Religious teachings are full of warnings about money, if not outright suspicion of the ways of commerce. But in this recession, congregations are increasingly showing members how to navigate the choppy economic seas – and they’re finding this new type of aid in big demand.

Although the recession is a national and global story, its effects and severity vary regionally, as do the approaches of houses of worship. So this story is pre-eminently local. And it won’t go away quickly. Unemployment rates continue to rise, and economists say many people will be without jobs or underemployed even after the economy rebounds. The housing market also continues to struggle, and few know what to make of the stock market.

As a result, there appears to be a growing need to educate people in the basics of money management and household finances. And congregations are increasingly addressing that need, in a variety of ways.

Story ideas

• Faith-based financial counselors stress the spiritual element of money management, approaching this task as stewardship of resources. Using a variety of counselors and programs, congregations are offering seminars and training on financial education. Check with a spectrum of local congregations about what kinds of financial education they may be offering and what religious principles the programs emphasize.
• State and local assistance agencies across the country are developing programs and partnerships with local congregations to offer assistance. Check with local mortgage lenders and civic organizations that assist the unemployed about any partnerships they have developed. Capitalizing on the influence of clergy in people’s lives, New York City, for example, is training clergy to become a source of financial and consumer education.
• Apart from congregations, local faith-based charities and social service agencies can report not only on local demand for food, shelter or other types of assistance but also on any education programs they may be offering on personal finances, job seeking or home ownership.
• Distinct from ministering to practical and material needs, religions also have a body of teachings on economic ethics and justice. Clergy have been preaching on the subject of economy, offering analysis, rebuke and consolation. What themes have emerged at local congregations?
• In some areas, interfaith groups have taken action because the economic downturn has spared no one on the basis of faith. Also, all religions offer teachings on the wise use of resources, so an interfaith story can explore that context.

Resources and background

• Watch a May 9, 2009, CNN video about a minister who says God spared him from financial ruin during the recent stock downturn.
• Read a May 1, 2009, column in The New York Times, “Does God Want You to Be Bankrupt?,” about the approaches of different faith traditions to debt.
• Read an April 24, 2009, Religion News Service story, “For financial guru Dave Ramsey, sour economy has an upside.”
• View an April 17, 2009, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly segment about what religious groups are doing in Elkhart, Ind., where unemployment is almost 20 percent.
• Read an April 16, 2009, Boston Globe article about a Gordon College professor whose personal-finance presentations on campus and in the community draw from an 18^th-century sermon about money by John Wesley, founder of Methodism.
• Read a March 29, 2009, USA Today story about congregations responding to their members’ financial needs.
• Read about a February survey done by LifeWay Research, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, in which 31 percent of pastors reported an increase in requests from church members for financial assistance. Media relations manager at LifeWay is Chris Turner, 615- 251-2307.
• Watch a Feb. 23, 2009, Colbert Report episode with the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest with an MBA who is a regular media commentator, discussing God and the economy.
• Read a collection of stories from the United Methodist Church about UMC churches responding to the recession.
• The multifaith Web site Beliefnet.com maintains a Financial Crisis Support Center with prayers, tips, blogs and groups.
• Read a Sept. 27, 2008, essay on the economic crisis by Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Communion. The bishops of the U.S. Episcopal Church issued a pastoral letter in March on the economic crisis.

Organizations

• Food banks are reporting unprecedented demand because of rising unemployment. Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest), the national network of food banks, reported an average increase of 30 percent in demand. Feeding America has both national and local contacts.
• Kingdom Advisors is a nationwide network of evangelical Christian financial professionals in almost 60 U.S. communities. Or contact the Atlanta main office, 404-497-7680.
• The Orthodox Union has a number of initiatives to help those adversely affected by the current economy, including a national jobs board. Contact public relations director Stephen Steiner, 212-613-8318.
• PICO National Network is a faith-based community organizing group based in the San Francisco area with affiliates in 13 other states. PICO organized a cross-country bus caravan in March to Washington, D.C., to call attention to victims of home foreclosure. Contacts at 866-550-7426 include executive director Scott Reed (ext. 709); the Rev. John Baumann, founding director (ext. 701); and communications director Timothy Lilienthal (ext. 706).

