The Denominational Ministry Strategy (DMS) was formed by a group of Pittsburgh clergymen early in 1982 to assist the newly unemployed steelworkers of the Monongahela Valley and to make state and local government aware of their plight. The DMS followed in the footsteps of past groups such as the Pittsburgh Coalition and the Metropolitan Citizens Organization in that various congregations from the Pittsburgh area banded together in response to changes within their community. After initial efforts by the DMS yielded few results, the group altered its tactics to draw attention to the problems of the unemployed. Joining with the local union activists of the Network to Save the Mon/Ohio Valley, the organization targeted banking and manufacturing corporations within Pittsburgh as the primary reason behind the region's deindustrialization. Some of their protests included removing their money from branches of Mellon Bank and placing fish in Mellon bank boxes, symbolizing that there was something fishy about the institution. This approach brought the group into conflict with the Lutheran Church in America, which initially supported the DMS. Pastors D. Douglas Roth and Daniel Solberg were defrocked by the church in 1984 and 1985, respectively, due to their involvement with the group and both were jailed for refusing to give up their posts. Solberg's brother, actor David Soul, became involved in the work of the DMS and created, along with Bill Jersey, the 1986 PBS documentary, The Fighting Ministers, about their efforts. In 1987, the organization changed its name to the Denominational Ministry Strategy Extended (DMX) as a way of mocking U.S. Steel and their name change to USX. Later that year, the group evolved into the Confessing Synod Ministries in response to the opposition it received from the Lutheran Church. The group is still in operation as of 2007.
From the description of Collection of Denominational Ministry Strategy, 1973-1995. (University of Pittsburgh). WorldCat record id: 320838769
