Cowboy Church in Mineral Wells, TX Picture 2227

Cowboy churches are local Christian churches within the cowboy culture that are distinctively

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

heritage in character. A typical cowboy church may meet in a

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

setting in a barn, metal building, arena, sale barn, or old western building, have its own rodeo arena, and a country gospel band.

Baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

s are generally done in a stock tank. The sermons are usually short and simple, in order to be better understood by the parishioners. Some cowboy churches have covered arenas where rodeo events such as

bull riding Bull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a bucking bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal tries to buck off the rider. American bull riding has been called "the most dangerous eight seconds in sports." To recei ...

, team roping, ranch sorting, team penning and

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

events are held on weeknights.

References

Cowboy churches rope in new Christians: Ministry attracts those looking for an alternative to traditional worship
Associated Press, 2008
Cowboy Church in Payson Arizona
Payson Arizona News, 2013 * *

External links

The Cowboy Church DirectoryAmerican Fellowship of Cowboy ChurchesCowboy Church Network of North AmericaInternational Cowboy Church Alliance Network
Churches in the United States Types of church buildings Western United States Cowboy culture Rodeo-affiliated events {{US-church-stub