By Jim Coggins

THE CHURCH in Ontario's automobile manufacturing heartland is responding to the economic crisis by doing what it was already doing -- only more of it.

Windsor, Ontario, directly across the river from Detroit, is particularly dependent on the automobile industry and thus particularly vulnerable to the current downturn in the economy. Employment is already close to 10%, among the highest in Canada.

Churches have begun to see an increase in difficulties experienced by their members and increased needs in the community, but "we have not even begun to see what's to come," said Chuck Wilson, pastor of New Life Pentecostal Assembly.

While the automobile plants have slowed production, no closures are expected until next spring. And if the Big Three automakers were to close down altogether, the result would be "devastating," said Dan Smith, senior pastor at Riverside Baptist Church.

About 30% of the workforce in the area is directly employed in manufacturing. If manufacturing shuts down, the spin-off effect would mean many other people would also lose their jobs.

Captain Dale Steward of South Windsor Salvation Army Community Church said one member of his church was "let go suddenly on Monday" and several more are worried about their jobs. Wilson noted that most of the members of his congregation have enough seniority that they haven't lost their jobs yet, but one had to transfer to a different factory 125 kilometres away, leaving him with a three-hour round trip daily commute.

The economic downturn has impacted his church's finances, said Smith, but "we're doing okay." The church is "being careful" in how it spends money but has met its budget and all of its extensive mission commitments. Smith said the church has a lot of older members who are "very generous."

Similarly, Wilson said his church is currently alright, but the 2009 budget has been cut to "reflect the reality of what's coming." Capital expenditures and any spending not considered essential have been "postponed indefinitely till we see what happens." When the church's part-time secretary resigned to take a full-time job somewhere else, she was not replaced.

Increased needs within the congregations are being met through the churches' existing benevolent funds, although some are taking extra collections. Riverside has helped one family pay an overdue hydro bill and helped another woman buy a used stove, said Smith. "We have loving, gracious people who look out for one another," he added, noting that a lot of this "network of help" takes place on a personal level outside the church books.

The churches have also seen an increase in people outside the church coming for help. The two Salvation Army churches in Windsor provide donations of food and toys for the Army's downtown social ministry. There may be "fewer people able to donate" and "a far greater demand" this year, said Steward, and the situation could get even worse if "a lot of the corporate donors disappear."

The United Church Downtown Mission is one of the few "growth industries" in the Windsor area, said assistant executive director Chandra Dass. As Employment Insurance benefits expire for those laid off last spring, the Mission has seen a 20% increase in attendance at its hot lunch program -- from a peak of 170 to over 200 people -- and a similar increase at its emergency food bank, which now serves over 300 families a month. The lunch program continues to serve a mix of unemployed young people, adults with disabilities and seniors, but the food bank is seeing more families come.

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The Mission was started in 1972 and maintains its links to the United Church but is now supported by people of all denominations and faiths. The Mission has a loyal and caring donor base and will meet its budget this year, said Dass, and it is expecting a further 15-20% increase in demand next year -- and that is if the Big Three automakers (Chrysler, General Motors and Ford) continue to operate at some level.

If the Big Three should go under, said Dass, "we don't know what the needs will be or our capacity to meet them." He noted that a lot of the Mission's donors are seniors, who rely on investment income, and he suggested they may be more motivated to give because they themselves have experienced economic hardship in the past.

The Mission's approach is to ask no questions, assuming that "if you come, you are in need." It is harder to get at the more "intangible needs," said Dass, because those coming "need to get over the hump of being willing to share -- the first barrier is accepting that you are at the stage of needing help."

Wilson noted that the bedroom community of Belle River just outside of Windsor, where New Life is located, did not even have a food bank before, but now it has "a fairly aggressive one." The church is increasingly receiving calls from people in Windsor itself, including members of the city's large Muslim community, and some seem to be going down the list of churches seeking food and clothing, said Wilson. "If we have money in our benevolent find, we are able to respond."

The approach of many of the churches is summed up by Smith: "We can't do everything, but we do what we can."

The churches are also addressing the spiritual issues related to the economic downturn. The website of Heritage Park Alliance Church contains a link to a Canadian Auto Workers workshop designed to help unemployed workers. It also contains pastor's blogs on 'Consumerism,' 'Worry' and "Anxiety,' as well as an article on 'Why It's Important to Keep Tithing in Tough Economic Times.'

At Riverside, pastor Dan Smith is leading a small group Crown Financial study on "what the Bible says about debt, spending, giving, saving etc." Smith said he hasn't preached specifically on the economic crisis but in the course of his regular preaching he has found there is "a lot of encouragement in the Word." He tries to help his congregation apply the Word and "learn to trust the Lord to carry them through."

Wilson also hasn't deliberately preached on the economy either, but has continued his practice of preaching through books of the Bible. "I trust the Bible more than myself to be relevant," he said. This fall, he is preaching from Acts and discovered a lot of practical teaching in Acts 2 and 4 on people in the church doing something so "no one is in need."

Pastor Ronald Sharpe of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church noted that a number of pastors are getting together to pray for the city. When there were a lot of good-paying jobs in the area, it was easy for a lot of people to "put spiritual things on the back burner," he said. But now the pastors are praying that "people's lives will get founded on hope in Jesus Christ and not in their work."

Other pastors echoed the need for prayer and the potential for blessing. "God speaks loudest through our brokenness. There is great potential in this for the growth of the Kingdom," said Wilson.

Much will depend on "how the church will respond -- with open hands or closed fists," he added. When everyone one else is cutting back and holding on to what they have, it is important for church members to respond to the needs around them, he said. The church is called "to swim upstream."

November 27/2008