When the Board of Governors voted to change our name from APSO (Appalachian People's Service Organization) to Episcopal Appalachian Ministries, the new name reflected more closely our purpose. The acronym - EAM - also reflected our programs: Education, Advocacy, and Mission.
EAM's education efforts include Appalachian culture and history, Appalachian issues, small church work, and ministry development. Our advocacy encompasses issues that impact the lives of the Appalachian people, environment and communities and our mission work focuses primarily on work camps and matching church resources with community needs.

EAM has participated in three exciting educational events or opportunities in the last few months. The first was the September Mountain Grace conference, convened by the Appalachian deaneries of the Diocese of Southern Ohio with help from Michael Maloney, consultant for the Diocesan Appalachian Ministry Committee and EAM Board President, to share their stories of ministry in the Appalachian context. The Rev. Ben Helmer, Missioner for Rural and Small Communities on the Presiding Bishop's staff; the Rev. Deacon Carol Callahan, Church of the Good Samaritan, Amelia, Ohio; and I, as Executive Coordinator of EAM, were asked to open the conference with stories of congregations at various points in the Exodus story: Enslaved in Egypt (Exodus 3:7-10), Wandering in the Wilderness (Numbers 11:4-6 and 10-29) or Finding the Promised Land (Numbers 13:1, 25-32).

 

EAM's Work of Education, Advocacy, Mission

By Sandy Elledge

Workshops offered included Issues and Opportunities for Small Churches; Team Ministry; Youth Ministry in Appalachia; Insights from Growing Up in Appalachia; Churches and Appalachian Community Development; Discovering Your Mission and the Passion to Accomplish It; Episcopalians as Agents of Change in the Region; and Grant Writing and Project Funding.

More than 70 persons attended from both Southern Ohio and the neighboring Diocese of West Virginia.      One of the highlights of the gathering was “The Mountain Grace Ministry Cookbook”, advertised as “recipes for rewarding ministry …plus a resource guide for handy ingredients.”  

The cookbook is divided into sections: Appetizers - recipes about whetting the appetite…these are things the congregations do that intrigue, invite, encourage the wider community to come in for spiritual nourishment; Main Courses - the ministries which express the heart of their congregation's spirit and life together; and Desserts - sweet and festive - ministries that add a special flavor…these are the ways we thank God, mark important times in our lives and the church year or simply relish being together.

Copies of the cookbook are available for $15.00 each by contacting Mike Maloney at  meamon@aol.com

In November, the East Tennessee Appalachian Ministry Resource Team (AMRT), with funding from EAM, convened a community dialogue for the local religious community, health care professionals, local school administration and teachers and law enforcement personnel on health issues for Campbell County. The impetus for the dialogue was a grant from the Interfaith Health Program to the Campbell County Cares Coalition. The purpose of the grant is to build and nurture networks for learning within and across health and faith systems by coaching current and future leaders so that dynamic webs of influence form and spread to nurture health as a wholistic community concern

Dr. Tupper Morehead (please see article in the Summer 2004 issue of Mountain Echoes), Campbell Country Health Officer and a member of AMRT, facilitated the discussion that focused on three questions: 1) What are the major health issues of our community? 2) How could we work together on those issues? 3) What are our resources?

The dinner gathering drew more than 40 persons. The small groups were so into their discussions and the following plenary session that the meeting was extended by 45 minutes. Several positive steps were taken, including adding law enforcement and legal representatives to the County Health Council, as a way of focusing on the health care issues that derive from the number of meth labs in the area and the fight against drugs in the schools. Educators were invited to join the Health Council so that some work could be done on fighting childhood obesity

Additional gatherings of the various sectors of the community will be held in the future.

The East Tennessee Appalachian Ministry Task Force also took responsibility for the program at this year's East Tennessee annual Convention. The theme was Seeing Needs, Sewing Seeds and focused on Appalachian ministries in the diocese. Pictures and descriptions of Appalachian ministries done by local congregations were displayed around the meeting room and five minute “Public Service Announcements” were scattered throughout the business sessions to highlight these ministries. Appalachian craftspeople and musicians were on hand during registration and break times to show their handicrafts and entertain with traditional Appalachian music. The luncheon speaker was Charles Maynard, a Methodist minister and storyteller, author of Churches of the Smoky Mountains: History of Religion in the Smokies. Workshop topics included Appalachian Culture, Jubilee Ministries, Shared Ministry in the Diocese of East Tennessee and Youth Ministry in Appalachia.