Jan 2010 - Bane and Blessing

Ten Anglican priests from across Canada tell Sue Careless how the so-called “great recession” has affected their parishes.  

How has the recession most affected your parish? Are your offerings down?

Kevin Stockall, St. Paul, St Anne in Sackville, N.B. The recession seems to have largely missed us to this point in time, at least as a significant social factor. We live in an economic bubble, perhaps, partly sheltered by the university [Mount Allison]. In fact, it might be argued (although I lack the knowledge to do so) that the economic downturn has helped the university by increasing enrolment. I don’t know what impact it has had on donations and endowments. It might also be argued (although I again lack the empirical evidence) that the various and very large stimulus programs have served to offset some of the local job loss.

Brett Cane, St. Aidan in Winnipeg, Man. At the moment [November] we are down 4% in givings (which is better than 10% a month ago!). Some people living off investments have had to drop back in giving, others have increased. Apart from that, we haven't seen major financial problems amongst parishioners, though. Manitoba is one province that has not got a deficit!

Archie Pel (L) and Simon Chin (R)Archie Pell, Church of the Resurrection (ANiC) in Hope, B.C. Because our church is predominantly an older congregation on fixed incomes, there has been little or no change in our congregational giving and spending.

Chris Davis, St. David's, Fort Simpson, NWT. Our Diocese of the Arctic is subsidized/stabilized financially by the National Church's annual grant, so we are cushioned somewhat. Fort Simpson is a regional government centre. At St. David's itself, most of our good givers have secure government jobs with the federal government, NWT Ministry of Education, NWT Ministry of Health and RCMP -- or they are on pension.

Barbara RichardsonBarbara Richardson, St Chad’s (ANiC), Toronto. On the whole, we have not been affected by the economic downturn. Since being with the Network, our givings have shot up incredibly. This has occurred even with the general turndown in the economy. Someone once said that the Church does not have a problem with money; it has a problem with faith.

The ‘great recession’ is nothing compared to being locked out [of your church premises] and leaving behind the things that most Anglican congregations just assume is their right. We had a great turnabout in how our church handled ‘stuff’ when we found ourselves locked out from our ‘stuff.’ We have left all that behind, though, and we put our future in God’s hands. He never disappoints. Others came to our assistance and supplied the basics for worship and ministry. The wider church shared from its abundance to supply our lack.

David Barrett, Trinity Church, Sussex, N.B. It doesn’t seem to have affected us at all.  We are a town of about 4000; our congregation is older. Our offerings are up significantly over last year.

Ian Wetmore, St. Mary’s, Fredericton, N.B. The Fredericton-area economy is mixed (two universities, a provincial government and virtually no industrial base except to support local construction projects) and has remained fairly stable throughout this recession. New housing construction is only slightly down from 2008. So overall, Frederictonians are wondering, "Recession – what recession?”

Simon Chin, St Matthias and St. Luke (ANiC), Vancouver. People’s attitudes have changed somewhat. They are not as ready to spend on new projects. Even the Sunday morning after church gathering for lunch in groups is not as common. Offerings have gone down but this is not only because of the economic downturn; it also has to do with our involvement in the court case.

Norbert Haukenfrers, St. David’s, Prince Albert, Sask. People who have never been underemployed are now looking for work. Our offerings are not down.

Kim BeardRev. Canon Kim Beard, St. Paul’s-on-the-Hill, Pickering, Ont. A number of people in my parish have been made unemployed when their companies downsized. Others have had their salaries frozen and their work increased. They have become more stressed. Others with jobs are worried that the jobs are not secure. Others entering the job market have found only low paying jobs. Surprisingly our offerings increased this year, although I am wondering if the economic impact of the recession will make itself felt in 2010. Most of our outreach programs -- food bank, HIV/AIDS outreach, short-term mission teams to Bolivia/Peru/Guatemala, Uganda, and Guyana saw increased support.

Has your pastoral counselling had to address more hurts from those who are underemployed?

Richardson: Our people have concerns about their futures but God always supplies what we need. Sometimes that is by someone retaining a job that seemed insecure, or by someone in need being helped out by those who have extra, or by people making a choice to have a simpler lifestyle.

Chin: One couple worry that their children will suffer as they will not be able to finance their activities as before.

Haukenfrers: Yes, mostly in the realm of addiction recovery.

Beard: Yes. There’s stress on family units and relationships as well as individual depression. People are struggling with the possibility of financial failure.

Are donations to the rector’s discretionary fund up over the past year?

David BarrettBarrett: It is a line item in the budget, but we contribute to the local Salvation Army for social assistance/outreach, and we have given substantially more for this in 2009.

