wfn.org | Lutheran Pastors Offer Hope to Church Members Facing Job Losses

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Title: Lutheran Pastors Offer Hope to Church Members Facing Job Losses
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>February 10, 2009  

Lutheran Pastors Offer Hope to Church Members Facing Job Losses
09-040-SH

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Tom Hansen is the interim
pastor of a Minnesota congregation with numerous members
losing jobs and homes.

"I feel horrible for what people are going through,"
said Hansen, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, North Branch.
"I also feel pretty helpless."

Other pastors are telling similar stories across the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The economy
is taking a toll on church members and congregations' ability
to aid them.

"Everybody's dreams are dying and we don't have the
resources to help them," said Hansen, adding that some laid-off
members have exhausted the social service aid available to
them.

For some people, "it feels like the world's coming down so
hard that it blocks their ability to feel God's presence," he
said.

"You pray for hope. You pray for a new day. But you don't
let God off the hook either," he said. "After all, we believe
in a God that has the ability to make changes. We believe in
resurrection."

The Rev. Paul Wollner, a South Carolina pastor, says the
economic downturn is reshaping his ministry. Many members of
his congregation are enduring layoffs or mandatory furloughs
without pay.

"Pastorally, I'm spending time listening to lots of people
making major life changes," said Wollner, pastor of Mt. Pilgrim
Lutheran Church, Prosperity. "One of the best things we can do
is to simply be present to those who are hurting."

At the same time, "the church needs to allow the creative
power of the Holy Spirit to inspire us to new ways of caring
for one another as it did during the Great Depression," he
said.

Mt. Pilgrim is scaling back budgets for Christian education,
youth and social ministries to offset an anticipated reduction in
giving.

"In Prosperity, we're not seeing the greatest prosperity
right now," Wollner said. "We're doing the same amount of
ministry with fewer resources."

On Valentine's Day, Maricopa Lutheran Church near Phoenix
is giving a gift it says is better than roses or chocolates to
people losing jobs and homes: a free financial seminar.

Arizona bears one of the highest foreclosure rates in the
country. Maricopa Lutheran, a satellite mission begun last year,
is in the heart of one of the hardest hit communities.

"When the economy is bad, it becomes an opportunity for the
church," said the Rev. Cora Aguilar, pastor of the mission.

"People turn to God when they don't have anything,"
Aguilar said. "When they are in abundance, some people don't
think they need God."

In Florida, the Rev. Travis Kern also sees the economic
downturn as a time for the church to step up its evangelism.
People undergoing severe losses can benefit by being around
congregations providing hope, comfort and caring friends, he
said.

"Inviting people to hear the gospel might be the very
thing that gets them through the tough times," said Kern, pastor
of First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Fort Lauderdale. "I'm not
just talking about material goods. What we can bring to them is
a relationship to God and a relationship to the church."

Job losses are hitting young adults in his congregation
particularly hard, he said. Many are moving to less expensive
cities, leaving them without their spiritual communities when
they may need them the most.

"The people who need to hear our message of hope often
aren't in the building on Sunday mornings," Kern said. "Churches
need to figure out how to reach them."

Not every congregation is struggling. Offerings at St.
Thomas Lutheran Church in Brick, N.J., soared by 15 percent
in 2008, according to the Rev. Stanley Ellison, the
congregation's pastor.

Members also pledged an additional $240,000 in a capital
campaign for the "work of ministry." Meanwhile, the 66-year-old
pastor's pension plummeted. He says he may need to put off
retirement.

>That's an issue for many Americans.

>"God gives whatever God gives," Ellison said.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog