SPECIFIC PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Pray that safe water, food and shelter can be provided for tens of thousands of Ni-Vanuatu islanders whose homes and food sources were destroyed this last weekend.
- Pray that our Nazarene church leaders and Christian communities would continue to reach out in tangible ways to each other and to the devastated lives of those around them, in the name and in the love of Jesus!
- Pray that the precious people of this island nation will turn and cry out to God for both their immediate and their eternal healing and hope in the midst of the chaos of this natural disaster.
- Pray that God will provide wisdom and direction so that the Church of the Nazarene will in addition to being an instrument of God’s healing, hope and encouragement right now, will also become stronger than ever, expanding God’s Kingdom like never before across these islands!
SPECIFIC THINGS VANUATU CHURCH PEOPLE ARE DONG NOW:
- Joining forces to cut fallen timber and clear endless amounts of debris.
- Joining forces to rebuild each others’ homes.
- Joining forces to rebuild neighbors’ homes.
- Sharing what limited supplies they have with those also in need.
- Praying, counseling and encouraging fellow islanders whose lives are completely devastated.
- Having Bible studies with those in the shelters.
- We have at least one Nazarene church building that survived completely intact. It was packed full of people during the storm and it has remained full of those families which continue to be sheltered and fed there.
- Feeding the hungry.
IMMEDIATE AND FUTURE PLANS FOR DISASTER RESPONSE:
John Wattan (NCM) and Harmon Schmelzenbach are on their way into Vanuatu with the primary purpose of assessment and on ground evaluation. The Church of the Nazarene began responding to this disaster immediately in the wake of the cyclone with a focus on first securing safety and then on the basic and quickly growing needs of potable water, food and shelter. This will continue to be our first and primary concern for some time. Secondly and at the same time is a focus on ministering in the name of Jesus to the massive non-physical needs of individuals, couples and families in the wake of this type of life-changing and traumatic event. Thirdly is a focus on deeper infrastructural needs of homes and church buildings. Lastly as normality begins to be restored, we hope that the Church can be an instrument to encourage and facilitate organized preparedness for future crises like this.
