Episcopal Press and News
Second Conference Held On Working Class Ministry
Episcopal News Service. May 9, 1984 [85103]
NEWPORT, Ky. (DPS, May 9) -- The second conference on the Working Class Ministry of the Episcopal Church gathered more than 60 people at St. Paul's Church here April 19-21, to affirm and strengthen that work. The event was hosted by the Rt. Rev. Donald Wimberly, bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Lexington, and co-sponsored by the Diocese of Lexington and the Appalachian People's Service Organization.
Conference speaker was the Rev. John Madden, an economist who is director of the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of Kentucky and vicar of St. Andrew's, Lexington, Ky. Madden discarded his notes and spoke on the current economic situation in the United States and the Church's obligation to action.
"People in working class parishes know the recession has not gone," he asserted. He continued with his assessment that the economy is closer to collapse than at any time since 1929. Stating that the manufacturing sector has "come undone," and that the new jobs being created are primarily in the service sector with lower wages, Madden said that, contrary to popular belief, "The god of technology won't save us."
"The Church has an opportunity and an obligation to influence public economic policy," Madden stressed, while conceding that this call for some kind of solution runs counter to the mood of the country at the moment.
The rest of the conference was devoted to presentations by teams from parishes engaged in working class ministry. The six groups -- one each from All Saints, Charlotte, N.C.; Christ Church, Fairfield, Ala.; St. Peter's Akron, Ohio; St. Philip's, Cincinnati; St. Bartholomew's, Wichita, Kan.; and St. Luke's, Wheeling, W.Va.-- covered such topics as Sunday School curriculum, lay leadership recruitment and training, evangelism, church growth, community ministry and outreach, stewardship, fund raising, ministry to singles and advocacy.
In the wrap-up session, three questions were asked: 1) Are we going to continue as a group centered about the issue of working class ministry? 2) If so, how do we go forward? 3) How can this network be of support to individual congregations?
The small groups that formed to discuss these questions gave a resounding 'yes' to wanting to continue and to focus on getting the Episcopal Church to recognize working class congregations and to improve the quality of working class ministry.
Suggestions on how to move ahead and to be of support to individual congregations included increasing representation, especially from rural areas and small towns; expanding and publicizing the network of resources, ideas and people; improving the newsletter; holding "Skill Shops" on key issues; sharing models of economic development; clarifying the group's purpose and developing a better definition of "working class ministry/working class parish"; and presenting a resolution to diocesan conventions and General Convention to support and affirm working class ministry in the Episcopal Church.
Three working groups are being formed: one will do research on working class parishes and their needs; one will do preliminary planning for the next conference, scheduled for 1987 at St. Bartholomew's Wichita, Kan.; and one will be responsible for the Working Class Ministry Newsletter.