Established in 1998, SCI's Ministry on the River is the nation's only full-time pastoral care ministry on the Ohio and Lower Mississippi River systems. The program includes a pastoral outreach system for river workers and their families extending from Pittsburgh to Houston.

This network of clergy and lay volunteers serves as a resource to mariners who visit inland ports as well as to those who spend long stretches shore-side. Click here for our Fall 2008 Regional Workshops.

The network is operational 365 days a year ministering to mariners and their families. Ministry on the River includes boat visits, counseling services, fellowship, and even the use of a cell phone to mariners who may feel out of touch with their lives at home. Many hundreds of school children and church members are also involved through Ministry on the River's Easter and Christmas on the River programs.

Although varying creeds and denominations, the thousands of churches that populate the banks of the rivers of America all endeavor to share the Word of God with their communities.  Indeed, a number of them unite in this common cause to serve as partners in SCI’s Ministry on the River.  SCI links together these churches, which minister to the needs of the towboat worker, in its network of volunteers.  Rev. Jim Wilkinson, SCI Chaplain, recounted the history of the Church along the inland waterways and the development of a cooperative ministry in his address to the National Episcopal Historians and Archivists in June 2008.  To read a full copy of this address, click here (PDF Document).