Bruce Allen with FMI says, “Ten major cities were decimated. When you think about the whole earthquake impact zone, it destroyed 140,000 square miles [of] land and property – equivalent to the entire size of Germany.

“Rebuilding is going to take a long, long time. People need to be in it for the long haul.”

(Photo courtesy of FMI)

The Turkish government faced criticism for its response to the quakes and fading pledges for relief support.

“In responding to public criticism that the government’s rescue workers were too slow in reacting [to the Feb 2023 earthquakes], President Erdogan pledged to build 650,000 housing units,” Allen says.

President Erdogan promised half would be done within the following year.  “[But] even at the end of January, 11 plus months later, construction has only begun on less than half of that amount. Only 46,000 homes have been completed, according to environment and urbanization ministry data. Government response has been slow, although there have been lots of pledges. But even from our partners in the country, they said it did not even last very long.”

Meanwhile, the nation’s tiny Christian population continues to serve the needs of their communities for food, clothing, and longer-term shelter.

“We have to remember that this country of about 86 million people has only a 0.04% population of evangelical Christians. [Then,] 99.2% of the population are in unreached people groups. That doesn’t mean they’re indifferent or hostile to the Gospel. It just means they’re unaware of the Gospel.”

Allen says the compassion and care that Christians have shown over the past year have gained them credibility with Muslim neighbors. 

“People are saying, ‘Why are you treating us so well, when we have treated you so poorly?’ It has provided opportunities not just for physical care, but spiritual care as well.”

Partners of FMI in Türkiye are committed to education for children, housing, and makeshift grocery stores. “But all of those things are consumables and require finances. So the financial need is still there,” Allen says.

Earthquake relief, water and food distribution in Turkiye. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

“There’s also a great need for prayer for these churches, especially in the earthquake zone regions, where they’re relatively swelling with new believers. There’s a lot of that spiritual need of care and growth and discipleship that needs to take place.”

FMI plans to launch five more church planters in Türkiye this year. Click here to learn more and find out how you can prayerfully come alongside Türkiye with FMI. 

Header photo courtesy of FMI. 

In such perilous times, what should Christians do? Is disconnecting from the news a biblical response?

Ron Hutchcraft of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries says, “In the countdown days before He would return, Jesus said [there would be] the ‘increase of wickedness.’ (Matt. 24:12) In other words, there’s always been wickedness, but an explosion of wickedness. The Greek word is ‘rapid multiplication.’

“Because of a rapid multiplying of wickedness, [Jesus] says here’s what will happen to His people: ‘The love of most will grow cold.’ It doesn’t say they will all become wicked. They’ll be cold, apathetic, sitting out the battle.”

(Photo courtesy of Feliphe Schiarolli/Unsplash)

While we do not know when Christ will return, each moment brings us closer to that day. In the meantime, both obsessing over the news or shutting it off entirely leads to cold inaction.

Worrying and fretting over the latest devastating headline without taking every thought captive for Christ (2 Cor. 10:5) leads to anxiety and paralysis.

Yet, avoiding the suffering of the world leads to ignorance and apathy.

On the hope side, Hutchcraft continues, “[Jesus] went on to say, ‘…and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.’

“For me as a believer between those two explosions – the garbage and the Gospel both spreading rapidly – I’ve got one of two choices. I’m going to be cold or I’m going to be bold. I didn’t see a third choice there.”

Ultimately, being bold with the Gospel in a world filled with wickedness and suffering means engaging the news with wisdom. So we better understand the context of Ukrainian refugee neighbors. So we know how to faithfully encourage friends with connections in Israel or Gaza/West Bank. So we know how to pray for the Church in Afghanistan, Nepal, or Myanmar.

So we know how to tell the world about Jesus Christ who meets them where they are with hope and salvation.

(Photo courtesy of Good Faces/Unsplash)

It also means being missionally wise with the time and resources God has given us, rather than seeking distractions.

