It’s no news that folks are hurting these days, as are many of their congregations. Clergy suffer doubly, because they need to pastor their parishioners who are unemployed, “de-leveraged” or afraid while simultaneously trying to figure out how to balance the church budget. Income is down; costs continue to rise. It’s not pretty.
The Episcopal Church is offering several resources than may be helpful. Their web site includes a page on Responses to Troubled Times - a collection of examples and resources that clergy may find helpful. You can find it here; if you read nothing else, check out the “Enron example.”
The Stewardship page also contains a well-done print brochure (you can download the PDF and print ‘em off) on stewardship in hard times. It offers a reflective strategy that can be helpful in guiding folks through the inevitable re-prioritizing that a job loss entails. You can find it here.
We will include links to these resources on the parish resources section of the Diocesan web site.
One more note... my apologies for having been very quiet of late. Postings should be more frequent from here on out.
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