IDEAS THAT WORK - Christianity Today

HELPING THE UNEMPLOYED

My church members were shocked when they read the Tulsa Tribune on August 20, 1986: “A part-time letter carrier who recently was told he was about to lose his job sprayed gunfire inside an Edmond, Oklahoma, post office this morning, killing 14 people and wounding 6 others before taking his own life.”

Why would the threat of a job loss trigger such a massacre? we asked in our church. Could a tragedy like that be prevented? What can we do?

With renewed determination we continued our plans for a workshop for the unemployed. When it was held four days later at First United Methodist Church in Tulsa, twice as many people attended as we anticipated.

Dearly there were deep hurts among the unemployed, both within and without our congregation. But we had begun to find that as a church, working together, we could assuage those hurts and offer practical help.

Starting up

The impetus for “Jobs First,” our ministry to the unemployed, came from church member Bob Johnson, who was laid off in June 1985. “I turned to the church, even though it was embarrassing,” he recalls. “I found out there were seven of us without jobs in my adult Sunday school class. Every one of us had degrees and professional skills. We polled other classes and discovered that in each of them 6 to 7 percent were unemployed.

“I wondered if they all felt as I did. I had never been out of work in my life. I was forty-eight, so I didn’t know if I could find another job in horticulture or in any other area. It was like a death, losing my job. I went through those stages of grief they talk about: anger, denial, and depression.”

Johnson and four other members of the class became convinced the church can help the jobless in its midst. First, the class members contributed to a fund they established for use by members in financial crisis. Those who later found jobs could pay back what they had needed, interest free. Those who could not pay back the money were to find creative ways to serve others.

Jobs First became a full-fledged ministry in September 1985, when our congregation held a three-day event during which we asked, “What is God prompting our church to do in this community?” Twenty-nine diverse ministries were set in motion at that time, including this one to the unemployed.

After the weekend, people who had signed up for Jobs First determined the scope of unemployment in the church. They called church members, took surveys, and designed a card for use in Sunday morning services. “Unemployed?” asked one side of the card. “Job Openings?” asked the other. Congregants filled in the appropriate side and returned the cards.

The registered number of unemployed climbed to 85, but the number of job openings were a fraction of that. It was apparent Jobs First needed an administrator to help these people find jobs. Both Bob Johnson and a subsequent ministry leader had now found full-time employment, so in April 1986 we hired Debbie Pruett, already a volunteer with the ministry, to be part-time director.

Strong and practical help

We offer career counseling, referrals to community and social service agencies, help in writing resumes and application letters, assistance in locating housing and transportation, and screening for financial help. The ministry is developing a team to pray with the unemployed, a monthly newsletter, and quarterly seminars. Periodic telephone calls are made to check on the status of applicants. Ultimately, however, securing the job is between the job hunter and the employer.

Currently Jobs First is working with 80 applicants. Professional career consultants usually work with 30-40 cases at a time for an average fee of $1,500 to $2,000 per client. Jobs First offers its services free. Church members make up 60 percent of the applicants. Of the other 40 percent, half attend regularly.

“We represent both the severely deprived, who live under the bridge, and top oil executives,” says Pruett. “Some of our applications come from older people who need income for survival, some are from persons recovering from drug problems or alcoholism. Sometimes we work with folks who say they want a job, but who are unwilling to make necessary personal changes to become employable. You can see how much we need Christian support groups and counseling.”

Stabilizing self-esteem

This Christian support and counsel sets Jobs First apart. As much as the unemployed need job leads, they need consistent encouragement.

Statements of unemployed church members reveal the bewilderment, shame, and doubt they feel:

“I feel like hiding out. How can I face my church friends when I’ve been fired?”

“I’m embarrassed. I can’t give to the church or even pay for my family to come to the church dinners.”

“We’ve started having these big fights in our family. Everybody is scared of what’s going to happen, and we’re taking it out on each other.”