“This call to boldness says this: Whatever lesser passions have been defining how I spend my time and my influence and my money, if it isn’t going to matter in Heaven, it shouldn’t be mattering very much right now,” says Hutchcraft.

Ask God how He would use you for His Kingdom in such times as these. Then, listen.

Ron Hutchcraft Ministries has several resources to help you share your faith — your “hope story” in Christ. You can check them out here!

Header photo courtesy of Nijwam Swargiary/Unsplash.

But that goal is much harder to reach when colleges and universities across the nation send their students home during a health crisis.

Going Online

“This disruption at first… created a slowdown or a pause in our ability to get to new campuses because you physically couldn’t go to campuses; they were closing,” says Jason Thomas of InterVarsity. “That had a significant short term disruption to our work, but we made a pretty significant shift fairly quickly to try to move ministry online wherever we could.”

InterVarsity has a specific team whose sole purpose is to consider effective online ministry, including small groups, prayer meetings, and leadership development. They’re even considering a large group meeting that would involve worship and a main speaker.

So when COVID-19 forced many schools to close their doors, InterVarsity stepped up to the plate with digital alternatives to in-person campus ministry. So far, students are responding positively.

“What we’ve seen, interestingly, has been a large number of new students getting involved with Intervarsity because they find that getting plugged in through digital means either is easier to do than walking into a new meeting or new dorm room or they’re hungry or eager,” Thomas says.

Screenshot of one online small group meeting (Photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship)

Students are looking for answers and community in a world without either of those things. InterVarsity wants to fill that gap for them.

What Comes After

Right now, the endgame of the U.S. response to COVID-19 is uncertain. Universities are still considering how to proceed on the other side of quarantine, and even if they deem it safe to readmit students to campus, they may not turn away from their current digital approaches.

If more classes go online and more students pursue digital education, InterVarsity wants to meet them there.

“As campuses get better at teaching, I think you’ll see a pretty significant jump into this space. At least that’s what we’re anticipating and trying to be prepared for both,” Thomas says. “We believe that we’re going to have to be ready to do a dual platform kind of ministry, the kind where we do it traditionally on campus meeting face to face in dorm rooms as well as have a second platform that’s online trying to reach students through digital means.”

Do Your Part

Want to help? You don’t have to wait for students to come back to campus. InterVarsity already has space for volunteers to provide online services and discipleship measures. Whether you’re partnering with InterVarsity or simply looking for ways to do ministry from your own home, InterVarsity has resources for you right here. If you want to connect with students directly, contact InterVarsity and ask how you could get involved.

Do you know high schoolers or college students looking for ways to connect during quarantine? Every Friday, InterVarsity hosts an event called InterVarsity Live to help people do just that.

An upcoming online student workshop (Image courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship)

But there’s one more group who needs help and prayer: faculty. Thomas points out that many faculty are experiencing their own challenges and fears. Consider reaching out to any faculty you may know to show them support, and even if you don’t know anyone personally, keep them in your prayers.

And whoever you are, have hope.

“We don’t know that we know exactly what will happen, but we’re really open to hearing and listening to what the Lord is doing in the midst of this,” Thomas says ”I think we’re very eager to see what the Lord will do to draw people to himself.

“We’ve invited folks to consider what other losses they’ve experienced and how do you lament those losses? How do you grieve those things? And in some ways, going through that door might lead you to increase hope over time, even though you might feel despair in the present.”

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash.

“As soon as China came down with this COVID virus, and as it was starting to spread, they shut everything down,” says Erik Burklin of China Partner.

Stepping up to the plate

When China shut down, churches jumped into action. Pastors used social networking and internet resources to share sermons, minister to their neighbors, and continue discipleship efforts with members of their communities.

In fact, some of China Partner’s contacts actually saw an increase in impact. “Church leadership was not only serving their own church communities, but also their local communities by helping delivering food for the poor and buying groceries,” Burklin says. “The church continued to do its work. They were ministering to each other, they were ministering to their local communities. That’s what we saw.”

