Click here to make a donation to Haiti relief efforts at the LCMS World Relief & Human Care website.
Click here to download a Haiti Earthquake bulletin insert.
Click here to watch a video from LCMS President Kieschnick as he encourages prayers, contributions for Haiti. Double click on the video to start playback.
ST. LOUIS, January 13, 2010 - As news of what is being called the largest earthquake to hit Haiti in more than 200 years reached The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) Tuesday, the church body began preparing to reach out to the Caribbean nation with assistance, working in cooperation with its Lutheran partners on the ground in that country.
Only hours after getting reports of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake, the Synod’s mercy arm, LCMS World Relief and Human Care (WR-HC), announced it was making an initial grant of tens of thousands of dollars available to meet emergency needs. The Synod has asked its members to share Christ’s mercy with suffering Haitians and to assist WR-HC in what will be an ongoing effort to help those who have lost loved ones, homes, possessions, and means of work.
“The unfolding drama in Haiti calls for unlimited mercy on the part of the people of the LCMS,’’ said Rev. Glenn F. Merritt, LCMS WR-HC director of disaster response. “The needs are urgent and overwhelming right now. I appeal to God's people to respond as generously as possible during this most difficult time."
Early reports indicate many lives lost, extensive property damage, and terrible suffering among people trapped in collapsed buildings in a country already challenged by longtime political strife and poverty. Rev. Matthew Harrison, LCMS WR-HC executive director reflected, “God’s timing is never our own. Now is the time to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ in Haiti, like never before.”
LCMS WR-HC is working cooperatively with LCMS World Mission, the Synod’s global Gospel outreach ministry, to assess the needs in Haiti and provide relief in timely fashion. LCMS officials are in close contact with LCMS missionaries in Haiti as well as The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti, which has been a partner church of the Missouri Synod since 2001.
In addition to an LCMS World Mission GEO (Globally Engaged in Outreach) missionary and family stationed in Haiti, there are at least three short-term mission teams in the country from LCMS congregations and mission organizations in Nebraska, New York, and Wisconsin. The missionary family and these teams are all confirmed safe.
The earthquake came just as the LCMS is preparing to send a special medical team to Haiti in March. Before the earthquake on Monday, LCMS Life and Health Ministries Director Maggie Karner sent an appeal to pastors and congregations asking for physicians, pharmacists, and other medical professionals to volunteer for the team that is scheduled to serve in Haiti March 11-21. “This tragedy is certain to highlight the desperate need in Haiti. We ask our members to prayerfully consider how they can use their gifts and talents to help,” Karner said.
* The above press release is from the LCMS Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations.
* For more about the LCMS disaster response, visit the World Relief and Human Care website.