NEW MEXICO — While many pastors are concerned about how to attract people to their church, Steve “Doc” Timmons, 57, steps into the pulpit wearing jeans, boots and a straw hat. The seats are almost all taken. He opens the Bible and announces: “The books of the Old Testament make one thing clear: It is impossible for man to keep the law of Moses.”
It’s a day of worship at Cowboy Church of Santa Fe County, New Mexico. The temple is actually an old warehouse. His altar is decorated with saddles, hats, boots, ties, wooden wheels, all in the cowboy style. At the start of the ceremony, the band sang a song with a funny name: “I think in his heart, God must be a cowboy.” The enthusiastic worshipers clap and sing together.
Pastor Timmons spent 25 years working as a crisis intervention consultant in disaster areas around the world. But now he has decided to change the appearance of his temple to a place that looks like they are going to witness a rodeo event. In front of the temple, a cowboy appears on his knees before a cross, next to his horse. The signal’s message is clear: “We are not perfect, just forgiven.”
“In many ways, the people who come here are not traditionally religious. It is a simple way to do church. We emphasize relationships more than religion. I think that’s why our churches have gone through this explosion,” says Timmons, referring to a lack of coordination that gave rise to so-called “cowboy churches.”
There are already over 400 in 36 states according to a web directory – http://www.cowboychurch.net/ – However, the official website now lists eight such congregations in Canada and two in Australia.
The growth of these types of churches in the last 15 years was enough that Truett Seminary at Baylor University and Dallas Baptist University now offer courses for cowboy church leaders.
Some of these churches have been able to successfully attract “unchurched” people who have never been to an evangelical church. The largest Cowboy Church in Ellis County, Texas, now averages 1,700 people in attendance each Sunday. Others are itinerary, following the different rodeos in a certain region. Leaders participate in parade floats that look like something out of a “Wild West” movie.
Theologian Charles Higgs, coordinator of the evangelization program for Texas Baptists, explains that there is a lesson to be learned: “Mainstream churches will have to learn to get out of their walls and do something different from what they are doing.”
These cowboy churches not only attract cowboys, but housewives, students, families, neighbors and many “curious” who got to know and decided to return. Trucker Steve Meador, 63, has attended Cowboy Church of Santa Fe County for two years now, since it was founded. “I found in this Cowboy Church, a group of people who take their relationship with Jesus Christ very seriously, with a total lack of arrogance.”
Pastor Rick Penner of Cowboy Open Range Church in Whitney, Texas says, “Cowboy Church is unconventional… Our sanctuary is more like a barn… Until recently we had bales of hay for people to sit on.”
A distinctive feature of these churches is the family life centers. At Open Range there is a mini rodeo arena. Young children can “ride the sheep.” Parents play. “When little kids…put on their helmet, put on their vest…and ride a sheep, they’re living every 6-year-old’s dream of being a cowboy,” says Penner.
Translated and adapted by NoticiaCristiana.com from NPR and Cowboy Faith
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