Fortunately, most of China Partner’s contacts remained symptom-free. Most people they knew who did contract the virus recovered within a week or two.

“We have one pastor that we have a very close relationship with out of Wuhan who is also the president of the local seminary there, and he had been hospitalized for almost a month and almost passed away,” Burklin reports. “But then, through God’s grace and healing power, he was released from the hospital two weeks ago.”

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

As the virus dies, hope grows. Cities are reopening. Students are heading back to school. Although churches aren’t all allowed to open up again, they are making preparations.

What’s more, many of their newfound digital connection techniques may persist past the virus’s influence. Burklin thinks it may provide churches with an opportunity to connect with more young people in their communities, a demographic the Chinese Church sometimes struggles to draw in.

Influence on China Partner’s ministry

There is some bad news; the virus has had negative effects on China Partner’s ministry efforts and future plans. They’ve already been forced to cancel trips up through May and move their training online. They are currently looking into Zoom solutions for online discipleship and training programs in an effort to maintain their relationships with local Chinese believers.

“We will continue to stand behind them and pray with them, serve them wherever we can, but yes, travel to China is right now not possible,” Burklin says.

Now that COVID-19’s influence is growing in the United States, China Partner has another problem. The coronavirus has had hugely detrimental effects on the economy and on individual incomes, which means donations to organizations like China Partner have taken a hit.

Photo courtesy of China Partner

“People who no longer have a job can no longer give,” Burklin explains. “And as giving drops, then of course, then we need to tighten our belts.”

Do you want to help? Consider donating to China Partner directly with this link.

You can also be praying for China Partner’s continued relationships with local Chinese believers and for their faith in God’s plan for their future. “We’re trying to be good stewards of God’s money during the midst of this crisis and just seeing how he wants to guide and direct us for the future,” Burklin says.

“We’re really trusting God to provide for us and we’re trusting that people will continue to stand behind us and pray for us.”

Header photo courtesy of China Partner

We talked with Greg Jao, InterVarsity’s Director of External Relations. He says, “They were students from [California State University Channel Islands], so we know of seven or eight students who were there.”

This latest attack was the deadliest mass shooting since Parkland, Florida. The gunman was a former US Marine and his victims included a veteran sheriff’s deputy who responded to the crisis. 21 people were injured.

As InterVarsity gathered information and responded to traumatized students, the situation got even more complicated. “What happened a day or two after the shooting doubled down on the sense of trauma because the campus was closed due to the wildfires that were approaching campus. Because of that multiplicity of issues, InterVarsity’s response to campus crisis and to trauma takes on a number of different aspects.”

Processing Trauma on Campuses

California State University Channel Islands (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Jacknorris63 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0: https://goo.gl/oY4bCE)

Jao explains, “First, you begin with meeting people’s immediate physical needs. So there was an attempt to assess, were our students safe? Were they physically injured or not? And then, as the campus closed, do students have a place to live? So our local staff was calling friends, neighbors, people in communities further off [and asking], ‘I have a group of students. Could you house them until the campus reopens because they have nowhere to live right now?’”

InterVarsity is working with campus mental health professionals as well. For the ministry, responding to students’ spiritual needs is just as important as meeting emotional, mental, and physical ones.

Staff with InterVarsity have been available at Cal State Channel Islands if students need somebody to pray with.

“We also planned at Cal State Channel Islands a prayer walk around the campus the next day,” says Jao. “So that moves us from responsive prayer [and] praying our trauma to declaring — as you walk with one another and as you invite people to join you — that in the space of that trauma we still believe Jesus Christ is present.

“As we do that, we’re doing two things. One, we’re grounding students in the theological reality: this has been traumatic and Jesus is still here.

“And as they are praying, students are being attentive to how the Holy Spirit may be at work. As they pray for a dorm, often the Holy Spirit will say, ‘This is a student you should be going to talk to.’ ‘This is a way to minister here.’ So you are attentive and you begin to respond to that.”

