{"id":18670,"date":"2013-12-04T12:17:26","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T17:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=18670"},"modified":"2014-08-18T14:58:29","modified_gmt":"2014-08-18T18:58:29","slug":"pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor\u2019s farm work connects him with his rural congregants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Young seminary graduates typically seek pastoral positions in large suburban or urban congregations, but Brett Klingenberg craved something else. He grew up on a farm, loved farming and wanted to return to a rural congregation and farming as part of his ministry. At <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/seminary\/\">Eastern Mennonite Seminary<\/a>, he felt restless until he found some farm work to do on the side.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFarming and ranching are in my blood,\u201d he says. \u201cI must continue to be involved in farming for me to experience wholeness.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_18675\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18675\" style=\"width: 256px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/12\/Klingenberg_web.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-18675\" src=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/12\/Klingenberg_web-256x300.jpg\" alt=\"Klingenberg_web\" width=\"256\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/12\/Klingenberg_web-256x300.jpg 256w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/12\/Klingenberg_web.jpg 432w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18675\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brett Klingenberg graduated from Eastern Mennonite Seminary in 2011 with a master of divinity degree. (Photo courtesy Brett Klingenberg)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Klingenberg is the pastor of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fmcbeatrice.org\/\">First Mennonite Church in Beatrice, Neb<\/a>. He, his wife Cassie and their two children live on a 37-acre farmstead with sheep, chickens, 18-22 head of cattle, and a large garden. This farmstead helps connect Klingenberg to the bulk of his congregants, either farming now or raised on farms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are curious about what\u2019s happening on our farm. They ask questions about when I\u2019m getting my next load of cattle, what kind they are, what I feed, if I\u2019m baling hay this year, how many eggs are the chickens laying, and why on earth would you want to have sheep,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think pastors can sometimes be hard to relate to because the job is so unique, but as an active agricultural participant, connections with my congregation and my community have been more natural.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Klingenberg says the composition of rural churches is changing: \u201cKids head off to college and don\u2019t return; some parents retire and move to where their kids are now living.\u201d This accounts for the drop in born-and-raised Mennonites in his congregation. Their places in the pews are gradually being filled by \u201cneighbors\u201d who \u201chave diverse denominational backgrounds or have never been a part of the church.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve experienced an influx of [people who are] traditionally non-Mennonites. It\u2019s been a challenge to teach Mennonite history and theology, when many aren\u2019t regular on Sundays,\u201d says Klingenberg. \u201cOur peace beliefs aren\u2019t necessarily the reason people are attracted to our congregation. They come because we do community well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his final \u201ccapstone\u201d presentation at Eastern Mennonite Seminary on the needs of rural communities, Klingenberg suggested that pastors in rural congregations might improve their congregational relationships by doing farming themselves \u2013 a concept reminiscent of lay farmer-pastors in Mennonite churches of earlier eras. Besides, he thinks it\u2019s a healthy way to live.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAgriculture gives me the opportunity to do what I love, which allows me to feel less anxious about my life as a pastor,\u201d he says. \u201cI look forward to going home and feeding my cattle every evening; it\u2019s therapeutic\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Young seminary graduates typically seek pastoral positions in large suburban or urban congregations, but Brett Klingenberg craved something else. He grew up on a farm, loved farming and wanted to <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Pastor\u2019s farm work connects him with his rural congregants<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":18674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,266,264,265],"tags":[17361],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-18670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-graduate-programs","category-seminary","tag-mennonite-churches-and-schools"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pastor\u2019s farm work connects him with his rural congregants  - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pastor\u2019s farm work connects him with his rural congregants  - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Young seminary graduates typically seek pastoral positions in large suburban or urban congregations, but Brett Klingenberg craved something else. He grew up on a farm, loved farming and wanted to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-04T17:17:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-18T18:58:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/12\/Klingenbergs-0052_web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"610\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/\",\"name\":\"Pastor\u2019s farm work connects him with his rural congregants - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/12\/Klingenbergs-0052_web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-04T17:17:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-18T18:58:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/12\/Klingenbergs-0052_web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2013\/12\/Klingenbergs-0052_web.jpg\",\"width\":610,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pastor\u2019s farm work connects him with his rural congregants\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pastor\u2019s farm work connects him with his rural congregants  - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/pastors-farm-work-connects-him-with-his-rural-congregants\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pastor\u2019s farm work connects him with his rural congregants  - EMU News","og_description":"Young seminary graduates typically seek pastoral positions in large suburban or urban congregations, but Brett Klingenberg craved something else. 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