Seamen’s Church Institute Seeks ‘River Friendly
Churches’ to Serve Mariners On Inland Water Routes

by Jeff Crossan

The sudden screech and groan of grinding metal shatters the peace of an overcast day on the Mississippi River. A northbound towboat pushing 15 barges loaded with chemicals has slammed into the Cairo Highway Bridge, 35 miles southwest of Paducah, Kentucky. The impact is jarring and severe enough to injure crew members, sink two barges and scatter others in the river’s current.

Fortunately, the mishap is not a real-life disaster; it’s a computer-generated calamity caused by a navigationally challenged reporter unable to safely guide the tow between the bridge’s concrete supports. The scene is all too realistically depicted from the perspective of the vessel’s pilothouse on a state-of-the-art simulator at the Center for Maritime Education in Paducah. The machine is designed to improve the navigational skills of mariners on our nation’s inland water routes by accurately recreating stretches of major rivers.

From the control room, Capt. Bob Taylor, Director of Inland Training, monitors the navigational and
bridge-management skills of a trainee being tested on one of four simulators at the Center for Maritime Education (CME).

Had it been an actual disaster, chaplains from the Seamen’s Church Institute’s (SCI) Ministry On The River (MOR) program would have responded by providing pastoral care to any injured crew members and their families on shore.

Both of these services – pastoral ministry and maritime education – are offered by SCI, a non-profit organization founded in 1834 and headquartered in New York City. Each year, SCI river chaplains visit some 3,400 vessels along 2,200 miles of inland waterways and in port cities. SCI’s Center for Maritime Education provides navigational training to nearly 1,600 mariners annually.

Presbyterian Lay Pastor Ann Mills,
MOR Director of Special Projects, in
CME’s chapel for mariners.

“People who work on the river have a difficult job,” says Presbyterian Lay Pastor Ann Mills, MOR’s Director of Special Projects, explaining that most maritime laborers work two, six-hour shifts each day, spending 30 days at a time on their vessels and away from their families.

“These are people who can’t coach a little league team,” she says. “They can’t join the rotary club and they’re not going to be a Sunday school teacher. Their lifestyle won’t allow that. But they have the same problems that we all do. Their teenagers get into trouble just like the rest and I can promise that if the baby falls and puts its teeth through its bottom lip, it will happen when the parent who works on the river isn’t at home. They’re away from home half the year. So we provide people to spend time with the family when they need it.”

Mills is a member of First Presbyterian Church, Paducah, one of approximately 100 churches which support the MOR ministry in a variety of ways and, as a result, are referred to as “river friendly churches.” One of Mills’ roles as special projects director is recruiting river friendly churches of all denominations. And while her own church in Paducah is located near the convergence of four major rivers (the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee and the Mississippi), Mills points out that a church doesn’t have to be near a river to be riverfriendly; it simply needs to support the ministry through prayer, financial contributions or participation in MOR’s programs.

Several scale models of towboats and barges are on display at CME.

Two of MOR’s most appreciated programs are Christmas On The River and Easter On The River, which provide gift boxes to mariners who are unable to be home during the holidays. Churches participate in these programs by providing gift items such as cookies, candy, handknitted scarves, devotional materials and holiday cards created by children.

“The thing I always get thanked for are the Christmas cards made by kids, “ says Mills. “Everything is appreciated, but the kid-made cards are the gift that says home and reminds (mariners) of their families and the people they love. That’s the number one item.”

In addition to creating cards, children and youth at river friendly churches often play a larger role in the holiday programs. Last year, youth at Mills’ church decorated 15 Easter boxes and baked 50 dozen cookies for the Christmas program.

“It’s a valuable hands-on experience for our youth,” says Rev. Lynn Shurley, First Presbyterian, Paducah.

Churches located near major rivers can aid the ministry by providing clergy and lay volunteers to serve as River Chaplain Associates. Because SCI only employs four full-time site chaplains on the waterways between Pittsburgh and New Orleans, ministers are needed to respond to on-board emergencies and visit and counsel mariners and their families all along inland water routes.

“It’s a very rewarding ministry,” says Rev. Jim Wilkinson, one of SCI’s full-time chaplains whose office is in Louisville, Kentucky. “Crew members get so few visitors that every time I visit any boat I immediately feel the warmth and welcome. Just the fact that you’ve made the extra effort to get there says that you care.”

For information on how your church can support Ministry On The River contact Ann Mills at 1-800-708-1998.