Chin: We have never set up this fund in our parish. I get to use funds from the main parish operating account to help people who have needs. However, we do not have too many of those in our neighbourhood.

Haukenfrers: Donations are up thanks to one philanthropist, but otherwise [they are] down.

Have you had to make any serious cuts in your church budget? 

Richardson: Our budget was bare bones when we joined the Network, and it’s still that way. The leaders have worked very hard to be responsible with our resources and we have appreciated those who have helped.

Barrett: No, though we are looking at a budgeted deficit for 2009.

Chin: Yes, major expenditures have been put on hold.

Haukenfrers: Not yet.

Beard: No. In fact we just completed a plaza renovation project which was in addition to our regular budget. However, we are planning to be very conservative in budget planning in 2010.

Have you had to cut staffing back? Programs? Donations to missions? Bursaries?

Barrett: We have moderately reduced donations to missions and this was a thoughtful, prayerful, and painful decision.

Chin: We have not re-engaged anyone to replace two staff who had resigned. Programs and donations to mission have remained the same.

Haukenfrers: No, in fact our mission giving is up.

Beard: No. I am praying that we will not have to do this. My hope would be to develop some new outreach programs in 2010.

Are volunteers doing more of what used  to be paid work? 

Barrett: Not yet, praise God.  

Chin: Yes. They have taken on the responsibilities of the Mandarin ministry worker and the church office assistant. We have volunteers who run the Mandarin Ministry outreach each week and this includes a teaching and contact program. Much of the office work of filing, printing, answering the phone and mail sorting are done by myself. The printing and translating of bulletins are done by volunteers.

Haukenfrers: No.

Beard: No. But we have always had a very high number of people at St. Paul’s who serve in a variety of volunteer ministries.

Have you found “creative” ways to save money such as through bartering, recycling and sharing resources with other churches and groups?

Barrett: No, but we have done more fundraising than ever before, mostly catering that we were approached to do (and we gave most of this money away).

Chin: We have always been recycling but we have not tried any other creative ways yet.

Haukenfrers: Yes, we are sharing resources across denominational lines and we are actually developing a city-wide youth group (all denominations) with events once a month.

Beard: We work closely with a number of other churches in our area in partnership with our food bank.

Have you run any special workshops on financial planning or debt management for church members?

(All but two answered simply no.)

Barrett: No, but we hosted a diocesan stewardship conference attended by over 200.

Beard: We have offered individual financial counseling to those who have requested it. I have two financial planners in our parish who volunteer their time. We also encourage networking to help those seeking a job to connect with employers who are members of the parish.

Has your congregation taken any new measures to help with those most hurting in the church?

Barrett: There has not been a need that we know of except for our increased giving to the Salvation Army.

Chin: They do this privately outside the church in their house groups.

Beard: We offer new courses dealing with grief, marriage, Alpha, and divorce recovery.

Does your congregation reach out into the community to help in any new ways?

Barrett: Yes, we have contributed to a number of community groups who are suffering, [through] our food bank and transition house.

Haukenfrers: We now host three addiction recovery groups weekly.

Beard: We recently partnered with a local Italian restaurant to offer a thanksgiving meal for those in need. Over 135 people attended. We’ll be offering a free Christmas concert and meal for the general community in December.

If you contribute to a food bank, have demands on it been higher in 2009? Has there been enough food? 

Barrett: We collect food once a month for our community food bank and donations have increased dramatically.

Chin: We collect imperishable food stuff and toiletries for the food bank and women’s shelters.

Beard: We have had enough food even though demand has been higher.

Has the downturn brought any blessings in disguise? 

Barrett: We have people very happily working together raising money that we will give to others!

Chin: It has resulted in some finding they had gifts they have not been using.

Beard: It has encouraged us to think of new ways to connect and minister to our local community. We have one mission team that will paint a local person’s apartment who otherwise would not have been able to redecorate. We cover the cost of paint and materials.

Do you sense that the worst of the recession is over? 

Barrett: Yes.

Chin: Vancouver has not really experienced much of a recession though individual people have felt it. I think the worst is over as prices for houses are picking up again.

Haukenfrers: Not at all.

Beard: Perhaps, but the effects of the recession will still be felt for the next year at least.

How do you keep your congregation’s morale up and your own?

Barrett: We encourage one another and try not to focus too much on money, though it is difficult.

Chin: By turning to the Bible and the promises of God’s care. Sermons are using more biblical references and becoming more practical dealing with faith and life situations. In this process I preach to myself as well.

Haukenfrers: Recall stories of troubled times in Scripture, and stories of ministry opportunities grown out of recessions. [For myself] prayer and Scripture reading.

Beard: Pray, serve others and thank God for each blessing.