“Does God really love me and want the best for me? I’m not even sure I’m a Christian anymore, and I always thought of myself as a strong believer.”

Dr. William D. Young of the University of Tulsa discovered as length of unemployment increases, individuals feel there is no point in looking for work, because they hold no control over their employability. Purposelessness and feeling out of control erodes self-esteem.

So Jobs First emphasizes showing people how to stay active in their job search. The ministry recently sponsored a one-day workshop, “Which Way Is Up?” for the unemployed or those in career transition. The workshop covered not only practical topics such as preparing a resume and taking advantage of community resources, but also included a session titled “Staying Power: Scriptural Principles for Survival in Tough Times.”

One of the participants said the day “changed the way I’ve been thinking about myself.”

Steady gains

The search for employment remains a struggle since the Tulsa unemployment rate is 9.3 percent. Some companies dismiss experienced, qualified workers so they can hire temporary replacements who will work for less money and with no benefits. One young woman from First United Methodist lost her secretarial position to a CPA who was willing to do all the secretarial work along with the accounting.

Yet there are steady gains. Jobs First is now getting calls from agencies who trust us to find them reliable employees. One employer was agonizing over the prospect that several of his fine employees were going to be dismissed from their jobs. He knew employers are more interested in the resume of a working person than one who has become a depressed unemployment statistic, so he registered his employees with Jobs First before they knew they would be jobless.

And the help has begun to come full circle. John Bayliss, one of the early job seekers who helped develop the Jobs First ministry, is now employed as maintenance manager for a cement company. He is in a position to hire workers and help those who, like him, needed a job.

Jessica Moffatt is minister of community ministries at First United Methodist Church in Tulsa. Oklahoma.

Ruby Galloway Farish is a free-lance writer from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

MORE IDEAS

Discipleship for Busy People

Discipling believers ranks high on the priority list for most churches. Yet too often, few members are intentionally spending time with other believers to encourage growth in Christ.

Associate pastor E. Stanley Ott and other leaders of Covenant Presbyterian Church in West Lafayette, Indiana, found this gap between intent and practice when they studied their congregation a few years ago. Several people in the congregation were well-equipped to teach and build others in Christ, but almost none were actually doing it.

“Why not?” Ott asked.

“We’re just too busy,” they told him.

Ott wrestled with how to incorporate small-group discipleship into people’s already hectic schedules. From that frustration came the “flex group.”

A flex group is a small group (no more than seven) that meets for a limited number of weeks to study a single concept or topic. A person need simply find an uncommitted breakfast, lunch, or other time slot for four to seven weeks in a row. The concept allows people with tight schedules (most church members), who would have to turn down long-term commitments, to be involved in small-group nurture.

At Covenant Presbyterian, a college student led a five-week flex group of five other students on principles of teaching Scripture. One man met another over breakfast for thirteen weeks to discuss John Stott’s Basic Christianity. One wife and mother led a short study with other harried moms on the biblical view of rest.

Ott trains flex group leaders to keep sessions on track, since most last seventy-five minutes or less. Most begin with a short Scripture reading, followed by discussion of a few key questions with application. Then group members discuss what is happening in their lives and pray for each other.

“People who have never before been in a Bible study have joined flex groups simply because the short-term commitment didn’t overwhelm them,” says Ott. “It’s surprising how many people are willing to help others if they don’t have to be in charge of some program or assume an office.”

Spare-time Sermon Preparation

Pastors often find themselves with small blocks of time between appointments. Those snatches of time in the car, in restaurants before breakfast or lunch meetings, and in hospitals may add up to several hours in a week but typically go unused.

Don McClure, pastor of Calvary Chapel of Redlands, California, has found a way to use those times for reading and study, cutting his later sermon preparation time.

“I used to try hauling a few commentaries with me when I set out for appointments, thinking I could study in spare moments. But the books were bulky and heavy, they didn’t fit in my briefcase, and usually they just cluttered the back seat of my car,” he says.

