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Even when the economy was booming in the 1990s, what was euphemistically known as "downsizing" left much of the U.S. workforce in a state of uncertainty. The recent economic slowdown has not helped matters. Large companies struggling with reduced demand have announced old-style layoffs in the tens of thousands, and the New Economy portends further reductions in traditional jobs. Englishman Richard Kew, an Episcopal priest, speaker, and author of Starting Over—But Not from Scratch (Abingdon), wrote for eight years for National Business Employment Weekly as a career counselor. Kew, who has lived in the United States since 1976, recently spoke with CT associate editor Jeff M. Sellers about how Christians can cope with unemployment.

How can the church help the newly unemployed?

Initially, just by being there for them. The uncertainty can almost be worse than unemployment itself—there is this sense of being exposed, insecure, of not knowing whether you are going to have the material resources to meet the challenges the future is going to throw at you. Pastoral care from clergy, and care within groups in congregations, is extremely important.

What groups are you referring to?

It's also important that those who are struggling with even the possibility of unemployment be willing to open themselves up, to share their discomfort so that others might reach out to them.

These issues first come up in the person's context, be it a handbell choir, a Bible-study group, a prayer group, or a ministry group of some kind. It's also important for congregations to form groups where the unemployed can come together and support one another—and not just those in the church, but anyone who is unemployed, much as Alcoholics Anonymous allows recovering alcoholics to support one another. Such groups can also help people network with one another and to work with one another in presenting and developing résumés.

Why do family and friends, let alone fellow church members, sometimes feel helpless about how to help someone who is unemployed?

To be unemployed is to be terribly on your own and incredibly lonely. The way forward for ministry and mission in the 21st century is going to be strongly related to community. Creating and providing community for those who are alone is in some way providing pastoral care for everyone. It also serves as pre-evangelism to those who find themselves unemployed and looking for support.

One reason is that they look at somebody else and say, "It might be me next!" It's like being at the bedside of a dying person, and you watch doctors coming in, and then they come in less frequently, and then they don't really come at all. Again, as communities of Christians, we need to face our own fears.

We're afraid to go near the unemployed, which increases their loneliness.

That's right—they've become lepers. Therefore the community needs to reach out to them. At the same time, the unemployed are probably keeping their situation quiet so that no one knows, because they're ashamed of what's happened to them (even if they may not use that kind of language). But in fact, if you're looking for new employment, you should want the whole world to know that you're on the market.

What other emotional challenges have to be faced, and how can an unemployed person face them?

There is shame related to job loss, though in reality there may be no reasons for it. Rather, it's the great tsunami of the economy that goes lurching on, and you're caught up in the tidal wave. Sometimes it is your fault, but you're [still] caught up in it. And if you're caught up in it, then other people are going to be as well, and you can provide support for one another as well as being open in the way that you handle all this.

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April 2 2001, Vol. 45, No. 5