行走在美国乡村的宗教人士

AS IT IS 2016-07-05 Traveling Religious Workers in Rural America 行走在美国乡村的宗教人士

In the early years of American life, traveling religious workers called preachers helped to spread Protestant Christianity westward² as the territory of the United States expanded.

Many of these preachers traveled on horses to lead religious services in small towns and places where only a few people lived.

Today’s traveling preachers arrive in rural communities in cars.

It is Sunday morning in Unionville, Tennessee. Dan Sweet is leading services at the tiny Zion’s Hill United Methodist Church. It is 150 years old.

Sweet is one of a growing number of pastors⁴ who travel to small Methodist churches in rural areas of the United States.

During the week, Sweet works at a large engineering company that designs and builds government projects.

He says he has two full-time⁵ jobs.

“I do this job seven days a week. The other job is five. The other job pays a whole lot better and it pays the bills. This is more a labor⁶ of love and it's a labor of what God has asked me to do.”

Barbara Waterson has been attending religious services at Zion’s Hill Methodist Church since the 1960s. She is now one of just 20 remaining members.

“I’m just a small-church person. I love big churches, but I just love the fellowship of the small churches. Everybody’s just a loving, spiritual family, and everybody gets along.”

When the religious service ends at Zion’s Hill, Sweet drives 10 minutes to another church, Hickory Hill United Methodist Church. He leads another service there.

Methodists have been worshiping at Hickory Hill since before the Civil War. Sweet is helping⁷ them keep the church alive. He says he is surprised by the role he is in.

“Early on in my life I did not attend regular worship services and actually it wasn’t until about 10 or 12 years ago that I started where God really impressed upon me that it was time. He’d let me goof⁸-around, goof-off long enough and it was time now to start doing His will.”

The Pew Research Center says the number of Americans who attend church services regularly has been slowly decreasing for many years. The decline is especially sharp in the country’s older, traditional Protestant churches, like the Methodist churches Sweet visits each week.

Mark Chaves is a sociologist⁹ at Duke University. He researches religious trends in the U.S. He says other Christian¹ churches should pay attention to what is happening to attendance at Methodist churches.

Chaves says other Christian groups, such as Southern Baptists, could see a similar decrease in attendance in the future.

Sweet says that unless new members join his small churches, the churches may have to close. But he says that it is not something he can control.

“I’ve only been facing it with them for about two years now. They’ve been facing it for quite a while, a longer while, and God always seems to bring in new people.”

The United Methodist Church is based in Nashville, Tennessee. It says the number of traveling preachers serving Methodist churches is growing.

Words in This Story

pastor³ - n. a Christian clergyman serving a local church

bill - n. a statement showing the cost of goods sold, services performed or work done

fellowship - n. friendly relations between people

gets along - v. to be or remain on good terms

worship - adj. of or related to religious services

goof around - v. to spend time doing playful things

trend - n. something is currently popular

decline - n. a drop or decrease in something

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 westward   

n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西

参考例句：

• We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
• Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。

3 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

4 pastors   

n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do we show respect to our pastors, missionaries, Sunday school teachers? 我们有没有尊敬牧师、宣教士，以及主日学的老师？ 来自互联网
• Should pastors or elders be paid, or serve as a volunteer? 牧师或长老需要付给酬劳，还是志愿的事奉呢？ 来自互联网

5 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 goof   

v.弄糟；闲混；n.呆瓜

参考例句：

• We goofed last week at the end of our interview with singer Annie Ross.上周我们采访歌手安妮·罗斯，结果到快结束时犯了个愚蠢的错误。
• You will never be good students so long as you goof around.如果你们成天游手好闲，就永远也成不了好学生。

9 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。