In percentages, experts indicate that the “foreclosure crisis” in the United States affects less than 5% of the population. That’s a small number, but for those facing foreclosure, it’s a 100% of the population for that particular family.
Governmental “fixes” are supposedly coming.
The question is will they arrive “too little, too late”? And, in the end, will they just bail out Wall Street without helping homeowners? (To be sure the people on Wall Street need help too, but probably assistance more akin to the help given addicts – a recovery from their excesses, not more enablement for their spending sprees.)
Even then if the mortgages are based on predatory lending with monthly rates that the families cannot afford, it’s only this type of fix that might possibly help.
But there are a large number of people facing foreclosure for whom the crisis which prompted the impending foreclosure are ended.
They need help now, in days or weeks.
They need help communicating that fact to the lenders however.
Many are working class people who can drive the truck your groceries are delivered to the store in, take your car’s engine apart and put it back together blindfolded, or do other amazing feats.
But when it comes to communicating with bureaucracies, they find themselves at a loss just as we do when we attempt their feats.
This could be a way for 1000′s of stagnant mainline churches to reach new people if the denominations bemoaning their demise could quickly put resources in the hands of their congregations so they can provide educational community seminars to persons in this situation.
Generally if a person got behind on a mortgage because of job loss, is working again, and can pay the monthly mortgage payment, the foreclosure can be stopped. The problem is almost universally one of COMMUNICATION in ways the mortgage company can understand. (People for whom the crisis prompting foreclosure has not ended and who cannot make regular payments are not able to be quickly helped through educational measures by local congregations stepping into a new ministry.)
Homesavers USA is a non profit with a long history of helping consumers in this area. They are swamped now and accepting no new clients, but may be able to help denominations struggling to be “relevant” to develop tools that can be used to help local congregations help working people. Other foreclosure prevention organizations may have such tools that only need to be “licensed” by denominations for quick deployment.
It’s obvious that such a ministry could get quick and plentiful publicity nationwide and locally. It could give local churches dozens of new people to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with. It could give mainline churches fresh faces in the prime demographic they need to reach – 18 – 40 year olds.
Upon further reflection, it’s apparent that many mainline congregations probably already HAVE individuals – bankers, lawyers, and other people who know how to help in this way if they would. They are too busy making money or acting like the corporate board of the congregation to be bothered with actual ministry. And that explains precisely how churches started by intelligent and hardworking Pilgrims who braved oceans, famine, disease, and the wilderness to carve out a community for that gave glory to God can become a scandalous irrelevancy in modern culture. We no longer are willing to soil our hands for Jesus.
Instead our penchant is to pontificate on abstract social issues and demand “change” without doing much that requires actual ministry, evangelism, or hands actually getting dirty through meeting the unwashed people who might come through the church door.
The foreclosure crisis provides the opportunity to put “our money where our mouths” are. Will we take it?
Updated 2/1/2008