National sources

• Nancy T. Ammerman chairs the sociology department at Boston University and directed research for the Hartford Institute for Religion Research on congregations and the community services they provide. She says congregations are offering both formal and informal programs and networks to assist people in economic straits, and that assistance is typical for them, although its scope depends on local need. Contact 617-358-0634, nta@bu.edu.
• Matt Bell is the author of the 2009 book Matt Bell’s Money Strategies for Tough Times and a former radio journalist. He says he’s busier than ever with requests from a variety of churches to offer education programs. Contact him in the Chicago area at 708-447-8022.
• Chuck Bentley is CEO of Crown Financial Ministries, a prominent national Christian financial education ministry with representatives across the country and internationally. Crown Financial seminars and training at churches have increased dramatically in recent months. Contact 800-722-1976.
• Rebecca Blank is a labor economist and the Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She chaired the United Church of Christ committee that wrote “Christian Faith: Economic Life and Justice,” a statement adopted by the church’s general synod in 1989, and is a church member. Listen to an interview with her about the role of faith in tough economic times, posted by the Center for American Progress, a think tank. Contact her through the communications office at Brookings, 202-797-6105.
• Ron Blue is the founder of Ronald Blue & Co., a financial and investment consulting firm in the Atlanta area. He is a co-author of the 2009 book Surviving Financial Meltdown: Confident Decisions in an Uncertain World and president of Kingdom Advisors, a nationwide network of evangelical Christian financial professionals. Contact him at Kingdom Advisors, 404-497-7680 ext. 7686.
• Rabbi Michael Chernick is a professor of Jewish jurisprudence and social justice at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He took part in a March 22, 2009, panel in New York about Jewish values and the financial crisis. Contact 212-824-2232, sternchernick@hotmail.com.
• Charles M.A. Clark is an economics professor at St. John’s University in New York and an expert on Catholic social teaching and economics. Contact clarkc@stjohns.edu.
• Daniel K. Finn is a professor of theology and economics at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., and co-director of True Wealth of Nations research project at the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California. He has spoken about credit card debt as a moral issue and the need for consumers to be smarter about debt. His most recent book is The Moral Ecology of Markets: Assessing Claims About Markets and Justice. Contact 320-363-2102, dfinn@csbsju.edu.
• The Rev. Adam Hamilton is founder and senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan., one of the country’s largest Methodist churches. He is the author of the 2009 book Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity. The church has developed ReSet Ministries to respond to members most directly affected by the current economy. Contact 913-544-0700 or through executive assistant Sue Thompson, sue.thompson@cor.org.
• James Hudnut-Beumler is Anne Potter Wilson Distinguished Professor of American Religious History and dean of the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University. He wrote In Pursuit of the Almighty’s Dollar: A History of Money and American Protestantism. He has noticed the economic downturn affecting newer suburbs of growing Southern cities, such as Orlando and Nashville. Contact 615-343-3960, james.hudnut-beumler@vanderbilt.edu.
• Laurence R. Iannaccone is Koch Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and director of the Center for the Economic Study of Religion. He has helped popularize an economic approach to studying religion. Contact 703-993-2331, larry@econzone.com.
• Robert Katz is a New Orleans-based CPA, minister and author of books on personal finance, including The Solomon Portfolio: How to Invest Like a King. Contact 504-525-8524, rwkatz@katzgallagher.com.
• Jonathan Landon is a law student at the University of Iowa who recently completed research showing that ministers criticize such practices as predatory lending, but that those practices are often widespread in areas with high concentrations of Christians. Landon also found that churches sponsor educational programs to help congregants get out of debt. Contact 319-621-1195, jonathan-landon@uiowa.edu.
• The Rev. Gerry O’Hanlon is the author of The Recession and God: Reading the Signs of the Times and is director of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice in Dublin, Ireland. Contact through the center, info@cfj.ie.
• Deborah Price is a money coach who writes the blog Your Daily Spiritual Stimulus for the multifaith Web site Beliefnet. She works with a network of 100 “money coaches” who she says are being asked to lead or facilitate programs through local religious groups. Contact her at the Money Coaching Institute in Petaluma, Calif., 707-778-6206.
• Radio and TV personality Dave Ramsey is the author of The Total Money Makeover, among other books, and founder of Financial Peace University, a financial education program that churches and other groups use. Contact him through media relations, betht@daveramsey.com.
• Isam Salah heads Islamic finance and investment at the New York law firm King & Spalding. Contact 212-556-2140.
• Ibrahim Warde teaches Islamic banking and finance at Tufts University in Boston. He spoke at a 2009 conference on Islamic finance and financial resilience during economic crisis. He can discuss Islamic mutual funds. Contact him at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, 617-627-3700, iwarde@aol.com.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

