Friday 25 August 2017

Hurricane Harvey Is Here. Time for Christians to Practice What We’ve Learned Since Katrina.

Advice for US churches on biggest storm in 12 years, from an evangelical researcher of disasters who lived through Katrina.

If current projections hold true, Hurricane Harvey will be the biggest hurricane to strike the United States since Katrina and Wilma hit in 2005.

A decade ago, maybe your church volunteered, planned a short-term mission trip, gave money, or helped rebuild Gulf Coast communities beaten down by one of America’s most deadly and destructive disasters.

Harvey offers Christians a chance to be even more helpful—to show God’s grace and mercy to a disaster-filled world. But it means we have to be willing to learn from experiences like Katrina.

I’ve learned a lot myself, both personally and professionally. Katrina walloped my community six days after I moved to South Mississippi. Within weeks, I was on the ground researching how faith helps peoples’ resilience and how the church can best respond. Today, I run the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, the nation’s first social science research center devoted to the study of faith and disasters.

For churches in the path of Hurricane Harvey, there are still some “just-in-time” preparedness strategies you can implement before the storm makes landfall. For Christians far away, there’s a lot more you can do than wait and watch Twitter like it’s an unfolding disaster movie.

Below are some of the most important research-based ways your church can prepare and care.

What Churches in Harvey’s Crosshairs Should Do Right Now

You may have never thought about your church’s role in preparing for a disaster in your own community. Even if you have, you still may not know how to prepare as you watch this unexpected hurricane rapidly approaching. Taking these small actions now can go a long way toward preventing harm and saving ...

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