CHURCHES GIVE NETWORKING SUPPORT TO JOB-SEEKERS

IN MARCH, Wisconsin's unemployment rate hit 9.4 percent, nearly double the rate a year earlier and the highest in 26 years, according to the Department of Workforce Development.

To stem that tide, faith communities have begun offering employment workshops and seminars, networking, and support groups, even one-on-one coaching covering everything from resume writing to interviewing skills.

"Churches have to meet people where they are, and this is where some of us are right now," said the Rev. Bonnie Stafford, interim associate pastor at Wauwatosa Presbyterian, which launched its networking group in January.

"That's what church is about—networking. We're sharing together as a community our love of God."...

Many churches and congregations, including the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and Congregations Beth Israel in Glendale and Shalom in Fox Point, have begun offering services informally, posting job information on bulletin boards, or offering private counseling for members who need spiritual guidance after finding themselves out of work.

But a number of churches have taken it further, tapping expertise in their congregations to help job-seekers find work or deal with the stress of the search. Interest in the faith-based programs has been overwhelming. ...

The programs, organizers say, offer church members an opportunity to share their gifts and minister to others in need in ways they hadn't considered previously.

"There are so many people in the parish who are gifted, and they're getting as much out of it as the people looking for help," said Pat Wisialowski, pastoral associate at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, which hosts a job search support group twice a month.

Annysa Johnson
"Churches offer help to job hunters"
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. May 23, 2009

CHURCH OF ENGLAND POSTS PRAYERS TO AID EXAM STUDENTS

SCHOOL PUPILS facing exams this month can look to a new source of revision aid [study material for exam preparation] this year, with the publication of a set of downloadable prayer cards. ...

The brief prayers—written in bullet point style on a postcard-size format—call for God's help in facing the stressful time and ask for a sense of calm and focus during revision ahead of the big tests.

The Church of England, in association with the Culham Institute, has also published a selection of resources for school assemblies in the run-up to the exam period. The reflections focus on the example of a number of people in the public eye to help young people retain a sense of perspective about the nature of academic success and failure.

From sporting heroes to business leaders, the famous figures are used alongside Bible readings in the suggested reflections to illustrate how determination and sense of purpose can help achieve results. The guidance suggests that citing young achievers such as sailor Michael Pelham and swimmer Ellie Simmonds could show how making tough choices and focusing on what you do best can help when faced with testing times, while Nelson Mandela's battle against circumstance is also highlighted as an inspirational role model for students. ...

[Contributor to the prayer series] Rt. Rev. John Saxby, Bishop of Lincoln and Chair of the Board of Education ... comments: "Ever since I was a lad, exams have brought me out in a cold sweat. The last-minute cramming, the nervous anticipation of turning over the test paper, the packed timetable of exams that never seems to have an end in sight.

"It all makes it easy to forget that God's plan for each of us is about much more than a test score. Of course, exams do have a place as barometers of what individuals have learnt and how a school is performing against other schools.

"But I hope these prayers and assembly plans will help young people face the forthcoming tests with calm and strength, safe in the knowledge that God loves them no matter how bleak the exam timetable looks."...

The exam stress prayers form the latest addition to the Church of England website's regularly updated selection of prayers for contemporary concerns, including a selection of prayers for those affected by debt or concerned about the financial crisis, published in September 2008 and viewed nearly 90,000 times so far; and recent prayers for the developing situation regarding swine flu.

Christian Today
"Church uploads 'crammer's prayer' as exam period looms"
May 5, 2009

CHURCHES REAP BENEFITS OF GOING GREEN

WHEN IT RAINED, water filled the basement a foot high, flooding the preschool room at least once a year. The air conditioner wouldn't work in two rooms at the same time. The Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation [in Evanston, Illinois] desperately needed a new synagogue.

As members planned their new building, they decided it should reflect the belief, shared by many faiths, that God calls them to be responsible stewards of the earth. They decided to go green from the ground up.

Cypress wood reclaimed form barns in upstate New York was used for the new synagogue's exterior, white cinder blocks from the old building were crushed and recycled, and brown cabinet doors made from sunflower husks were hung in the offices.

As Americans are becoming more environmentally conscious, more religious groups are looking to make their worship spaces sustainable. The efforts range from small country congregations using energy-efficient bulbs to megachurches complying with complex green-building codes. ...

By going green, most worship buildings can cut their energy costs by 30 percent, said Jerry Lawson, of the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Congregations program. About 2,000 of the nearly 310,000 houses of worship in the US participate in the EPA program.

"That's a lot of money that can go back into the mission," he said. "Why waste the money the members of the congregation have donated to operate and maintain your building?"

Houses of worship often have specific environmental needs, he said. For instance, stained glass windows could be insulated from weather and pipe organs protected from humidity, but this would require additional expense up front before any energy savings could be realized.

The green efforts of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation added $750,000 to the cost.

In Plano, Texas, the 27,000-member Prestonwood Baptist Church worked with Energy Star Congregations to halve its annual $2 million bill for gas and water, executive pastor Mike Buster said.

"We're to be good stewards of our resources, our financial resources as well as the Earth's resources," Buster said. "We take the dollars we were spending with utility companies and now spend them on ministry and missions."

Green building wasn't on the congregation's radar when Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, started construction in 2005. But once church members learned about it, they took to the idea. Now the LEED-certified church has a green section in its newsletter, where members have been asked to bring in their electronics, like computers and DVD players, for recycling.

"It's taken on its own life," said Jan Meyer Swindler, who was on the church building committee. "We sold recycled grocery bags. The plastic foam cups have gone away. Little by little you see changes and that's what it's all about." ...

The interest in having environmentally sound religious spaces is just beginning, Harper said. "There's a long-term trend that's very powerful and unmistakable," Harper said. "The only financially responsible way for religious groups to build is to pay attention to green building."

Caryn Rousseau
"Synagogues, churches build green"
© 2009 The Associated Press. Used with permission.
April 29, 2009