The Church Reacting To the Foreclosure Crisis

October 10th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosure Crisis

The church is reacting to the foreclosure crisis in many ways. The heads of the biggest Protestant churches are slicing on their budges but that does not mean they are lowering their vision and outlook towards the raging foreclosure crisis. In fact they are using faith as a weapon to keep up the morale of their flock trapped in the foreclosure crisis.

Benny Perez of The Church at Henderson in southern Las Vegas comments that his area is one of the hardest hit by foreclosures. He said, “Our city is being rocked by this.” He is the pastor of the church that is growing the fastest in the city. He noted that attendance declined this year from 12% to 10%. It has consequently had to slash its budget. In his sermons he tried to instill faith and hope in this flock by commenting on how in Biblical times God tested the faithful during the times of famines. Apart from these homilies he stressed that there are financial and housing counseling available for those who seek. He explained to his followers that during lean times one begins to think about priorities in life. Part of this is cutting back on drinks and waste. However he comments that this is not really a sacrifice. Americans do not understand what sacrifice is. Foreclosures are making them sit up and do a lot of rethinking and introspection. Despite the hard foreclosure times, Henderson Church has not made cuts on the church’s movement to reach people. It launched a fund raising programme to build a new housing project that is estimated to cost $12.5 million. The response has been warm and spontaneous. One individual handed over $1 million cash. Benny Perez opines that what people want before them a vision rather than need.

Warren Bird and Dave Travis have taken a survey of 105 churches in 30 states. The findings are that during these foreclosure-ridden times most of the churches are thinking on terms of raising funds. Of the responding churches, 30% said that they are responding to the foreclosure-housing crisis by raising funds to build affordable houses. In 2006 there were 44% considering going ahead with the housing drive as a solution to the foreclosure crisis. Door to door campaigns are also being favoured and considered by 25%. 23% are planning to build new congregations. Against the background of the foreclosure crisis 74% of the churches anticipate their incomes will go up in the following year.