Helping Those in Need

I saw something that made me very happy written in Christianity Today. In the wake of the triple disaster in 2011 Japanese Christians are slowly but surely re-thinking and re-tooling disaster relief. International aid has become a matter of getting as much to as many as quickly and cheaply as possible. Of course there is still compassion involved as volunteers flood these stricken areas and give what help they can but somewhere in the last decade we have forgotten that a spiritual perspective can help increase victim's recovery. So what is the local churches' place in this process? Some of what Christianity Today calls "counterexamples" come from trained volunteers who develop new programs like massaging the hands and feet of the elderly evacuees, mobile coffeehouses, safe spaces for counseling, even restoring flood-damaged photo albums. CT is coining the phrase "Disaster Relief 3.0" saying, "In Disaster Relief 1.0, relief slowly was secularized and taken over by professional and bureaucratic leadership. In Disaster Relief 2.0, market-driven strategies and metrics further sidelined volunteer acts of charity, mercy, and justice. In Disaster Relief 3.0, the local church - not just relief experts - moves to restore itself as God's chosen instrument for the health and charity of a community, especially before, during, and after disaster. This idea is much more intensive than church-based community outreach."

This blew me away. It is at the heart of returning to a biblical rendering of the church. I wonder what we view as a crises in the U.S.? How have the churches in areas hit by tornadoes and wildfires this year been ministering to the survivors of tragedy? I wish I could know if they are learning, like Japan - that the church is instrumental to the long-term healing of the affected areas? I wonder if - like Grace Garden Chapel in Koriyama who helped a limited number of families while maintaining personal relationships by basically restoring those chosen families who were committed to remaining in the area to complete viability - we are willing to make a long-term sacrifice. This was a costly choice financially for the church body but they were committed to making sure adequate personal and emotional care was provided for the foreseeable future. They truly loved their neighbors. I would love to hear from churches adopting these versions of relief whether in the US or on foreign ground and I am excited to see and hear more about CT's Disaster Relief 3.0.