ReligionDispatches.org

Reporters are told to follow the money but we rarely do—unless we already have a good idea where it's gone. On the religion beat that means covering the church treasurer who embezzled the pension fund, the prominent pastor living a little too large, or the TV ministry that doesn't smell right.

But in the current economic climate, smaller stories are more apt to show the human cost of the recession. They also underscore that religious institutions, like their secular counterparts, live and die by the market. Tending to Sunday school, shut-ins and sermons are part of the clergy's job description but so is minding the infrastructure, health insurance, and church brand. "Small business owners have to do it all themselves. I may not do everything, but what I do would surprise even my parishioners. I have mopped floors, painted walls, unclogged toilets, shingled roofs, repaired boilers, killed bugs, cut grass, chopped weeds and so on and so forth. If it has to get done I get it done. Ask the owner of a small retail shop who cleans. I doubt you will find many who can afford maid service. Ask the owner of small auto repair shop whose desk the buck stops on. In my church the buck stops on my pulpit. This is not the only similarity between us."That's the Rev. William Whitehead on the similarities between small churches and small businesses. His thoughtful piece that reminds readers that ministry may begin with a calling but ends with a spread sheet. If the numbers don't add up—translation: bodies into pews and cash in collection plates—the boss man (or woman) will be told to move on.Of course, that's assuming a well-meaning reverend can find a pulpit.  According to anecdotal evidence, reports the New York Times, job listings are down for evangelical and mainstream Protestant clergy as well as for rabbis. We've all heard about the shortage of Catholic vocations but here's a new twist: "a contracting national economy has led congregations across the religious spectrum to cut or downsize clergy positions, hire part-time lay people instead and delay filling vacancies." (Hmm—any bets on whether the Roman Catholic Church sees an opportunity here?)The article neglects to say what happens when churches and synagogues lay off workers. In Virginia, many may find themselves on the wrong side of the unemployment line. Notes the Virginian-Pilot,"God may provide, but the state may not when it comes to unemployment benefits" for religious workers. Tax exemption for religious organizations also allows religious groups to skip paying unemployment taxes. With 20 percent of US churches reporting that they laid off staff in the past year, that's bad news for Virginia church workers as well as those in states with similar laws.News outlets have been quick to show how religious groups adopt marketing strategies to brand their identities and repurpose their missions. That's the sexy side of the money story. But William Whitehead reminds us there's another way of seeing connections between retail and religion: small churches and small businesses are both the largest category of their respective kinds in the U.S.—and both are hurting. Diane Winston