How to Help When Disaster Strikes Your Community

Episode 706

When disaster strikes your community, every church planter must see it as a God-given opportunity to get the gospel into lives. Host Clint Clifton talks with Taylor Field and Kay Bennett about ways a church can position itself to be ready to respond.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

• Ways your church can be prepared ahead of time
• How gospel opportunities are embedded in disasters
• The importance of focusing on individuals in crisis
• The value of seeing disaster response as worship
• How churches should be engaging with nonprofits

Helpful Resources:

• Send Relief website
• Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer
• Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass?

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Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):

When somebody comes for relief items, it’s not the items they want the most. They want to tell their story. Listening to their story, debrief them, help them deal with what’s going on. Pray for them. The disaster has a person where they’re ready to hear about Jesus. — Kay Bennett

Throughout history, God has used His people in times of disaster and distress to advance the gospel. You help people rebuild their lives, one at a time, and it matters to every person you help. Focus on the one. — Clint Clifton

If we’re imagining what we’re doing as worship, as opposed to moving the needle in terms of correcting the  problem, it makes a difference in your motivation for why you’re doing what you’re doing. — Clint Clifton

The bigger the crisis, the more personal we need to become. We don’t want to know people by their need. We want to know them by their name. Sacrifice is what’s going to touch people, where you pour out your life for other people. — Taylor Field

Churches should be engaged front and center in these issues and be known for their partnerships with nonprofits that spearhead these efforts. The church’s organized engagement has potential for incredible power. — Clint Clifton

When you engage with nonprofits, it opens a door for you that normally wouldn’t be available. You get to see the greatest needs in your area and you’re able to come alongside to meet those needs. It’ll be amazing what it does to give your church an identity. — Kay Bennett

When a crisis comes, make a three- to five-year plan, not a one-month plan. Because being embedded in your community is going to make a difference in a lot of different ways. Think about it not just as a crisis for a few weeks. — Taylor Field

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