Earthquake update and information

Posted on February 24

christchurch

Brothers and sisters, we encourage you at this time of our nation’s grief, to intercede for the people of Christchurch – for the rescuers, the injured, the homeless, the hungry and thirsty and those who are just plain scared. God desires all people to be saved Paul tells (1 Tim. 2:4), therefore we should pray for all people. Pray that in the day of despair people would turn to the Saviour.

Here are some practical ways in which you might consider helping:


Pete North, head of Habitat for Humanity sent an email to our church with this message:

The Christchurch earthquake of yesterday has no doubt caused all of us great heartache as we consider fatalities, searching for trapped or missing persons, the immense grief and trauma of a city and nation, as well as on-going logistical issues as in water, sanitation and accommodation for those in Christchurch.

We are being inundated with volunteers from all over NZ wanting to help. But we are asking, what can we do? Our initial response is this:

- We are at this early stage offering assistance to the Salvation Army and Red Cross, if they need extra manpower, we can second our volunteers to them, if and when Christchurch is able to handle extra persons coming in to a very fragile situation.

- We are considering, being a shelter-based organisation, assisting Christchurch families who need temporary accommodation whilst this crisis plays out, and are looking for volunteers who might consider opening up their homes elsewhere in NZ.

- We are already receiving donations locally and from overseas, but do not yet know how to best utilise such. Maybe later we will be involved in rebuilding homes, but if not, we will consider passing funds collected to those groups active in providing support for families in need.

I phoned Pete and talked to him about this and he is very keen to work alongside us as a church. A Facebook page was opened up by a well-meaning individual requesting homes and it got 2000 replies. But who’s going to manage that? How do they ensure families get into safe homes? That’s where HFH can help – by being a facilitator and link for this.

So if the Lord lays it on your heart to open up your home, or you are willing to head down to Christchurch with a clean-up team, please get in touch with Ray or Joe or myself so that we can begin collating a list.


Peter Somervell

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Habitat

For more information on Habitat for Humanity and ways you can help or give go to http://www.habitat.org.nz


If you are grappling to understand how a tragedy like this fits with the plan and purposes of God, here are some resources that may be of help:

  • "The Problem of Suffering and Evil". The first in a series of messages on the topic of Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. You can also view the entire video series here.
  • "Swept Away in a Flood" a message addressing the questions that people were asking following the Elim Mangatepopo river tragedy in April 2008.
  • A post containing a summary of points on the topic of providence/God's sovereignty
  • The church library has a number of helpful books that address the issue of suffering in the light of God's sovereignty and love.

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