At times over its 106-year history, the little church of native limestone had just three or four worshipers. It rarely, except maybe during the earliest days, had a resident priest. Its town of 6,000 is the county seat in an area of northern Missouri that is slowly losing population.

Now St. Philip's, in Trenton, Mo., is part of a cluster of five churches in five towns. The Eucharist is celebrated weekly to a congregation that averages about 25. The church has raised up two of its own as deacons, and has a vital lay ministry addressing the social problems of the town and the area. The Bishop of West Missouri, the Rt. Rev. John Buchanan, will receive one adult and confirm another during his imminent visit.

The Rev. Canon Ben Helmer is regional missioner for the Diocese of West Missouri. Diocesan resources, he explained, "are used to pay one seminary-trained priest - me - with a team of deacons, retired priests and supply clergy." A regional council composed of representatives from each church functions as a vestry for the entire cluster and meets quarterly. Each church pays its own bills, with a regional budget for maintenance.

The Rev. Linda Yeager, a deacon, is a longtime member of St. Philip's. She travels to a different parish each Sunday, but "my heart is here," as well as the regional office, in Trenton. "The regional ministry empowered us," she said. "Before, we were afraid of being closed.

"We always had mutual ministry and didn't know it. Now we feel like a church.

"We wanted to increase our outreach. We prayed about it, and kept coming back to youth." Ms. Yeager had been a teacher of high school English. "I wanted out," she said, "but we kept coming back to the youth." St. Philip's discovered a need for an after-school tutoring program. "We found many poverty-driven, one-parent or two-parent families where school is not a priority."

The high school principal suggested that many elementary school students would benefit from individual tutoring. Now St. Philip's organizes a cadre of tutors who work at the school twice a week. Longtime church member Peggy Stuart said they try for one-to-one contact. "Some of the tutors are teachers, some are high school or college students." Many, but not all, are members of St. Philip's.

"Some drive from other towns," Ms. Yeager said. "People gain so much from it; they love it. They get so close to the children."

Middle schoolers' needs presented greater problems. The church building itself was too small. "It's just a nave and a sacristy," Ms. Yeager said. "It has no hall, and no bathroom." With the help of a $5,000 United Thank Offering grant, the congregation purchased a storefront across the street, which serves as parish hall and community center, regional office, and, two evenings weekly, the tutoring site for eight middle school students. "There's a waiting list," Ms. Yeager said.

In a segment of population which affords few male role models for children, most of the middle school tutors are men, including Wendell Lenhart, senior warden and editor of the Monday through Friday daily paper, the Republican Times ("an independent paper - that's the old name"). "It's a challenge," he said. "Many of the kids never had anyone spend time with them, pay attention to them." The school refers the students, he said, and the church works closely with students' counselors.

He credits the ordination of Linda Yeager for revitalizing St. Philip's. "Last week we had 30 people at church," he said. "Now we have another deacon in the congregation. We provide the clergy [for the cluster]. We're proud of that."

Ms. Stuart called the regional ministry "a very fine idea for these smaller congregations. It's better that we have regular services. We used to have it maybe once a month; sometimes we shared a priest with Chillicothe," 20-some miles away. The deacons officiate, using the reserved sacrament consecrated by Canon Helmer or another visiting priest.

The town of Trenton is the largest in Grundy County, with a community college enrolling 1,300 this year, and several industries including a division of Nestle - "not chocolate here; canned chili" - and an automobile radiator plant. A Chamber of Commerce brochure for the city "in the green hills" carries a picture of the church built in 1898 and listed on the National Registry of Historic Buildings.

St. Philip's has lately become involved, with six others in the Trenton Ministerial Alliance, in a new project called Renewing Rural Missouri. Canon Helmer said, "It is interdenominational, community-based Bible study" as a basis for studying "justice and social action issues." He mentioned as an example one problem which has received some national attention, large "factory" hog farms, which have "devastated local farmers and stressed town support services." A pamphlet for the project, developed in cooperation with the Missouri School of Religion Center for Rural Ministry, describes "a new path in our journey of faith ... community-wide Bible study and theological reflection, and coupled with widespread listening to discern both church and community concerns [which] seeks to build new relationships among churches that will result in even more engagement in cooperative, community mission and organizing." The fall and winter, "you may be called to join a leadership team in your church ... You'll be hearing about Bible study, the listening process, choosing issues, and developing strategies."

The little Gothic revival church of Missouri limestone has a lively congregation, and its own place in the town and in the regional ministry. Peggy Stuart said St. Philip's is "blessed with a group that gets along so well." Deacon Yeager, visiting all five churches, said, "Each church has a personality. People come and go, but the personality stays. We've had our own pastoral care for 100 years. I sense that Christ is among us." o