Church attendance, aid requests rise with poor economy

Blame the economy or credit the season, more Fox Valley residents have been filling pews in area churches, seeking spiritual and financial help.

Their first request is always welcome and given, say religious leaders. The second, well remember, the economy is the way it is and churches aren't insulated from financial pressures.

"We have people asking for $1,000 for their rent and we can't afford that," said the Rev. Steven Woita, pastor of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in West Dundee. "We don't have the resources.

"The best we can do is give them money for food and gas; we have other commitments."

Some of those are charitable programs the Route 72 congregation regularly contribute to and others programs run by the church's Synod.

"When people are looking for rent money, we send them to the (Dundee) township supervisor," he said.

Townships operate emergency assistance programs designed to give money to low-income residents for monthly expenses, such as utility bills.

Even though attendance is up at Bethlehem's three weekly services and the amount of money congregation members give for regular collections is steady, demand for financial help is outpacing the supply.

The same is true at Immanuel Lutheran Church in East Dundee

"The best we can do is tide people over for a while," said its senior pastor, the Rev. William Yonker. "We don't have the resources either to give money for their rent.

"Our attendance is up about 5 percent. I'm a little surprised. I thought it would be up more."

In the past, people have flocked to their churches when the U.S. has been in trouble. In the months after 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City's World Trade Center, worshipers filled pews wanting strength, reassurance, guidance and peace.

That was when the economy was good and fewer people were unemployed. Those who didn't have jobs, weren't exhausting the places they could go for rent, gas and food money. In those days, monetary help were so much fewer.

The bad economy hasn't convinced the Rev. Donald Longbottom, the pastor of West Dundee's First Congregational Church, of the reason he's seeing more faces from his pulpit on Sundays.

People have returned from their summer vacations and have resettled into their churchgoing routines until Christmas, he said.

This season is different, though, at his and other churches. The poor who congregation members donate money too are not distant, nor faceless. Many live next door to the people to the folks they sit next to in the pews.

"There's a lot of people in need these days," Longbottom said. "There's a bigger demand for food and rent and utilities."

Church leaders help ease anxieties with Divine inspiration, but they can't completely take the sting out of the financial pinch.