Keeping the faith
Keeping the faith
Job seekers have long been able to find help with basic skills such as networking or writing a résumé, but it hasn’t always been so easy to find help with the complex emotional and spiritual issues that come with losing a job. In recent months, members of Greensboro’s faith community have stepped up to help fill that gap.
“You’ve got to lean on others to support you through this,” said Walt Lehman, founder of The Career Net program at First Baptist Church in Elon. “It’s not the end of the world. It’s certainly a new chapter in your life.”
Lehman was a project manager with a residential builder in Wake County, but lost his job March 13. Many of the leaders of faith-based support groups have firsthand experience with job loss.
“I’ve been through two job losses of my own since 2002,” said Randy Abbott, a Stephen lay minister at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Greensboro who works in sales at Spevco in Winston-Salem. “It plays on your emotions and what you think of yourself mentally. You do start to question things that you would never ever question under any other circumstance. You wonder after you go through repeated rejections and repeated attempts to get an interview — you begin to question your self-worth. I think that’s just human nature.”
A number of faith-based support groups for job seekers have sprouted around Greensboro since the economy turned sour last year, including the JobConnect program that Abbott coordinates at Westminster Presbyterian. At least one, the Reemployment Support Group at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, was resurrected in January after a two-year hiatus when unemployment numbers began to rise again. Others have just started up this year.
“A lot of people sitting in the pews who used to be able to tithe and help others are in positions where they need help now,” said the Rev. Odell Cleveland, president and CEO of the Welfare Reform Liaison Project, a faith-based group that works to empower people through education and job training
Leaders of support groups from a wide variety of churches and temples came together Tuesday for “Building Job Networks in Faith Communities,” a workshop held at Temple Emanuel and sponsored by The HR Group and TriadCareers. Participants compared notes and discussed how they can work together to get people on their feet and back to work.
“At a time like this we have to say more than just, ‘Pray and it will be OK,’\u200A” Cleveland said. “Pray first, but then get off our knees and get out there and polish our skills and network.”
In some ways the groups resemble secular career networking groups. Most of them meet once a week and give participants a chance to polish their interview skills, share news of job leads and trade job-seeking tips. Unlike the secular groups, however, the faith-based groups usually take place at churches and synagogues, start with a prayer and include a short worship service built around a relevant theme.
“When I can, we try to tailor the devotion sort of around a topic for the evening, whether it be staying positive, looking for open doors and open windows, looking for opportunities or hearing what God’s trying to tell us,” Abbott said.
Even with that religious slant to their meetings, the faith-based groups are open to all.
“I think a lot of people see the faith-based communities as a terrific place to offer these kinds of supports,” said Betsy Gamburg, director of Jewish Family Services, which offers a variety of employment initiatives. “The world is a very harsh place when you’re looking for a job, and faith-based communities offer a soft landing, a safe place. Whether you’re religious or not — that doesn’t seem to be the issue.”
The Reemployment Support Group at St. Paul the Apostle not only offers a soft landing, it also throws a little party when one of its members gets a job.
“We do believe firmly in celebrating when a person lands, and they have to bring cookies and have to be interviewed about what did you find most challenging about your job search,” said Colleen Assal, the church’s coordinator of discipleship. “How did your faith play a part? What did you find most frustrating? How did you do it? We tell them, ‘You owe this to the rest of the group, because we’re celebrating that there are jobs out there.’\u200A”
Contact Eddie Huffman at 373-7335 or eddie.huffman@news-record.com.
Colleen Assal
Colleen Assal, coordinator of discipleship with St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Greensboro, talks at a breakout session of “Building Job Networks in Faith Communities” Tuesday at Temple Emanuel in Greensboro. The workshop, sponsored by The HR Group Inc. and Triad Careers, was intended to guide and educate clergy about creating and sustaining congregational job networking programs.
Nancy Sidelinger Special Sections PhotographerGet connected
A number of faith-based support groups for job seekers have sprouted around Greensboro since the economy turned sour last year. Here are a few that participated in Tuesday’s “Building Job Networks in Faith Communities” workshop:
Reemployment Support Group at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, Greensboro
Online: www.stpaulcc.org/discipleship.html#Reemployment
Contact: Colleen Assal, 294-4696, ext. 226
JobConnect at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Greensboro
Online: www.westpreschurch.org/care/jobconnect/
Contact: Randy Abbott, 210-3711
Jewish Family Services, Greensboro
Online: www.shalomgreensboro.org/
Contact: Betsy Gamburg, 852-4829
The Career Net at First Baptist Church, Elon
Online: www.fbc-elon.org/The_Career_Net.htm
Contact: Walt Lehman, (919) 306-5454
FPC Jobs Net at First Presbyterian Church, Greensboro
Online: www.fpcjobs.info/
Contact: Bill Linton, 288-2467
Welfare Reform Liaison Project, Greensboro
Contact: Rev. Odell Cleveland, 691-5780