Prayer: A Bare Minimum Response?

(Photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship)

It’s easy for people roll their eyes at prayer in response to a crisis. Even in a Facebook post that authorities believe was written by the shooter around the time of the attack, he said, “…the only thing you people do after these shootings is ‘hopes and prayers’.. or ‘keep you in my thoughts’… every time… and wonder why these keep happening…”

Jao asserts that prayer is far from the passive and lame reaction that some make it out to be.

“You can see on social media people mock ‘thoughts and prayers’ and I think they are wrong to do so. I think the most primal human thing to do in a period of national mourning or local trauma is to cry out to God.”

He also adds, “Prayer on the ground is absolutely crucial, particularly when you use it to give students an opportunity to give a voice before God — their fears and their hurts.

“It’s actually, as they pray, having a sense of ‘God leading me to do this’ and it moves them from being people who merely experience trauma to having some agency to engage.”

Long-Term Healing

As we pray and the Holy Spirit moves, we are moved to do more too as  Jesus Christ’s ambassadors to a hurting world.

“I do think…engaging the larger systems is helpful. A number of our staff noted around the hurricanes in Houston and Florida and later in South Carolina this year, inevitably it was the poorer communities without resources [and] without long-term infrastructure that were the most damaged and the students from those communities that were the most greatly impacted. So I do think structural engagement there is important.”

Jao says he sees churches and ministries respond to these long-term needs in profound ways. InterVarsity still sends student teams to New Orleans every year since Hurricane Katrina devastated the area 13 years ago.

“Local citizens in the area have said, ‘What has struck us is that the Christians are still here. Long after the government has pulled out, long after other non-government organizations have left, you keep coming back year-after-year over spring break projects to help rebuild our communities.’”

Where You Come In

For now, between the mass shooting and the wildfires consuming northern California, communities are still in immediate crisis.

(Photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship)

InterVarsity needs your help to continue responding in the name of Jesus.

“Because we believe the Great Commandment and the Great Commission go hand-in-hand…the ability to respond quickly to crises because the Church cares and is poised to act I think is an incredible testimony.”

If you would like to support InterVarsity’s ministry, click here.

Finally, Jao encourages, “Literally every news article is a crucial opportunity to learn to pray for people who would not normally come to mind.”

Please join InterVarsity in praying for the people hurt by the shooting and wildfires in California — including the deadly Camp Fire. Pray that they might sense God’s peace and find encouragement in the local Body of Christ.

Header photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

“We were able to rapidly get an aircraft in, bring some of our disaster response surge team, and join up with some partners Ethno360 [Aviation]…and set up a response out of Palu, which is kind of the epicenter of the disaster,” MAF’s Global Director of Disaster Response John Woodberry explains.

Responding to Disaster

(Photo courtesy Mission Aviation Fellowship)

Yayasan MAF Indonesia is an aviation non-profit serving isolated people in remote areas. The non-profit has been serving in Indonesia for over 60 years. For Yayasan MAF Indonesia, flight support comes down to speed and helping where there are critical needs during a disaster. This translates to delivering relief, supplies, and helping move people in and out of remote areas. The non-profit, in partnership with other local aviation groups, has been using two fixed-wing [Kodiak] aircraft and a helicopter to accomplish the task.

“One of the initial things we were doing is, because Palu was devastated where we are based, is there [were] a lot of kids that needed to get back to their home villages in remote areas. Often family members host children of family members that live remotely so they can get a better education,” Woodberry shares.

“But, with the need for water, food, and just the scale of devastation in Palu, we did a lot of flying in the partnerships—getting them back where the infrastructure wasn’t damaged, and back with their families.”

Be Prayerful, Be Active

Since infrastructure has been destroyed in Palu, MAF also brought in a rapid response team to support Yayasan MAF Indonesia and set up a VSAT Communication system at Palu airport. The system has helped MAF’s operation with responding to the disasters while also helping aid agencies communicate with their teams.

