Haitian Churches Identified as Major Conduit to Community Aid

New U.S. Organization Targets Church Recovery in Order to Expedite Community Recovery

CHICAGO, Feb. 8, 2010—"With many of their churches flattened and their priests and pastors killed, Haitians desperate for aid and comfort… traversed the dusty, rubble-filled streets searching for solace at scattered prayer gatherings."(The New York Times, Jan. 18, 2010) 

Days before this Times observation, two U.S. mega-pastors began a conversation about what churches around the world could do to restore the destroyed churches of Haiti.  Knowing that churches in poor countries are not only conduits of spiritual aid, but of physical, medical, educational and financial support in communities, Chicago Pastor James MacDonald and Seattle Pastor Mark Driscoll strategized that the quicker the church recovers, the quicker the whole community recovers.  

"Whenever we hear of an earthquake, tsunami, war or other devastation, governments and non-governmental organizations quickly mobilize to rebuild transportation systems, hospitals, schools and homes - all important work," said MacDonald, pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, attended by more than 12,000 people each weekend.  "But we found ourselves asking, ‘Who will restore the churches so they can care for the needs of the suffering?'"

On a practical level, churches all over the world are community hubs uniquely positioned to provide physical and spiritual care for the whole community - believers and non-believers alike. 

"The quicker the church is restored, the quicker the whole community gets back on its feet physically, spiritually and emotionally," said Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and founder of a church planting group that has established some 300 churches worldwide - an average of one new church every week. 

The two pastors immediately decided to create Churches Helping Churches, an organization mobilizing churches worldwide to provide immediate and long-term help to churches in areas recovering from natural disaster and other catastrophes. Since the earthquake, Churches Helping Churches has already raised more than 1.5 million dollars for Haiti projects, the first of which is a damaged seminary currently housing 4,000 quake refugees.

With the help of the Amway Corp. and International Aid, MacDonald and Driscoll flew to Haiti Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010 on a two-day fact-finding mission, with a film crew and some $400,000 of relief supplies, including critically needed syringes, stethoscopes, pain medication and crutches.  They returned with compelling footage and a deeper burden for mobilizing support for the restoration of Haitian churches and seminaries struck by the disaster.

Churches Helping Churches complements the work done by relief and development agencies by helping re-establish these key community centers, or in some cases, providing support and funding to agencies better positioned to accomplish the mission of Churches Helping Churches.

"When a disaster strikes somewhere in the world, Churches Helping Churches would like to have tens of thousands of churches and resources immediately mobilize to assist and restore churches, which can then help assist and restore the whole community," said Driscoll.  "In some disaster-stricken countries, it has taken the church a whole generation to rebuild, we're working hard to make sure that doesn't happen in  Haiti," said MacDonald.

Individuals and churches may contribute to this effort online at www.ChurchesHelpingChurches.com.

Coverage Opportunities

• Interview Churches Helping Churches Co-Founders:
• James MacDonald, founder and senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago, attended by more than 12,000 people each weekend, and host of Walk in the Word, an award-winning daily 30-minute Bible teaching radio program on 1030 outlets across North America
• Mark Driscoll, founder and pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, the 8th most influential church in the United States with weekend attendance surpassing 10,000 (Source: The Church Report, 2007)

• Download high-res video footage of MacDonald and Driscoll's fact-finding trip to Haiti

• FollowMacDonald and Driscoll on Twitter

Quotes

James MacDonald, co-founder of Churches Helping Churches

• "Whenever we hear of an earthquake, tsunami, war or other devastation, governments and non-governmental organizations quickly mobilize to rebuild transportation systems, hospitals, schools and homes - all important work.  But we found ourselves asking, ‘Who will restore the churches so they can care for the needs of the suffering?'"

• "It's not unlike in the airline oxygen mask spiel - the quicker the churches get assistance, the quicker they can once again assist the whole community."  
  

About Churches Helping Churches

Churches Helping Churches mobilizes churches to provide immediate and long-term help to churches in the wake of major disasters, so they can resume their strategic position meeting the needs of hurting people in their communities.  Churches Helping Churches complements the work done by relief and development agencies by helping re-establish these key community centers.

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