Roll Up Your Sleeves and Listen

Homework. Any meaningful church effort to bring human values to economic relationships will require a commitment for church leaders, and ultimately the rank-and-file, to prepare themselves in two ways. The primary step is to listen, and to make that a habit. Over time, listening to the hopes, dreams, and needs of people "on the outside" will provide the opportunity for well-endowed church people to see their faith in a new light. New callings may arise from what they see and hear with their own eyes and ears. Once listening has begun, people of faith will need to take a second step. They will need to find ways to understand what they see and hear in the context of the political and economic structures that shape people's lives. 

One Southern model for this approach is a special task force of the Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA). CORA was founded during the 1960s' War on Poverty as a joint effort of 18 Christian denominations to address poverty in Appalachia. It is now involved in social issues in a variety of ways, including conducting social analysis of the region, examining how churches can cooperate locally, and supporting projects promoting systematic change and leadership development. As an ecumenical funding channel for many of the denominations, it now delivers close to $500,000 annually to community economic and parish development programs in the region. 

In the early 1980s, CORA leadership decided to reevaluate its mission in light of 20 years of history. Poverty, obviously, was still widespread in Appalachia. One theme continually emerged during two years of soul searching, analysis, and debate: The structure of the region's economy affects people in a way that defeats any amount of charity. How could CORA deal with that problem? 

The way it got started was a process that could be replicated by other regional church groups or clusters of congregations. A diverse leadership group (in this case called the Working Group on the Appalachian Economic Crisis) was formed to undertake serious listening and study, then make concrete recommendations for action. With the help of some of the nonprofit technical assistance groups listed in this issue, the working group located consultants to recommend readings and help set up public hearings on the region's economy. 

Because Appalachia is so large, four hearings were held: in Chattanooga, western North Carolina, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh. Speakers from community organizations, universities, government planning offices, labor and business groups, and other parts of the community — "experts" as well as working and poor people — were invited to dialogue with CORA and other church people from the surrounding areas. 

In between the hearings, the working group met several times to reflect, with the help of a consultant, on what they had heard and what they were studying. The group included people from diverse backgrounds and church affiliations, but they reached a consensus on their recommendations. "The hearings were an empowering process for the members," says CORA staff member Tina Willemsma. "The group felt it had to be honest to what they heard in the hearings and reflect that testimony in their final report." 

The recommendations for action, if effectively implemented, will mean a change in the way CORA does business. The working group recommended that CORA and its member denominations learn about and try to change public policy, sharpen up their understanding of basic economics, help spread that analysis to others, and establish a partnership with struggling community groups — all with the direct input of people most affected by the economic crisis. Those recommendations signal a shift toward changing the economy rather than just helping people survive within it. They were recently accepted as policy by CORA's 93 commissioners. A newly formed implementation committee will be working in the coming months to translate the recommendations into practice. 

The final report, entitled "Economic Transformation: The Appalachian Challenge," is available for $5 from CORA, P.O. Box 10867, Knoxville, TN 37939-0867. 

Interview 

The Reverend lvar R. Holmquist, a regional director for the Lutheran Church in America, led CORA's economic working group. In a recent interview with Southern Exposure, he talked about the conversion that his working group experienced. 

I think that the working group members were rather overwhelmed by what they saw and heard. It's one thing to read accounts of something; it's another thing to actually go see an area, and then spend a couple of days listening to people who live in that area. When you put it all together, what you see with your own eyes, what you read before and after, what you hear from the people, it just has to hang together, and we found that it did. 

At least one person struggled mightily with what he saw and heard. I would say that all of us were changed through that process. The most dramatic moment for me was at Williamson, West Virginia, where the United Mine Workers had been on strike against the A.T. Massey Coal Company for almost a year. 

We saw this community that was half closed down. The businesses on the main street, about 50 percent of them were vacant. There was evidence of sandbagging, indications that somebody was afraid of gunfire. There were sandbags at entrances to mines. We saw photographs of persons who had been apparently shot, photographs of mobile homes that had experienced gunfire. We saw people who were caught in the crossfire. 

We saw what appeared to be private armored vehicles. We stayed in this old hotel, and there were a lot of men staying there. They all wore these dark blue overalls and bill caps. We discovered that they were a private security force brought in by A.T. Massey. We learned that mine workers in their early twenties had been recruited from a number of places in the country, and they were housed in trailers at the mines, behind fences. They weren't there because they wanted to break the strike; they were there because they needed employment. The security force was there to protect those people, I guess, and the property owned by A.T. Massey. That's an extreme picture of what's going on. To see the decay — the town itself, the old hotel, the general climate of depression. That was striking. 

And where were the local church leaders? Fundamentalist pastors (some were miners themselves) were urging the miners to go back to work. In the mainline churches — which tend to be made up of people who, for the most part, were white-collar types — they were doing some charitable things, you know, food, clothing, that kind of thing. But they were pretty far removed from what was happening in the community. And even though the pastor may have been empathetic, he would be very much aware that his congregation's empathy was somewhat limited. The limitation of the church's response was also striking. 

The whole process of churches holding public hearings on the economy is very powerful. It can be used by individual congregations, but I think it's more likely to be pulled off by a group of congregations, ideally an ecumenical group. I think it should be done community by community or neighborhood by neighborhood in a city. It's a very powerful tool and can be the basis for some healthy dialogue between different elements in the community, including the business community. 

I think that what we saw indicates that our system is not working at points, and lots of people are getting hurt, lots of them. And the damage is going to exist for a long time. We met a school superintendent who said, "Well, what's the point in children learning how to read? All they have to do is learn how to press the right picture button on the McDonald's cash register." 

That's tragic. We are going to have a generation of kids who are undereducated, and this nation is in enough trouble now with illiteracy. For me, the face of poverty in Appalachia was female, and it was young — it was children. Women and children are paying the primary price. 

The big question now is what CORA and the denominations are going to do with our recommendations. It's really too early to tell. One thing that ought to happen, though, is that denominations are going to have to sharpen up their theology to deal with some of these issues. They've got to get into an intensive educational process to help people learn about the economy, how it affects them, and how they can have a part in it. And I think that there's got to be some action. Once the research is done, what's the action plan? I think that should include economic alternatives.