(Photo courtesy Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“The other day we were able to basically, in a flight, find a village with about 5,000 that was totally cut off, and be able to be a part of getting relief to go to that area. The ability to fly places and leapfrog over roads that have been cut off, areas that are isolated, is a blessing of speed and access that aviation can bring in a disaster response,” Woodberry says.

However, the Yayasan MAF Indonesia team is tired. They have been sleeping in the hangar and have faced challenges in securing fuel for generators. Still, Woodberry notes how the team’s challenges are not like those they are serving.

Pray this team would continue to have the energy to serve well. Ask God to heal and provide for the people on Sulawesi following these disasters. Also, pray for Indonesia’s recovery from this triple-disaster.

Support MAF’s work in Indonesia here!

Note: A Smithsonian article addresses how large earthquakes could trigger smaller quakes miles away. This could be a concern in Southeast Asia. A 6.0-magnitude earthquake recently impacted Indonesia’s Java and Bali islands. Less than 2-hours later a 7.0-magnitude earthquake affected Papua New Guinea. Pray for the people impacted by both these quakes.

Header photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship.

DRC’s health ministry has identified 102 probable or confirmed Ebola cases since the start of August. 59 of those people have died.

John Woodberry, manager of disaster response with Mission Aviation Fellowship, says, “The Ebola outbreak became news kind of at the beginning of the month but [it] started before that. Ebola is a word that brings a lot of fear with it — both the unknown and just the challenging way people suffer from that disease.

(Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“The reality is it is a very scary disease but it only transmits by someone who has very specific symptoms, so it only transmits through blood or bodily secretion contact. Typical mitigation is basically isolating infected people, practicing very tight medical protocols, and not shaking hands, and practicing good hygiene. But if someone does not have the symptoms, they are not contagious.”

MAF uses flight services to assist communities in East DRC’s remote and isolated areas. An Ebola outbreak was recently identified south of where the ministry is based — just a 30-minute flight away.

“MAF has been more involved in flying [specimens for] testing to see if people have Ebola, and also flying a medical team to an area to try to prevent its expansion further,” Woodberry explains.

(Photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“When we fly into areas that are near an Ebola outbreak for a medical team or to do some sample testing to verify or be a part of helping the situation, we have very tight protocols that we do follow in the handling of passengers and… a biomedical hazard type of flight.”

There was also a temporary Ebola scare in the local community where MAF is based. “A little boy who died and had some blood coming out of his mouth in that death had to be checked because he had the symptoms, but it could be malaria or something else. But you don’t know, so you test and check. If there was Ebola here, it would affect very much so how we live.” Fortunately, in this case, the Ebola test was negative.

While the last local case was just a scare, MAF’s Jon Cadd says they are trying to get ahead of any Ebola developments by providing a space for containment.

“We’ve dedicated one of our houses that’s in an isolated area. It was destroyed during the war…but we are getting it prepared and ready for the possibility of people that could have the disease. They want to isolate them from other people. So we’re fixing the place up, painting it, [and] putting in a water supply.”

Woodberry adds, “All the costs associated for this come out of MAF’s disaster response surge fund, which supporters have given to over the years and enable us to do this work and respond when there is a crisis globally.”

Health officials in DRC have approved four Ebola treatments at Ebola treatment centers. There are also vaccines available.

(Photo courtesy of Global Panorama via Flickr under Creative Commons: https://goo.gl/v7u9m8)

However, Woodberry points out, “There’s not a lot of [vaccines]…. They use them for health workers or to mitigate family members or people who have had close contact. So that’s a promising development but it’s still a very scary death…. We’re paying attention if this starts expanding or if it’s showing signs of containment.”

As a Christian ministry, MAF pilots and staff serve in the name of Jesus. When an Ebola outbreak poses a great risk to communities and responders, MAF is there with aviation service and hope.

