Funding

At its January meeting, the Episcopal Church's Executive Council approved a budget to go to this summer's General Convention that met the request of the Anglican Consultative Council for an additional $550,000 for the triennium. To quote February 6, 2006 issue of The Living Church “That $550,000 came from other domestic and international mission programs, including eliminating a $180,000 increase in funding to the covenant with Liberia, $136,000 for grants and meetings of domestic mission partners, and a $108,000 increase from the budget for historically black colleges; zeroing out $75,000 for the Commission on Religion in Appalachia and $42,000 for the Episcopal Appalachian Ministries; and taking $9,000 from the contingency fund for overseas dioceses.”

Currently EAM receives $15,980 a year from the national church. This money is used primarily for program work and general EAM operating support. CORA receives $28,200 annually.

The amount in the proposed 2007-2009 budget that was deleted was $42,000 ($14,000 per year) for EAM and $75,000 ($25,000 a year) for CORA.

General Convention of 1964 adopted a priority of ministry in Appalachia as a part of the government's "War on Poverty" and called Appalachia South [now Episcopal Appalachian Ministries] into being, with sponsorship from the Home Mission Department and six Southern and Central Appalachian Bishops. Not long after that, the Episcopal Church served as one of the founders of the Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA), a planning and coordinating group of 17 denominations

Both organizations flourished. At one point the Episcopal Church funded EAM at $90,000 per year; $30,000 of that was earmarked for CORA.

In addition, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief provided block grants for Appalachian Development Projects (ADPC projects) screened and evaluated by CORA of more than $150,000 a year. APSO/EAM would also help shepherd community projects through two other church funding sources, Coalition for Human Needs and the United Thank Offering. In this manner, CORA provided support to more than 45 community projects each year. Each of these projects had to have not only an element of human or direct service but one of advocacy for systemic change - a strategy to solve the problem as well as alleviate human suffering in the short term. It was this commitment to systemic change that served as the common ground for APSO being one of the coalition members that helped for pass the resolution that created the Episcopal Church's Jubilee Ministry.

When the Episcopal Church had a funding crunch in the mid to late '80's, many of the funding cuts were to domestic mission and ministry, with the idea that the dioceses and congregations would take up the slack. Of course, that proved to be impossible. CORA and EAM were totally eliminated from the budget, but General Convention voted to continue to honor the commitment to its ecumenical partners in CORA at $30,000 a year.

At the same time, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief decided to stop making block grants, but did allow EAM to serve as broker for various community grants. However, those never amounted to more than $50,000 (down from $150,000) a year. CHN went out of existence and UTO changed their guidelines so that only two applications could be submitted per diocese, which had the effect of making it impossible to submit community applications. Episcopal Relief and Development (formerly the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief) now makes no domestic grants except emergency ones.

A vote by General Convention to adopt the proposed budget will end the more than 40 year old commitment to the people of Appalachia.

While conditions in the region have improved somewhat in the last 40 years, Appalachia still has a 13.6% poverty rate; a 4.9% reported unemployment rate(the official rate is estimated to be at least twice that); and a per capita income 81.6% of the national average. The tax base, grounded primarily on coal, timber and textiles, has eroded as jobs have moved off-shore and coal mining has been greatly mechanized. Educational levels have fallen as schools loose funding. Young people have to leave the region to find jobs or enter dangerous, health-wrecking professions such as mining.

We ask that the Episcopal Church not abandon Appalachian ministry but to restore the funding that shows a commitment to the people of this region. The religious community is currently saying to the federal government that "The budget is a moral document". That should also be true of the Church's budget.

Some of the questions I have heard since Executive Council's budget action include: “Are we funding the international church at the expense of the domestic church? Are we thinking globally but making it harder to act locally? If so, what criteria are we using for these decisions?

The Acts of the Apostles shows the church in Jerusalem both sending out apostles (and funds) to other places and working to take care of the orphans and widows at home (the appointing of Stephen and the other deacons). Thus there is a recognition that our Christian life encompasses ministry on both levels. How do we think globally and act locally and still support global areas where resources are not as readily available?

Another question: how do we strike the balance between protecting the environment and maintaining a healthy economy in a local community. How do we make choices between things that benefit one community at the expense of another? What are the values and criteria that we, as Christians, can use to make these hard decisions? And, having made the decisions, how do we stay reconciled to others who make different choices or see issues in a different light?

If you have comments or thoughts on these questions, please let me know. You can drop a note to Sandy Elledge, EAM, PO Box 51931, Knoxville, TN 37950-1931 or