On the vast expenses of Holt County ranchland in Nebraska’s Outback, cows outnumber people 10 to one.

Tucked into Holt’s southeastern corner is Ewing, population 373, where for the past decade Mark Hoffman has pastored the Assemblies of God-affiliated Ewing Full Gospel Church, with an average Sunday attendance of 32.

Like hundreds of other communities settled by farmers and ranchers, Ewing is remote. Early on, Hoffman recognized these challenges to thriving Assemblies of God (AG) congregations across such wide-open terrain, so when he began a master’s degree in rural ministry, his first class was church-planting and revitalization.

What resulted from his thesis was the concept of micro-churches as a church-planting model that, while tried in urban and suburban areas, likewise meets spiritual needs in rural Nebraska and beyond.

“A micro-church is the simplest form of church—you strip away the overhead,” says Hoffman, 51, who launched the Rural Nebraska Micro-Church Network.

A micro-church, he explains, ranges in size from three to 20, so it’s more intimate than a traditional church. Often it has no set gathering location; the most common sites are living rooms.

Like a home Bible group, it’s an extended spiritual family that provides a more personal, close-knit community; however, Hoffman is careful to note that a micro-church isn’t the same thing.

“Rather than just being a Bible study group, a micro-church actively engages in living out the gospel and establishing new communities of believers,” he says. “While it often meets in homes, it is a mission-driven community focused on discipleship, evangelism, and multiplication.”

A micro-church stands on three “minimal” essentials, beginning with worship, “which encompasses so much—not just singing songs,” Hoffman says. “It’s Bible study, the discipleship process, living life together as a group.”

Its focus is to reproduce disciples that can help the church emerge in unique contexts—clusters of people who may unite in a small geographic area or around a common interest (such as cycling) or occupation. Micro-churches composed of farmers and ranchers, for example, sometimes meet in co-ops.

A micro-church’s second essential is mission, which it fulfills through the power of the Holy Spirit.

“In Mark when Jesus was calling disciples, first He called them to Himself,” Hoffman notes. “Immediately Jesus called them into mission: Come unto Me and I will make you fishers of men.” After that, Hoffman saw that the third essential, community, “went deeper a lot faster—our groups started growing differently.”

The micro-church Hoffman launched in a restaurant bar four years ago is made up of young people in their 30s—married couples and a single woman with deep questions as she was deconstructing her faith. Ultimately, amid finding answers and trusting Christ in a small setting, she came to a deeper walk with Him.

When a diesel mechanic got saved in Hoffman’s micro-church and the Lord delivered him from drug addiction, changes in his lifestyle immediately became evident: he gave up alcohol and chewing tobacco and he launched a micro-church in his diesel shop. A new believer he’s mentoring from his garage micro-church is launching a group of his own for those suffering from addictions.

“Miracles like that happen all the time. People are being set free,” Hoffman says. And by nature, these groups tend to multiply. As people come to faith through a micro-church, “the accountability of the smaller group helps aid in wanting that group to grow because they have more invested in it,” Hoffman says.

After each Bible study, congregants ask each other who they’re going to share what they’ve learned with, “and then we hold each other to it.”

Hoffman notes that younger people are more attracted to this model of church than older people. The traditional church he pastors is three-quarters retirees or those approaching retirement age, while 12 are under 50. But Hoffman is quick to note that he doesn’t prefer one form over the other because both are needed in the Body of Christ.

“I believe if it’s megachurch or a macro-church, which is what the majority of churches are in America, or micro-church, all are needed to reach people for Christ,” he says. “You can see all three in Scripture.

“I don’t think larger church expression exists to serve the smaller or the other way around. We all should be strengthening them equally.”

Toby Schneckloth, 49, superintendent of the Nebraska Ministry Network, points out that micro-churches meet an essential need for community where the nearest AG church may be an hour away.

A church must have at least 20 members (not just attendees) to affiliate as a General Council church. “The idea is to still have a church serving that community though it’s smaller than what the national sovereign status requires,” he says.

While Schneckloth is quick to add that the 20-member threshold isn’t wrong, “If we don’t have this micro-church model in these areas, we’re going to abandon the people who are there. That’s not the AG, either.”

Nationwide, superintendents are challenged to have at least one AG church in every county— one for every 15,000 people. It’s a tall order for Nebraska, which has five of the nation’s smallest counties population-wise, he says. Texas, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and other Great Plains states with vast expanses of ranchland likewise face similar issues.

“If we had four or five counties next to each other, we still wouldn’t have 15,000 people,” Schneckloth says of Nebraska. “We’re trying to address the remoteness of our rural areas, and micro-church is one of the ways we can do that.”

The Nebraska Ministry Network has utilized the rural micro-church model for three years. One aspect Schneckloth notes is that Hoffman’s thesis research has guided the district in honoring those who are far from urban areas.

“The people who live in a smaller context are proud of that,” Schneckloth says. “In a rural setup that doesn’t cater to the rural setting, they can feel left out and unwelcome.”

Nebraska’s superintendent has been encouraging pastors to try new methods and take some risks in their ministries. Schneckloth says that the fresh, yet traditional and back-to-basics approach for doing church in rural areas is among distinctives that makes micro-churches well-suited and inviting.

“I love how it’s so innovative and can be a trend-setter across our entire network,” he says.

This article was originally published at AG News and has been reprinted with permission.

Deann Alford is a journalist and author. She attends Glad Tidings of Austin, an Assemblies of God congregation in the Texas capital.