“When you’re responding to Ebola, it’s all about saving lives. God has given us the skills and abilities to meet the immediate needs of people. So I guess being people that they can see Christ in and serving those who are suffering is what we do during this time, and we’re an active part of the Church reaching out and the mission medical community here. It’s a time to serve and love people in a very difficult time.”

Cadd shares how even an Ebola education session presented an opportunity to represent the Gospel.

“Yesterday, John [Woodberry] and I went down to a chiefs and leaders meeting…and I had gone to the chief and showed him a little PowerPoint presentation on Ebola and he asked me to come back to the council and show the people. So we did that and we were able to answer a lot of questions and educate them on how Ebola starts and what they can do to prevent it and it was just a really great time. And being able to end in prayer for those leaders and just remind them of what Jesus has done for us and His amazing grace to us was really a wonderful time for us.”

There are a few ways you can get involved. First, consider supporting MAF’s Disaster Response Fund so they are continually prepared to help when crises like this arise.

Click here to give to MAF’s Disaster Response Fund!

Also, please commit to praying for this Ebola outbreak in the DRC. Woodberry says, “You can pray…for those with Ebola. You can pray for their healing. You can pray for the containment of the disease.”

Pray also that those infected with Ebola, the first responders, and communities in East DRC would experience spiritual revival and come to know Christ as their Savior.

(Header photo courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

But not many are working out of Lebanon.

Pierre Houssney of Horizons International thinks people tend to underestimate the presence of believers in Lebanon. There are over 100 evangelical Christian churches in the country, and estimates show that there are between 10,000 and 20,000 believers. Houssney thinks those numbers are actually probably higher.

“Many, like me, have never changed their identity cards from Orthodox or Maronite Christian or Sunni or Shiite Muslim identity cards, so there are many believers here in Lebanon and throughout the region that are just not known by international audiences,” he says.

Photo Courtesy Horizons International

Houssney calls the community of believers “tight-knit” and says Horizons has been able to “unite denominations, groups, and individuals for more effective ministry.”

Houssney believes the way his ministry is operating in Lebanon is unique in the world of mobilization. Usually, the focus is on bringing in foreign workers.

“The model of the past is you send one missionary and they establish a church and work, but it really takes them decades to do any kind of work that lasts,” he says. Instead, Horizons focuses on equipping the national Church so foreign missionaries can collaborate with believers who already have a ministry presence and understand their own culture.

The skills and knowledge foreign missionaries have are “multiplied many times over because of the partnership with nationals,” Houssney says.

And the impact of these national and international partnerships is already showing. Local churches that would normally keep to themselves are reaching out into their communities. And when the refugee crisis forced churches to step up, Houssney says they answered the call.

“They are now seeing Syrian refugees flood into their congregations, and we’re helping them witness to them and give them resources and humanitarian aid while discipling them,” he says. “The churches are baptizing them and adding to their number every day.”

Horizons is growing, too. They’re currently establishing new outreach centers across the Middle East and North Africa. The buildings they already have set up are getting upgrades in 2018. They’re also working on ministry centers around Lebanon that will prepare leaders to send into Syria.

Photo Courtesy Horizons International

Although things are going well for the Lebanese Church, there is still a lot of need.

“The churches that do exist, though they are numerous, are still very few compared to the need,” Houssney says. “We still have 400 million Muslims in the Arabic speaking world.”

That’s why they need your support.

“We’d love it if you’d spread this information to your churches and anybody you know so they’d start having a bigger awareness of the ministries that already exist in the region,” Houssney says.

“We need partnerships to be formed between historically Christian areas and pioneering Christian areas so that we can grow the kingdom in these strategic ways.”

“This is a time of amazing harvest, and we’re praying that the Lord would open the door even further, that this will not be a window of opportunity but a continued season of opportunity.”

Although the following blog post focuses on work in Liberia and was written a month ago, author Jordan Mogck highlights several of the challenges facing Ebola Response Teams anywhere they work.

Given the recent attacks on Red Cross workers in Guinea as well as the eight murders of an Ebola health team, this article can help you understand what medical workers confront as well as how you can help.

