Toolkit Helps Faith Groups Support Workers in Distress

by James Parks, Jan 3, 2009

The New Year begins with a combination of great hope and tremendous fear. A new administration and new Congress will grapple with the deepest economic crisis in 80 years. Millions of America’s workers are struggling, seemingly forgotten, in this crisis.

Many will seek support, both financial and spiritual, and will turn to their faith partners for help. Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) has developed a toolkit to help congregations provide the support that workers need.

IWJ Executive Director Kim Bobo says:

Many people of faith and conscience have great hopes that government can stand up again for workers and their families and communities. Our faith traditions demand justice for workers and the poor. But we know that workers have been suffering long before the current stock market meltdown, even while hedge fund managers and investment banks were giddy over their huge earnings. Low-wage workers in particular have long seen their standard of living decline.

Congregations are often the first stop for support for families in distress. In times of economic trouble, workers naturally would turn to their faith partners for comfort and support. This toolkit helps congregations to fulfill this vital and important mission.

Among the tools in the IWJ congregational toolkit on unemployment and the economic crisis are a responsive reading for congregations, a responsive prayer for difficult times that can be used in congregations, by individuals, or as a bulletin insert and a guide for forming congregational support groups.

Click here to download the toolkit.

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