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DIOCESE OF BETHLEHEM AND CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

The EAM committees in the Dioceses of Bethlehem and Central Pennsylvania have been meeting together for several years and have recently spun off a new, ecumenical Conference Planning Group. This new group is comprised of representatives from the two Episcopal dioceses and from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Synods of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Lower Susquehanna, Upper Susquehanna and Allegheny.

This new group will sponsor a "Common Call Small Church Conference," September 29th from 9:30 to 4:00 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Milton, Pa. The Rt. Rev. John H Smith, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia, and the Rev. Dr. Gilson Waldkoenig, Assistant Professor of Church in Society and Director of the Town & Country Institute at Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, Pa., will co-lead the event, featuring a two-part agenda of leadership development in small churches.

The morning session will focus on "From Fear to Faith," practical issues in leadership development and how to move from fear-based to faith-based decision making.

The afternoon session will deal with the implications and practical means of living into our common call to mission and ministry.

For more information or to register, contact the Rev. Elaine Silverstrim, 152 Susquehanna, South Renovo, PA 17764, telephone 570-923-0571, email leelaine~lockhavenonline.net.

DIOCESE OF LEXINGTON

The Diocese of Lexington has reactived its membership in the Episcopal Appalachian Ministry coalition under the leadership of its new bishop, the Rt. Rev. Stacy Sauls. Bishop Sauls, in his address to 2001 Diocesan Convention, said "...I want to get specific about how our missionary community [the whole diocese] goes about carrying out its mission in the eastern half of Kentucky, the missionary field we have been given by God.

"...That mission needs to be redefined in a nontraditional manner... .I am convinced that it will be in terms of bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free, and announcing the year of the Lord's favor. It will not mean starting new Episcopal churches in the mountains. What I propose is that we bring some of our particular gifts as the reconciling presence of Christ .. .a reality in this part of our mission field. Health care and education, I believe, are particular gifts we Episcopalians have to bring, that we can bring them, and that we should bring them. Health care and education, I hope, will be the vehicle of our mission."

To begin this work Bishop Sauls has appointed a Task Force on Mountain Ministries to be chaired by the Rev. Johnnie Ross, rector of St. James', Prestonsburg. This group met for the first time in June to hear from educators and health care providers in the region. Housing has been added as one the third mission priority. A tour of various facilities and visits with local community people is scheduled for late August. The Bishop has asked a representative from EAM to be a part of the Task Force.

But the diocese is not waiting to begin ministry until the Task Force findings are presented to the next Convention. A reading camp will be held this summer, sponsored by the Church of the Apostles in Lexington. Participants in the camp will be drawn from inner-city and Appalachian, rural schools who can benefit from extra help and mentoring, especially in forming good reading skills as the basis for a good education.