Update on humanitarian aid and relief work

2015/07/07/

At its June meeting, WELS Christian Aid and Relief approved grants for fiscal year 2015-16 totaling $332,426 for humanitarian aid projects in both home and world missions fields.

“These projects help our missionaries reflect Christ’s love to people in need and also open doors to share the gospel,” says Rev. Robert Hein, chairman of WELS Christian Aid and Relief.

World mission fields receiving grants include Zambia, Nigeria, Malawi, Thailand, Indone-sia, Russia, East Asia, Mexico, Haiti, Nepal, Pakistan, and India. Grant money will be used for projects such as borehole drilling to provide clean water, English as a Second Language classes, home-based care for the chronically ill and dying, food assistance to the needy, agri-cultural projects, food and nutrition for orphans, midwife training classes, and medical equipment and health clinics.

Home mission fields in Las Vegas, Nev.; Chicago, Ill.; Farmington, N.M.; New Orleans, La.; and Toronto, Ontario, Canada, also are receiving grant money for projects that include welcome packages for new immigrants, a community garden, and a camp in a financially depressed area.
Christian Aid and Relief works closely with the WELS Boards for Home and World Mis-sions, WELS missionaries, and sister congregations in the Confessional Evangelical Luther-an Conference in determining humanitarian aid grants.

The group also provides money for disaster relief efforts and people dealing with extreme medical emergencies. Two large disaster relief efforts this year—following flooding in Ma-lawi, Africa, and earthquakes in Nepal—are ongoing.

In January, Malawi experienced damaging floods that destroyed or damaged the homes of many families who are members of WELS’ sister synod, the Lutheran Church of Central Africa–Malawi (LCCA). Initial relief efforts included providing supplies so these families could construct temporary housing. But a larger upcoming need is food. The floods washed away crops and depleted the local food supplies. “These people are subsistence farmers,” says Missionary Mark Panning, mission coordinator for Malawi. “They depend upon the harvest to survive. This means many families will face hunger in the coming year.”

To help families get through until the next growing season, Christian Aid and Relief is working with LCCA church leaders to distribute almost 450 tons of maize (the staple food of Malawi) to an estimated 4,000 LCCA families so they will have something to eat from September through January.

“This gives us a great opportunity to let our light shine and to show our Christian love to our brothers and sisters in the LCCA. They know that this is assistance coming from do-nors in WELS, people are who concerned about their physical and spiritual needs and want to do something to help,” says Panning. “I pass along the sincere thanks of the national church for everything that’s been done.”

In Nepal, more than 9,000 people have been killed by two recent earthquakes in April and May, including 39 members of our church in Nepal. The WELS mission contact in Ne-pal traveled to nine villages in the rural areas of the Dhading district after the first earth-quake to distribute blankets, medicine, sleeping mattresses, and food. He returned in June to bring more food and blankets as well as Bibles and large tents so the people could worship during the monsoon season. Our contact also visited villages and brought aid to the Makwanpur district where there are churches that have expressed interest in WELS doc-trine. “People see the love of Christ when you share the words of the gospel, the message of salvation,” says the WELS friendly counselor to Nepal. “Then they see the love of Christ in these acts of kindness. It’s a powerful one-two.”

Nepal church leaders and Christian Aid and Relief currently are exploring the idea of of-fering a grief workshop in Dhading to help those struggling with their losses.
“It’s really a privilege that the Lord would use us to channel his blessings to our brothers and sisters in need,” says Hein. “We are truly thankful for your prayers and gifts.”
Learn more about WELS Christian Aid and Relief at www.wels.net.
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