Virginia, Mountain Iron, Eveleth and Gilbert are four mining towns commonly referred to as the Quad Cities. There are roughly 35,000 to 45,000 people living in this area, depending on how large you draw the circle on the map. Virginia is the largest of these towns and is somewhat of a regional hub for shopping and services.
There are only about two evangelical churches in the Quad Cities that average at least 100 people per Sunday. There are a handful of other churches, but they tend to be small and fragmented. The terrain in this region is very rocky and hard, and that tends to be a very good picture for the spiritual landscape as well. St. Louis County is the least churched county in the state of Minnesota, with about 4% of people attending an evangelical church and only about 13% attending ANY church. Most of the churches in this region are comprised primarily of older people. It is relatively rare to find a church that is balanced demographically, and it is especially rare to find a church with a strong population of young men.
Socially, the Iron Range has historically been a place of rampant alcohol and drug abuse, high divorce rates, high rates of domestic violence, and high suicide rates. The Range is primarily made up of rural or small town settings, but it has many of the same problems as the inner city. There are not many jobs to bring in outside people to the area, so the communities tend to be internally isolated and less trusting of those who come from other places. The jobs that do exist tend to be very difficult to obtain without friends or family on the inside of companies to pull strings to help you out. As a result, change tends to be a dirty word on the Range.
Economically, as the mines go, so goes the Range. While there are other industries in northern Minnesota such as tourism and forest products, these tend to be of less influence on the Iron Range communities. This is due in large part to the fact that the mining companies own a large percentage of the land which makes it inaccessible to those other industries. When steel prices are high, the mines are busy and the employees and those in related industries do pretty well. However, when the mines shut down, as has been the case recently, the entire region suffers. Currently, the Iron Range has the highest unemployment rate in the state.
Spiritually, there is a tremendous need for churches that can translate the unchanging truth of the Bible into the language and context of the young people of the Iron Range — and especially to the young men. These young men need to know that they do not need to check their “man card” at the door if they want to follow Jesus. In fact, they need to understand that following Jesus is the most manly thing they could ever do. There is a tremendous need to train new generations of teachers and evangelists who can tell their friends and family about the Gospel, or Good News, of Jesus Christ. There is tremendous need to teach young people how to be godly spouses and parents. There is a tremendous need for churches that are exuberant in their expression,yet thoroughly biblical in their theology. Most of all, there is a tremendous need for the Lord to pour out His Spirit to cause thousands of people to repent of their sins and to treasure Jesus above all other things.