A few years ago, McClure changed his strategy. A week or two before the sermon, he flips through various commentaries and reference books and photocopies the portions dealing with his upcoming passage or topic. Then he puts the copied pages into a file folder, labels it, and carries that in his briefcase.

“I’ll be in the barbershop and just pull out a few pages and begin reading,” he says. “By the time I actually sit in my office with blocked-out sermon preparation time, I already have a strong feel for the text and how I want to present it. I used to spend my first few hours of sermon preparation just gathering materials and doing preliminary reading. Now I already have that out of the way. I’ve found I can prepare a sermon using only 50 percent of the office hours I used to.”

Video for Shut-ins (and Other Video Ideas)

Like many pastors, William Brigden, of Healy (Kansas) United Methodist Church, recorded worship services on audio cassettes for shut-ins. But four years ago, the church invited a guest speaker who employed a variety of charts during his presentations. Realizing listeners would not be able to understand much of the presentations, Brigden got a video store owner to loan the church a video camera, and he videotaped the sessions.

The videotapes were an instant hit, not only with the shut-ins but with others in the church who had missed the guest speaker. Now, several upgraded cameras and tripods later, the church records each Sunday service on videotape and later takes a tape and video player to shut-ins.

Through the videotapes, shut-ins feel more in touch with the church. One woman broke her hip and during her recuperation at home watched the weekly videotapes of the services. When she returned to church several weeks after the accident, Pastor Brigden greeted her, “We’re so glad you’re back.”

“I never left,” she said. “I’ve been here every Sunday.”

Other ways Brigden has found to use video regularly and effectively in the church’s ministry:

Funerals. When a funeral was particularly well-attended, the church’s sanctuary could not hold everyone. So the church set up a television in the nearby fellowship hall so people there could see the service.

On occasion, relatives who live far away are not able to attend the funeral. Brigden will send them a videotape of the service, if they wish. This gesture has been well received; in one case, an appreciative relative gave a memorial to the church to help purchase additional video equipment.

The nursery. Nursery workers usually miss the worship service, but at Healy United Methodist, thanks to the video equipment, they are able to watch the service while caring for children.

The larger community. Though Healy is too small to have its own cable system, other communities nearby do have cable, and various church programs are recorded and then rebroadcast there.

“Adopted” Children

At the Siren (Wisconsin) Covenant Church, Pastor Carol Nordstrom and the Sunday school teachers were looking for some way to help the children feel more a part of the church. They hit on a program they call “Very Important People.” Here’s how it works:

Leaders ask adult members who do not currently have children in the home, usually older adults, to “adopt” one or two of the children for one year. During the year, the adults arc responsible to simply befriend the child, spend time with him or her, and perhaps give the child occasional cards or small gifts.

“Adults befriend their VIPs in a variety of ways,” reports Nordstrom. “Some take the children fishing, to the beach, or to ball games. Some have attended school programs their VIPs were performing in. One widow taught various crafts to a teenage girl who had always wanted to do handwork. A couple in their sixties held an overnight slumber party for a young girl and three of her friends.”

The only problem, according to Nordstrom, is that a few adults have felt they couldn’t afford to give their VIPs the kind of gifts and activities some of the other VIPs were getting. So now the program leaders emphasize gifts of time rather than money, and suggest inexpensive activities adults and children can do together.

The program begins and ends each year at a church Valentine’s dinner. The adults and VIPs from the previous year sit together. Then following dinner, the coming year’s matches are announced. Although some adults choose not to continue, most do, and they often request the same children for the coming year.

The program has carried over into other areas of the church. “Older widows attend Sunday school programs to see their VIPs,” Nordstrom says. “Adults and the children-even teenagers-sometimes sit together in church. Now we have confirmation students ask the adults about their faith. The VIP program has helped our adults and young people get to know each other.”

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