Suggestions for helping hurting church members

A church member is featured in a farm publication, telling their family’s story of “being sold out” and facing financial ruin. This was just one discovery in the 1980s for one pastor when the agricultural financial crisis shocked and dragged farm community churches into changing times.

Some pastors were disoriented when they realized farm households who were foundational in their congregations were struggling with personal food and housing issues – plus had strained family relationships. Offering assistance to these families seemed jarring and out of place. And, some pastors and churches found it simpler to deny the change plowing through their communities. There are parallels and contrasts between that financial crisis and the present one.

Nancy Halder of Parnell, Iowa, who was deeply involved in the farm crisis ministry, notes contrasts between now and the 1980s. “This economic turbulence is seen as systemic . . . the bad guys are from Wall Street and generally pretty faceless.” She wonders if people aren’t more sympathetic to those who lose their homes now than in the 1980s.

“It was difficult for many to understand why farmers didn’t just get another job. Most people did not understand land attachments . . . the organic connection between soil and farmers,” she said. And, in the 1980s, some of today’s support mechanisms weren’t available. “Farmers didn’t collect unemployment benefits when farming was no longer viable like factory workers who are laid off,” she added.

Representing the former Mennonite Board of Congregational Ministries in the 1980s, Robert Yoder, Eureka, Ill., spoke in many churches about stewardship of farms, the gifts of soil, air, and water. He finds today’s accumulation of indebtedness, risk, and credit similar to the 1980s – but with a twist. In the 1980s, “there was too much unsecured borrowing between individuals and families (with) many people who loaned money on the basis of a person’s character – and they lost it all. They held no security. Most of these losses were due to large business failure and not because of character problems.”

And, like the 1980s, today’s economic instability strained relationships. Nancy remembers some more prosperous farmers were unsympathetic to those who weren’t “making it” and sometimes said, “They got what they deserved . . . they didn’t work hard enough, or borrowed too much money or, were ‘bad’ farmers.” However, she wonders if some of that attitude is reflected toward those with foreclosed homes – but she doesn’t think individuals today are blamed as the farmers were.

Nancy has positive memories about the church’s response to the farm crisis days. While it affected a narrow segment of the Mennonite population, she was impressed by the number of urban congregations trying to understand what was happening in rural communities. She remembers, “MCC responded by appointing the Farm Task Force that among other initiatives funded a free hotline and a job-seekers workshop.”

Meanwhile, Robert sees both challenge and opportunity in the present. He believes there are increased risks in church life with potential for “a loss of brotherhood and (more) competition.” But he figures challenges bring opportunities for learning “to realize the cries and concerns of the church in the Third World and to accept mutual sharing and opportunities for mutual caring.”

Reflecting on her experience in the farm crisis, Nancy listed seven suggestions for pastors in today’s context:

1. Invite those you are concerned about to a neutral place for talking – not your home, not their home, not the church.
2. Take initiative and ask to talk – don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Create opportunities for your paths to cross. For example, attend the children’s ballgames or concerts if the parent otherwise refuses an appointment with you.
3. Ask open-ended questions. Listen.
4. Observe attendance patterns at church functions. Warning bells should ring if regular attenders begin to withdraw.
5. Ask others to walk with those who are hurting. Pastors cannot serve every need.
6. Become knowledgeable about available social services and how to access them.
7. Remember, those who take bankruptcy are generally very shamed in the process. Reassure them they are using a legal tool – and, you may be able to speak of the biblical concept of Jubilee.