Yvon Prehn from the Effective Church Communications blog wrote a great post recently on how the church can communicate through the recession. Here are some ideas she provided on what we can do:

• Be encouraging. Remind people that God may be directing them to new avenues of service and trust. People are starting new businesses and careers, but they often need lots of love and encouragement to do that.


• Pray for people—that God will meet practical needs in extraordinary ways and that their faith would be strengthened and their hearts encouraged during this time.


• Spend time with people—in every loss from a death, to job loss as mentioned previously, the loss of relationships is primary. People are lonely in times of loss and if you can’t help in tangible ways, help with time. Taking an unemployed person to lunch or a couple out to dinner just for fun can be a tremendous encouragement.


• Actively help. Network; help the unemployed find work. Hire them if you can; refer them if possible. Retrain them if you have the ability. Pay for retraining. Keep them accountable and e