(Photo courtesy of ReachGlobal)

The EFCWA Ebola Response Team (EERT) is a national church-based response out of the rising needs seen by the leaders of the Evangelical Free Churches of West Africa in response to the deadly Ebola Virus disease that has claimed over 1,000 lives in the West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

This fast-growing church movement with membership in the three countries agreed together with the leadership of ReachGlobal to responds to this national catastrophe. As reported from EFCWA leadership and the Ebola Response Team coordinator, these are the top three challenges they are faced with in their efforts:

1. Illiteracy

Many people in villages and communities that we are reaching cannot read and write. The few educated cannot read comprehensively, and their messages are widely respected by the majority. The need for the church to engage in quality education with partners more intentionally after the Ebola crisis is of great need. Many are dying because of the lack of knowledge.

2. Diverse religious perceptions

Diverse religious perception of the cause of Ebola in Liberia and their proposed religious solution have served to confuse and frustrate many. Many religious clergy consider the outbreak either as “a curse on Liberia because the president’s son and others are promoting homosexuality,” or “This is the end times, and there’s nothing we can do about it because God said it will happen.”

Others are promoting religiously-conceived hygiene methods at the expense of sound medical advice. For example, one church is calling on people to use salt for their protection. They are buying it at the expense of their life, which actively undermines our efforts. After three days of national fasting, Liberians woke up to the calls of relatives in Monrovia to “bathe with salt placed in hot water before 6 a.m. This will bring the spread of Ebola to a complete halt.” This rumor went wide across the country, and many participated.

3. Travel limitations

Our inability to travel at our convenience and desire due to fear of riding in congested vehicles that ply the roads around Liberia. This will hinder our ability to educate and train the churches to respond as most of our own EFCWA pastors cannot adequately develop their positions for the battle against Ebola, and they live in remote villages that rental cars cannot go.

How you can help

Be in prayer for the teams as they educate people about the virus, assist them in protocols, and teach prevention. Pray for Gospel opportunities.

 

World Renew Disaster Response Services (DRS) is appealing for volunteers from Christian Reformed congregations in Alberta to help with cleaning up in Calgary, High River, Canmore, and Bragg Creek.

“We’re collaborating with provincial emergency operations personnel as part of the Alberta NGO Council,” says Henry Visscher, World Renew DRS Regional Manager for Western Canada. “We’re praying that the water will begin to recede now, and it will become clear how much assistance is needed in the short term.”

News reports from Calgary indicate that flooding from the Bow River and other area waterways has peaked after washing out roads, bridges, homes, businesses, and streets—but has not begun to recede after a week of rain and four additional inches on Friday.

Police have requested that people stay away from downtown Calgary for the meantime, and provincial officials warn that more flooding may yet occur downstream and throughout the area, including Medicine Hat and Lethbridge.

“In the next few days, areas to the East–into and along the South Saskatchewan–will be bracing for rising flood waters there,” says Ulrich Haasdyk, World Renew DRS Area Representative for southern Alberta, “but Canmore and Bragg Creek have been particularly hard hit.”

World Renew DRS Director Bill Adams says that while the water slowly recedes, organizations and agencies like World Renew are on the move now, getting volunteers from the Alberta area registered to assist flood victims with the initial stages of the recovery, likely in the next week or two.

“We expect that volunteers will begin cleaning up around Independence Day,” Adams says. “World Renew is partnering with Samaritan’s Purse Canada in the short term, and there may well be a need for reconstruction work in the future.”

Ultimately, volunteers hope to bring the healing of Christ to a hurt community. “This is truly an opportunity for the CRC to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our own communities during this unprecedented flood,” says Adams.

Pray for the flooded communities and for volunteers with World Renew DRS. Pray for God’s name to be made known through relief efforts.

If you would like to volunteer to help with this response, please call World Renew DRS at 800-848-5818 for more information.

To give financially to help those affected by Alberta flooding through “Storms 2013,” click here.