wfn.org | Appalachian Workers Meet

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org]

"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3343 notes).

Note 3342 by UMNS on Dec. 17, 1996 at 17:00 Eastern (6639 characters).

SEARCH: United Methodist, Appalachian Development Committee, Lee
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally                     630(10-71BP){3342}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             Dec. 17, 1996

EDITORS NOTE:  A photo is available with this story. 

'There are no inferior people,'
bishop tells Appalachian workers 

by Ron Council*
  
 
     GALLANT, Ala. (UMNS) -- "In the sight of God, there are no
inferior people," said Bishop Clay F. Lee, as he opened a recent
four-day Appalachian Assembly VIII.
     Lee is chairman of the Appalachian Development Committee that
sponsored the meeting at Camp Sumatanga, a North Alabama
Conference assembly located in the foothills of the Appalachian
Mountains near here.  Participating were 200 clergy and volunteers
from New York to Mississippi.  Theme was "Voices from Appalachia:
Echoing God's Call."
     Among participants in the gathering were Bishops Lee; Robert
Fannin, Birmingham Area; William Morris, Alabama-West Florida; S.
Clifton Ives, West Virginia Area; and Kenneth Carder, Nashville
area.  
     "We must somehow deal with those stereotypical images that
unfortunately the people of our nation and perhaps of the world
have applied to the Appalachian region," Lee said.  Instead of a
region where people sometimes are described as "inferior and
dependent", he said Appalachia is a "unique and beautiful part of
God's creation."
     He affirmed the mission of the Appalachian Development
Committee that is "to enhance the United Methodist ministry in the
Appalachian region by addressing Appalachian issues, and
communicating a concern through networking, interpreting,
resourcing and advocacy." 
     United Methodists sponsor numerous programs in the region,
providing food, shelter, housing, education, healthcare, clothing
and employment. 
     The Rev. German Acevedo-Delgado, a staff member of the
churchwide Board of Global Ministries responsible for Community
and Institutional areas, reported that the agency has 17 mission
workers in Appalachia.
     In a keynote address, Carder said he is "proudly a product of
Appalachia" (East Tennessee) where he was "shaped, scarred,
comforted, confounded, healed and wounded by the voices from
Appalachia."  Living as a child of a sharecropper family, Carder
said the voices told him he was "somebody's property to be used,
depleted and cast away."
     "The dominant voices I heard from Appalachia denigrated my
poverty-stricken home, my mountain culture and my own identity,"
he said.  "The message I heard was 'Leave Appalachia, return only
to change its mores and habits, rise above your upbringing. 
Knowledge, material success, social and maybe religious prominence
-- these are the fast tracks to being somebody in some place that
matters."
     He said he still hears the "voices" of his illiterate
grandfather and from his full-of-faith mother that helped to mold
his religious upbringing. He also hears the "voice" of the Apostle
Paul who reminded that "God chose what is foolish in the world to
shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the
strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world." 
     "God speaks to and through the vulnerable, the oppressed, the
suffering, the scorned, the crucified, the marginalized," he said.
     Appalachia, once with inherent beauty and abundant resources
to sustain all the life, now has been "reduced to a commodity to
be exploited, mined, depleted and left wounded and weak," Carder
said.
      Most of America's 320 poorest rural counties are in
Appalachia where at least one fourth of the children live in
poverty. 
     Carder praised the many programs of ministry to children and
adults in Appalachia in education, health care and aid that the
church supports, but he said not enough is being done to meet all
of the problems. Too often, people turn their backs on the "poor
and voiceless."   
     He said, "Those of us who have heard the echo of God's voice
from the voiceless ones of Appalachia have a special
responsibility and privilege. We must amplify those voices. We
must tell their stories of courage and faith."  
     Daily Bible study was conducted by retired clergyman and
religion professor from the North Georgia Conference, the Rev.
Jorge A. Gonzalez, who conducts training sessions on spiritual
growth in the United States and abroad. During the past 100 years,
humanity has acted "completely irresponsible toward the order of
creation," he said. Yet, there is the "expectation that things are
supposed to be different," and that there are those like the
people involved in the ministries of the Appalachian area who are
exercising "responsible stewardship of nature in His name, because
creation is in pain and suffering and crying, and needs that
redemption."  
     Richard A. Cuoto, professor of leadership studies at the
Japson School of the University of Richmond, Va., pointed to
dramatic differences between trends and statistics in Appalachia
and the rest of the nation, particularly related matters such as
education, medical systems and housing.
      Population in the Appalachian region grew only 1.6 percent
in the 1980s compared to the national growth of 9.8 percent, he
reported. Women have increasingly moved into the work force in
order to keep their families from falling further into poverty,
but per capita income in Appalachia remains far below the national
average.  
     State and conference groups shared goals with other assembly
participants here.  Tennesseans expressed their intentions to give
greater attention to abused children, the shortage of low income
housing and welfare reform. Voicing concern that not enough is
known about the plight of Appalachia, West Virginians and others
mapped out plans to communicate and educate their members. 
     Those wishing to assist in the work being done by United
Methodists in the Appalachian Development Committee may contribute
to the Appalachian Regional Ministries, Advance number 982041-0,
and Appalachia Hunger and Poverty, Advance number 982039-6.    
     The spring meeting of the Appalachian Development Committee
is scheduled for March 13-15, 1997, in Charleston, W. Va. Contact:
N. Sharon Leatherman, coordinator; Appalachian Development
Committee, P. O. Box 2231, Hagerstown, MD  21741-2231. 
                             #  #  #  

     * Counsel is director of communication for the North Alabama
Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 To unsubscribe, send the single word "unsubscribe" (no quotes)
 in a mail message to umethnews-request@ecunet.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------