There is the problem of eastern Kentucky, but there is also the problem in Lexington. First off, this article is from my personal experience and should only be taken as seriously as an opinion may be taken. Most churches in Lexington differ greatly from those found in eastern Kentucky. They are typically larger, better organized, and involve full-time employees. This is due to how the churches in the city are operated differently than those in rural settings. For such rural settings, most church leaders are purely voluntary and have full-time jobs. For the city, most church leaders are completely focused on the health of their church.
The average individual would say that city churches have more opportunity to be better for the faith. However, it is to be noted what God dearly wants in life. Looking at the seven churches of Asia Minor found in Revelation 2–3, it can safely be said that God desires our hearts rather than money, fame, or even members. The first priority as well as at the end of the day, God desires our hearts to be his — God requests a healthy relationship with us. This is something eastern Kentucky has that Lexington does not.
So when determining the health of a church, it is to be calculated by the purity of each member’s heart. God holds the same standards for both regions, and eastern Kentucky soars. The individual from eastern Kentucky is healthier than that of Lexington. However, it is to be noted that there are still weaknesses that can be addressed in eastern Kentucky. Such weaknesses include being burnt out from running the race of faith as well as the education level of members of each church. These are secondary issues, but issues nonetheless.
The following was mentioned concerning organized faith from a book called Faith Sharing, by H. Eddie Fox and George E. Morris on page 23:
For some, preserving the institution may become the basic focus of faith-sharing. The more threatened the institution becomes, the more defensive it is, and the more its leaders tend to recruit in order to preserve it. Realizing that people cannot be coerced into membership, leaders are tempted to seduce them to join. Thus, the church tries to “pretty itself up” with all sorts of attractive accoutrements in order to present a competitive image which draws people to itself. The church becomes a seducer rather than a converter, leading to a style of cultural accommodation that tends to abandon the radical claims of the gospel.
This passage mentions the competition between churches for number of members. This sin is not so tempting in rural settings as most church leaders have full-time jobs and only volunteer for their church job. However, such a sin is tempting for those who live in a city and have it as their only salary.
The reason why the heart is so important is because eastern Kentucky is set on having a healthy, full relationship with Christ than that of Lexington. All eastern Kentucky needs is a little push to get started, and they’ll be off. Lexington still needs surgery to work on its heart. But once that is settled, Lexington will be better off than that of rural regions.
