David G. Bromley

COWBOY CHURCHES

HISTORY

Cowboys are one of several predominantly male occupational groups (lumberjacks, railroaders, miners, truckers) that have emerged through American history and developed distinctive cultures.

Cowboys have a long and storied history in America but were most prominent during the second half of the nineteenth century in response to the development of western cattle ranches

1860s-1880s - Cowboys thrived when open-range land in the West and emerging urban industrial markets in the North created ideal conditions for their trade.

Teams of cowboys were responsible for organizing and controlling cattle and then driving them to market. Cowboy crews lived on the range for months as cattle were raised and prepared for cattle drives.

Their seasonal, low-paying work could be dangerous and required strength, stamina, knowledge of horses and cattle, and skill in riding and roping.

Cowboys were mostly young, single males but quite diverse ethnically as Mexican, Afro-American, Native American, and immigrant cowboys were commonplace.

Cowboy lifestyle built around bars, brothels, and brawling. Their culture was characterized by individualism, independence, and social marginality.

Cowboys generally had little connection to organized religion or other established institutions.

The early cowboy lifestyle declined with the advent of fenced pastures, railroads, roads and trucks.

Cowboy life was romanticized in music, novels, and movies along with pioneers, frontiersmen, gunfighters and outlaws. It There was further romanticizing of cowboy lifestyle in American culture through western attire, dancing, dude ranches, and rodeos.

Rodeo culture permitted a continuation of the predominantly male culture on the margins of conventional society.

1970's - The first Christian cowboy communities began to form.

2000 - Ron Nolen, who had been actively involved in religious work through his life, attended a rodeo and discovered that most of the men were unchurched. They were alienated from conventional churches and viewed them as too formal, hypocritical, and unmanly. He founded the Cowboy Church of Ellis County in Waxahachie, Texas, which was affiliated with the Baptist Church. The church has grown to 2,000 members.

2004 - The Ranchhouse Cowboy Church formed the Ranchhouse School of Cowboy Planting.

2006- 207 - The Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches and the American Fellowship of Cowboy Churches were formed.

2010 (August) The Board of Directors of the Texas/American Fellowship of Cowboy Churches placed Nolen on sabbatical for undisclosed reasons.

MYTH

Despite the fact that many individual, independent cowboy churches are affiliated with established churches (Baptist, Nazarene, Assemblies of God), the cowboy church movement itself is non-denominational.

The sacred text for cowboy churches is The Way for Cowboys. It contains the NIV New Testament, prayers, gospel plans, testimonials from cowboy movement leaders, rodeo photography.

The theology is standard Christian (omniscient and omnipotent God, trinity, Virgin birth, the death and resurrection of Jesus, remission of sin through the crucifixion, the second coming)

The cowboy church movement is nondenominational, but many individual churches are affiliated with conservative Christian denominations.

Common settings for cowboy congregations include rodeos, ranches, farmhouses, warehouses, and campgrounds, along with more traditional church buildings.

Casual dress is standard, and many attend services in their work clothes.

Many churches do not have formal offerings during the service but leave a boot in the rear of the church for donations.

Cowboy churches conduct traditional baptism rituals in horse water troughs or natural bodies of water.

Contemporary and classic country, western, and bluegrass are given Christian lyrics and themes.

Some cowboy churches participate in horseback riding fellowship outside of church meetings.

ORGANIZATION

The cowboy church movement itself is non-denominational, and many cowboy churches are independent.
A number of mainstream denominations (Baptists, Methodists, Assemblies of God, Nazarenes) sponsor cowboy churches.

The Baptists have been particularly active in establishing and affiliating with cowboy churches through what is sometimes referred to as the Western Heritage Movement.

The cowboy church strategy is to build churches around the cowboy mystique, which attracts a considerably broader cross-section of the population.

There are now more than 870 recognized cowboy churches worldwide.

Cowboy church congregations are surprisingly diverse, reaching across race, age, gender, residential location, and social class lines.

CONTROVERSIES

There has been some reservation and opposition concerning their focus on cowboy culture. The churches are referred to as tainted, impure, inferior.

Some more conservative Christians feel cowboy churches shift focus away from God in favor of cultural innovations and events and western music.

Some critics also view the cowboy church movement as too narrowly focused on a small segment of the population and somewhat separatist.

While many cowboy churches are highly patriotic, there is often a distinction drawn between support for governmental institutions and America as idealized in cowboy culture.

Cowboy churches face the new movement "second generation" problem of declining commitment.