The Trinity, Crisis Response, and Orphan Sunday

This is a guest post by Jordan Mogck, blogger at familia Dei and communicator with GlobalFingerprints, the EFCAs child sponsorship program.

Losing lives and property is devastating. Prolonged turmoil, unrest, and economic woe is enough to shatter even the most resilient characters. By far the most vulnerable, however, are the children left without parents after a crisis. In fact, the sheer abundance of orphaned children in the world has garnered for itself the stamp of "crisis".
With 163 million fatherless children around the world, a response from the Church is mandatory.
A devastating metaphor
One could say that the orphan crisis is a devastating metaphor for the gospel itself. For we, vulnerable and isolated children separated from the Father because of our sin, were left for dead.
The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, describes our sin-laden plight as orphans bluntly, "No eye pitied you...but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born" (16:5).
Orphaned children are specifically targeted for unimaginably horrific lives of sex-trafficking, guerilla warfare, and all that goes with it.
The societal and economic strains that the global orphan crisis entails, only perpetuates the problem. The shame a teenaged orphaned girl feels toward her son born of rape will abhor him and leave him for dead behind a dumpster. Mothers who cannot feed themselves, let alone a child, will leave their newborn in an open field to fend for itself against the elements.
Someone must intervene.
The Trinity in Crisis Response
Likewise, we are as good as dead left to our flesh, away from the Father. However, God is a "Father to the fatherless" (Psalm 68:5). Ezekiel continues, "When I [God] passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!'" (16:6).
The Father responded to our crisis by sending Jesus to bring us into His Family, "he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:5). Adoption was how God responded to our orphan crisis.
The show goes on
There is an enormous, tangible global orphan crisis in our world. As adopted members of the family of God, we are bound to act out that same gospel on the world's stage. We need to engage.
GlobalFingerprints is the EFCA's child sponsorship program located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (where, in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is approximately 1 orphan in every 8 children) and Kolkata, India.
On November 6, churches everywhere will be engaging. November 6 has been dubbed Orphan Sunday. In an effort to equip churches for a response, GlobalFingerprints will be providing resources for churches to begin acting in this drama of the gospel.
If you'd like to partner with GlobalFingerprints in the Global Orphan Crisis, you can start by sponsoring the education, healthcare, and discipleship of a child in need for $25/month.

Minot Flooding

This spring the community of Minot, North Dakota experienced the largest flood in its history. The levies broke and forced eleven thousand people out of their homes. Seventeen families from Trinity EFC are dealing with their homes being submerged, including Pastor Andy.

TouchGlobal Director, Mark Lewis, has met with the pastor along with several other leaders to talk about what is being done to assist the community affected by the flood and how they would like to proceed in the long term.

Currently, Crisis Response is traveling to North Dakota to assess the situation and getting the word out about the need for immediate and also long term giving. Along with that, we are working with Trinity EFC in processing how to continue in the long term.

How can you help?

• Pray - Praising God for His sovereignty and praying for the specific needs of Trinity EFC and its surrounding community



• Give - Donations will support the recovery of the 17 families from Trinity Church along with the thousands of other families in Minot who have lost their homes



• Learn - Visit Trinity's site for more information and updates concerning the flood (http://trinitychurchminot.org/flood2011.htm)



• Serve - Consider serving in Minot. Help these families get back to their homes! Email crisisresponse@efca.org for more info. Add "minot" in subject line.
  

God Bless!

"The Lord rules over the floodwaters. The Lord reigns as King forever." Psalm 29:10

The Need in New Orleans

August 29, 2011 marks the 6th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. After six years, it's easy to forget what happened and it's easy for the rest of the world to move on. This week was an undeniable reminder that Hurricane Katrina is still hurting many families across the city of New Orleans. A few of us from the construction staff went out to assess homes this week and the stories we heard touched our hearts.



We talked to Ms. Corin, who lives in the 9th Ward. She has been the victim of fraudulent contractors who came in, said they would fix her house, took her money and left. She has even had thieves come in and steal her plumbing, wiring and A/C unit. Ms. Corin has done what she can to fix up the interior of her house, even hanging drywall by herself. Now she needs someone to come alongside her, love her and transform her house into a home.



We also met with James who is doing what he can to restore his house for his mother and two nieces, Esther Ruth and Emmanuela. He is struggling to balance his job and the work he does on his home. James has done an amazing job with the inside of his house, but when he looks at the outside, he is reminded of the catastrophic damage that Katrina brought to his family, home and city.



The hardest part was realizing that these families have waited almost six years for the rebuilding of their homes. What's worse is telling them they must wait even longer, because we do not have the volunteers and staff needed to serve them. We need volunteers to come serve! After six years, the flow of volunteers has slowed down. The need is still there and the people of this city are still hurting. Yes, our heart breaks for the unfinished homes, but our hearts break even more for the lost souls who need to know the love of Jesus Christ. Crisis Response will continue to live out Matthew 9:38 and "pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest".



If you would like to invest in what the Lord is doing in the city of New Orleans or send teams, please email katrinarelief@efca.org or go to www.efca.org/katrina.

Response Update

It has been a busy quarter for us...and now more tornadoes. This past week i visited our partner hope church, in Madison AL, where the continued clean up from the F5 tornado 3 weeks ago is underway. We are recruiting teams to serve there through the summer...see the video in the previous post. Go to http://www.touchglobal.org/tornadoobal.org/tornado to give or to serve.

Now we are working with Maple Grove EFC and other local EFC's in Minneapolis to respond to the F2 tornado that hit yesterday. If you are located in that area and want to serve, email tgmsptornado@gmail.com. We do not have a local church conection pre-existing in Joplin, so we are evaluating with the District and other EFC's in the region if a response there is appropriate for us.
Meanwhile, we continue with teams in New Orleans this week, and our partnering with several EFC church plants now under way there. We'll be hosting teams there for the long term, as the needs from Katrina are still prevalent and to support ongoing church planting efforts.

Right now, I am in a van, part of a 3 vehicle, 13 person team heading into Ishinomaki, Japan to do a food distribution for several hundred people. Most are back in their flood damaged homes, and all have not had work for that last 2 months since the tsunami. We will also visit potential church plant works in Onogawa and other cities up the coast this week, and to make preparations for teams. Teams are greatly needed for July, August and beyond. For more information go to www.touchglobal.org/japan.

Please consider giving. Please consider serving with us on a team. Please consider serving with us as a longer term staff role.
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New Video from Alabama

Crisis Response will be extending the Alabama Tornado Crisis Response until the end of the summer. So far, there have been great efforts to assist the people in the vicinity of the appropriately named Hope Church.

There is a brisk pace of requests for teams to serve there this summer, so get the details to send a team from your church and form your team. Watch this video to be encouraged and inspired!