• The Rev. Albino Barrera is a Dominican priest and professor of economics at Providence College in Providence, R.I. He wrote Economic Compulsion and Christian Ethics and is an expert on Catholic social teaching and the economy. Contact through the department, 401-865-2194.
• The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization has offered the financial education program Moving From Debt to Assets since 2005. Contact program manager Joel Schwartz, 617-825-5600, schwartz@gbio.org.
• Bruce Webb teaches macroeconomics and Christian teaching on economics and the economy at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass. Contact 978-927-2300, bruce.webb@gordon.edu.

IN THE EAST

• New York City developed a program called Pass It On to train local clergy to help their congregants deal with money issues. The program is administered by the city’s Consumer Affairs Department’s Office of Financial Empowerment. Media contacts in consumer affairs are Andrea Risotto and Elizabeth Miller, 212-487-4283.
• Bob Black teaches economics at Houghton College in Houghton, N.Y. He has written about Christian principles in economics. Contact 585-567-9641, robert.black@houghton.edu.
• Gregory Krohn teaches religion and economics at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. Contact 570-577-3448.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• Kenneth Elzinga is Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia. His past research interests include religion and economics. Contact 434-924-6752, elzinga@virginia.edu.
• David Mustard is an associate professor of economics at the University of Georgia in Athens, and his economic research is frequently cited in the media. He serves on the executive board of the Association of Christian Economists. Contact 706-542-3624, mustard@terry.uga.edu.
• Curt and Marybeth Whalen wrote the 2009 book Learning to Live Financially Free, based on their own financial mistakes. Contact the Charlotte, N.C., couple through publicist Leslie Paladino at their Grand Rapids, Mich., publisher, Kregel Publishing, 616-451-4775 ext. 245.

IN THE SOUTH

• M. Kabir Hassan is associate professor and associate chair of the department of economics and finance at the University of New Orleans. He spoke at a 2009 conference on Islamic finance and financial resilience. Contact 504-280-6163, mhassan@uno.edu.
• M. Douglas Meeks holds the Cal Turner Chancellor’s Chair in Wesleyan Studies and Theology at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He wrote God the Economist: The Doctrine of God and Political Economy. Contact 615-343-3988, m.d.meeks@vanderbilt.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST

• James Halteman is the Carl R. Hendrickson Professor of Business and Economics at Wheaton College in suburban Chicago. His work emphasizes the dimension of moral reflection in economics. Contact 630-752-5312.
• Paul Koch is an economics professor at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill. He has written and presented on Christianity and economics. Contact pkoch@olivet.edu.
• Mike Slaughter is lead pastor at Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, Ohio, and author of the forthcoming book Upside Living in a Downside Economy. Contact 937-667-1069 ext. 220, mslaughter@ginghamsburg.org.
• Charles K. Wilber is an emeritus professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame. His article “Can a Christian Be an Economist?” ran in the spring/fall 2006 edition of the journal Faith & Economics. Contact 574-631-5168, cwilber@nd.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• Charles McDaniel is a former businessman and now the associate director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He wrote God & Money: The Moral Challenge of Capitalism. Contact 254-710-1510.
• Joerg Rieger is the Wendland-Cook Endowed Professor of Constructive Theology at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He has written about theology and economics. Contact 214-768-2356, jrieger@smu.edu.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

• The Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif., co-hosted an Oprah’s Soul Series XM radio webcast March 16 on spirituality and the economic crisis. Contact 626-796-1172, ebacon@allsaints-pas.org.
• Edd Noell is a professor of economics and business at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif. He has written extensively about justice and the economy. Contact 805-565-6782, noell@westmont.edu.
• Deborah Smith Pegues is a businesswoman who was chief financial officer for the megachurch West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles. She wrote the 2009 book Financial Survival in Uncertain Times. Contact 323-293-5861.