In a communication to Church Leaders Randy Jordan, CEO of HOPE worldwide and John Causey, Chair of the ICOC's HWW and Benevolence Committee advised churches of the opening of HOPE worldwide's Disaster Response Fund to receive donation for Japan. An excerpt of their letter is provided below:
Dear Church Leader,
On behalf of our brothers and sisters in Japan, we want to express great appreciation to the many ICOC Churches and their leaderships who have shared their concern about the ongoing disaster on the northern coast of Japan. Many of you have inquired with compassion about how to best respond to the needs that are evident in every newscast from the disaster region. HOPE worldwide leaders have been in steady contact with Takeshi Yamazaki, the Lead Evangelist of the Tokyo Church of Christ, to assist us in conducting a rapid assessment of the situation. Thankfully, all disciples in Japan appear to be safe for now. Here are some excerpts from Takeshi's latest report:
"Thank you for your prayers and support. We continue to experience strong tremors and our biggest worry right now is the radiation levels. We are trying to be cautious about how to proceed. One of the staff brothers Yudai went to Sendai which is in the Tohoku area to check on his family. Luckily all of his family and relatives are safe though he said he has many friends who he has not been able to reach. The news is that gasoline is out, the devastated areas are occupied by police, fireman and self-defense force people and it appears that relief work will not be possible for sometime. The government at this point is asking for volunteers not to come. When things get a little more settled, we would like to plan a focused effort to help. Please continue to pray for us—that is our biggest need."
As you can see, at this point it is not clear when, or to what extent, we can provide direct aid, yet we want to be ready when the time comes. We are aware that many disciples are desperately wanting to help and have incredible hearts to do so. Due to our need to further assess how to best meet the needs in Japan, we are not appealing to churches at this time for widespread collections as has been the case in some recent disasters in the third world. However, we realize that some churches will want to respond collectively due to their interest in the region and others may want to inform church members about their ability to make online donations directly through the HOPE worldwide website.
HOPE worldwide has opened its general disaster relief fund for donations and will draw on these unrestricted funds as new information becomes available on how HOPE worldwide can help in Japan. Thus, if your church chooses to take a free-will disaster relief offering, we encourage you to collect funds using the general description "Disaster Response Fund." This approach will assure that disaster funds are available for Japan while providing flexibility as we are facing natural disasters around the world with increasing frequency. However, churches that desire to restrict their gift may simply do so by adding the word "Japan" to the description above.
This disaster demonstrates more than many how little of this life is really under man's control. Please continue to pray for comfort for the disaster victims and their families and for strengthening the disciples in Japan who stand ready to provide assistance to their countrymen.
God bless,
John Causey, Chair - ICOC's HOPE worldwide and Benevolence Committee
Randy Jordan, CEO/President - HOPE worldwide