Cowboy church

Cowboy churches are local Christian churches within the cowboy culture that are distinctively Western heritage in character. A typical cowboy church may meet in a rural setting in a barn, metal building, arena, sale barn, or old western building, have its own rodeo arena, and a country gospel band. Baptisms are generally done in a . The sermons are usually short and simple. Some cowboy churches have covered arenas where rodeo events such as bull riding, team roping, ranch sorting, team penning and equestrian events are held on weeknights. Many cowboy churches have existed throughout the Western states for the past forty or fifty years; in the past fifteen or so years, however, there has there been an explosion of growth within the “movement”. In 1972 Cowboy Church was birthed at the hands of Glenn Smith as chronicled in his book "Apostle Cowboy Style" published in 1988. Many cowboy churches today are actually denominational attempts to re-frame the setting of their theology. There are some cowboy churches that are an outgrowth of ministries to professional rodeo or team roping events, while the roots of many can be traced back to ministry events associated with ranch rodeos, ranch horse competitions, chuck wagon cooking competitions, cowboy poetry gatherings and other “cowboy culture” events. But to be a cowboy church it has been alleged that a church must have 5 characteristics: 1. Non-denominational 2. No offerings collected or solicited 3. No membership 4. No dress code 5. Held in non-traditional settings

But as claimed below, cowboy churches also exist in the denominational context of baptist churches.

The "no barriers" cowboy church model pioneered by Ron Nolen of the Baptist General Convention of Texas has been used by the AFCC (American Fellowship of Cowboy Churches) to plant more than two hundred denominational motivated cowboy churches in sixteen states. This model mimics the worship service first designed by Glenn Smith while focusing on the absence of the traditions that are believed to have no biblical basis, such as the "altar call" and passing of the collection plate. Tithes and offerings are simply placed in a boot, hat, or wooden bird house at the rear of the meeting room. The model, copied from Glenn Smith, also utilizes a specialized leadership structure that empowers volunteers and teams to execute most of the functions of the church. This model was copied and then used at the Cowboy Church of Ellis County in Waxahachie, Texas, currently (alleged) the largest cowboy church in North America.

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