliar to the average American, the apologist is tasked with the task of bridging the gap through imaginatively contextualized presentations of the gospel. Smaller places afford more overlap in the daily life of the apologist and the hearer. Thus, he or she can draw from a more concentrated pool of familiar places, town events, seasonal norms, and other shared experiences in order to establish mutual starting points. Jesus exemplified this in drawing so many of his parables from the familiar world of agrarian life experienced by his hearers.
Smaller contexts provide for more opportunities for interaction with people. The high chance of running into someone regularly in a smaller community can help diminish the temptation to make every argument and defense of the gospel all at once. Our pace can slow. Instead of immediately placing ourselves in the position of teacher, we can humbly place ourselves as the learner – learning about the other person, their challenges, their objections, the topics that matter to them over time. We can be slow to speak and quick to listen (James 1:19). The apologist can revisit topics, pick up and put down dialogues, and even admit to not knowing something and come back with a response. A good story deserves the time to tell it well, and small places afford us the opportunity to delve into the rich and complex ways the gospel speaks to the complex difficulties and challenges faced by our communities.
The slower pace and smaller context also afford opportunity for deeper relationship. The challenges and questions that come our way are often not the central barriers to faith. In Jesus’ parable of the sower and the seeds (Luke 8), the word is sown into various types of soils to various effect. As Jesus explains the parable, we see how lack of fruit stems from misunderstanding and deception, from encounters with evil and suffering, and with love of what the world has to offer. As we get to know our neighbors, we can begin to identify the barriers to them receiving God’s Word, praying for them personally and seeing past their objections, to the heart of the matter.
As we benefit from the slower pace and opportunity for deeper relationship, we also benefit from greater visibility in smaller contexts as our paths cross in the fishbowl life of a small town. This matters. Apologist John Dickson identifies three ways we can promote the gospel, even before proclaiming it – praying, giving, and living.[2] All three can be amplified in the context of small places, but especially living. When God’s people are identified as the light of the world, we are told that we shine, “so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Living out neighbor-love and Christlike service fueled by God’s love for us affords us opportunity to point to our Lord. When tempted to think we don’t have much impact, we can remember how a candle’s light which might be swallowed up in the heart of the city shines bright in a single-room house. The defense that Peter exhorts us to be prepared to give assumes that people will have noted that hope that is within us.
Unique Small-Place Apologetic Challenges
While small places may afford us certain boons to apologetic work, there are some challenges that we must be wary of—some of which stem directly from the blessings. Complacency, risk of loss, presumption, and publicity are all challenges to our presentation of Christ.
The pace of life in small places may tempt us to complacency and procrastination. Though we may be afforded time and opportunity to move at a wise pace, we must beware letting that become an excuse for putting off difficult conversations. We can providentially trust in the opportunity to come back to conversations and build trust, but we must also remember that tomorrow is not promised to us nor our neighbors and thus thoughtful intentionality is still necessary.
Opportunities afforded for greater relational depth in smaller places can raise the stakes that come with potential rejection. If relational opportunities are fewer in small places, we might be tempted to protect those relationships at the cost of honesty, lest we risk offense. Without various friend groups and networking opportunities in large places it can be easy to hold onto relationships we have with friends over the claims Christ has on us as King.
Getting to know people through external observation might tempt us to move too quickly to the heart of the matter. Small-town awareness of someone’s personal history might tempt us to respond to her questions about the wrath of God by addressing our knowledge of her father’s abusive reputation. But in so doing we might violate the trust of the relationship and thus the opportunity to answer questions and share gospel truth, even beyond the possibility of making false connections. Jesus knew the heart of the rich young ruler, but he didn’t confront him and say, “You haven’t actually kept the commandments, you self-righteous jerk.” Though Jesus knew his heart, his challenge to sell his possessions was an opportunity for the young ruler to see his own heart behind his misperception of religious life.
And finally, our failures and shortcomings can be just as public as our obedience and good works. Mistakes easier to hide or downplay in a large city are often blatantly apparent in small places. This reminds us to watch over our conduct, and also our message. If we are preaching a message of self-righteousness rather than grace and dependence on God's forgiveness, our inevitable failures will broadcast the darkness of hypocrisy rather than the light of Christ.
Small places afford us opportunities to focus on the particular people, customs, and challenges of a community. As such we can be ready to speak gospel hope to the context in which God has called us, with pastoral hearts. Whether we feel like we have been exiled from the important places of the world, or welcome the prospect of hiding in obscurity, we are not freed from the call to make a defense. Rather, if Christ is honored in our hearts as Lord of all, we delight to proclaim in small places, as Paul did before Agrippa, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am…” (Acts 26:29)
Ian Hard
Ian Hard is the pastor of Christ Church PCA in Pembroke, NH. He and his wife Rebecca have one son and are foster parents. Ian is currently working on a doctor of ministry degree in communications and cultural apologetics through Covenant Theological Seminary.