Local pastor helps form global Haiti relief ministry

Rising from the rubble of the Haitian earthquake, a new organization co-founded by Elgin pastor James MacDonald seeks to strengthen one of that country's primary conduits of spiritual and physical aid: the local body of believers.

Churches Helping Churches has gotten off the ground with astonishing speed. It's only been seven weeks since the 7.0-magnitude quake brought down Haiti's capital city, but already the organization has 240 churches from all over the world signed on to help.

An office has been set up at Harvest Bible Chapel's Elgin location, an executive director is in place, and a professionally designed Web site is up and running. On top of that, the new organization's bank account already dwarfs what many churches spend in a year.

"We've raised $2 million from churches and individuals around the world," said Thomas Kim, introduced as executive director on Feb. 16, through an e-mail interview.

"If the sum alone isn't already mind-boggling, we have to see this in light of the 2009 financial crisis," Kim said. "Many churches and individuals are hurting financially and yet are giving sacrificially. I still can't get over it."

Less than a week after the Jan. 12 earthquake, Harvest's Pastor James MacDonald and Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, Wash., flew to Haiti to distribute medical supplies and assess the situation.

"After the earthquake, James engaged in conversations with pastors across the country," Kim said. "They had a common concern: organizations are flocking to Haiti to address all sorts of needs, but who will help the church? In addition to being a key distribution channel for aid, the church provides spiritual guidance and counseling.

"To give a person food, water, and health care gives a person so much, but it doesn't give them everything," Kim said. "We're seeing this in Haiti right now. The flurry of initial efforts has led to significant progress, but the relief landscape is beginning to shift.

"There is a sharply increasing need for psychosocial care. That's why we are looking for strategic projects that help churches do what they do best: help people find the peace and hope that comes from knowing Jesus."

Churches Helping Churches finds a biblical mandate in Galatians 6:10, which says: "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."

The Haitian earthquake may have been the impetus, but the vision for CHC goes well beyond the Caribbean nation, Kim said. The organization hopes to swell to 10,000 or more member churches, enabling it to step in with support for disaster-stricken churches anywhere.

In Haiti, CHC is focusing its resources on where it can gain maximum impact, both short- and long-term. An immediate project is the repair of a damaged seminary giving shelter to 4,000 people displaced by the quake. Beyond that, three large-scale efforts have been identified.

First, Kim said, CHC will work to rebuild churches within the tent cities, then launch a holistic care tent city to provide food, medicine, and counseling for refugees. The third initiative will focus on seminary students.

"Many of these pastors-to-be have had their dreams crushed," Kim said. "CHC will help get them back on track, so they can someday lead churches that serve the local community.

"In these efforts, we are coming alongside existing churches and organizations that were already in Haiti pre-earthquake," he said. CHC also is coming alongside the humanitarian aid flowing into Haiti since the catastrophe, and Kim sees the organization as a complement to the many relief agencies working there.

A former church pastor who has given seminars, trained pastors, and cared for refugees all over the world, Kim is thrilled to be taking the reins of the compassionate, multidenominational ministry.

"I'm sad to say that throughout history, churches have done some shameful things in the name of God," he said. "I cringe inside when I think about it because it's simply the wrong picture.

"On the other hand, when the church is running the way it's supposed to, God's way, it is breathtakingly beautiful. I've seen individual lives and communities remarkably transformed through the love and service of the local church," Kim said.

"I want to help give churches a fighting chance to be that picture of beauty to their communities, especially after disaster. That's a cause I believe in."

For information, visit www.churcheshelpingchurches.com.

• "In the Spirit" covers churches and synagogues in the Fox Valley area; contact cmchojnacki@yahoo.com to submit information or ideas for upcoming columns. Please submit upcoming event information in the previous calendar month.