As news broke of the crisis in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, the National Christian Foundation of South Florida (NCF) immediately activated their Disaster Relief and Crisis Fund to financially support our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and the surrounding countries. To date, the fund has dispersed more than $300,000 to well-vetted organizations who work with the local church in Ukraine and countries most affected, providing immediate hope, help and healing as well as long-term relief and recovery. An additional $400,000 has been disperse through individual donor-directed funds at NCF to charities doing work in the region, according to Stephan Tchividjian, NCF president.
“What we’re seeing is one of the largest migrations in recent history of refugees fleeing a country, upwards of three and a half million and counting,” said Tchividjian. “As followers of Christ, we’ve been called to be His hands and feet, so it is part of the duty and responsibility of the church to respond. It’s not only an opportunity to meet their physical needs like food and shelter, but it’s also an opportunity to share the gospel. As Christians we are called to walk towards the pain, towards the suffering, to take the resources God has given us, which are not ours, and use them for such.”
Why donate through the NCF fund?
“We identify best in class organizations that we can give the funds to and know they will be effective.” Tchividjian explained. “Our criteria has been, number one, we want them to be Christian organizations; number two, we want them to have a proven track record of doing work in that part of the world. In other words, they have to have relationships and understand the cultural nuances of doing work in that part of the world. Number three, they’ve got to have history of doing this type of work, either helping refugees relocate, providing food, clothing, shelter, transportation, hygiene, and then we have a personal relationship with all of them. We either know the chairman of the board, the CEO or executive direction, so we’re a phone call away from saying – ok I saw your website, but I’ve got a question. That was very important to us.”
With that in mind, the Disaster Relief and Crisis Fund is being distributed to the following organizations, whose mission statements are included below.
- Alpha Poland and Alpha Ukraine— Alpha is an 11-week course where people are excited to bring their friends for a conversation about faith, life and God. (alpha.org)
- Awana – Awana equips local volunteers in churches around the world with biblical discipleship solutions, serving kids ages 2 through 18. (awana.org)
- Cross International – They empower the Body of Christ to transform the poor and their communities, physically and spiritually for the glory of Jesus Christ. (crossinternational.org)
- OneHope – Their mission is to affect destiny by providing God’s eternal Word to all the children and youth of the world. (onehope.net)
- OM – Operation Mobilization is a Christian missionary organization founded to mobilize young people to live and share the Gospel of Jesus. (om.org)
- Samaritan’s Purse – After sharing the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said “Go and do likewise.” That is the mission of Samaritan’s Purse—to follow the example of Christ by helping those in need and proclaiming the hope of the Gospel. (samaritanspurse.org)
- World Relief – At World Relief, the mission is to empower the local church to serve the most vulnerable. They partner with over 6,000 churches and 95,000 local volunteers to tackle the world’s greatest problems. (worldrelief.org)
While these organizations are meeting practical and spiritual needs such as transportation, housing, food, shelter, and medical attention, they are also being the physical body of Christ: arms to offer a warm embrace, ears to hear the stories, hands to heal, legs to bring supplies, and mouths to share the hope of the Gospel.
Some of the organizations are obvious choices, but others don’t specifically mention relocating refugees. Tchividjian offered the following insight into their selection. “The Chairman of the board of Awana called me, and what I didn’t realize is that they’ve had massive history in the Ukraine with their Bible clubs for kids. Because of that, they had this amazing grassroots network of club leaders, almost like an underground railroad for the most vulnerable – the children and the moms. They were mobilizing them to get them out of the country to safety. Alpha was the same thing. Eddie Copeland, Church United director, was over in England last week attending an Alpha Conference and Ukrainian pastors there began to share the stories of what they’re doing. Some of these guys are going back Into Ukraine and doing relief work there, and we have deep relationships with Alpha USA.”
Asked what about this crisis has impacted him, Tchividjian said, “It still surprises me that we as humankind continue to demonstrate such evil towards one another. It’s just rampant evil, but evil manifests itself not just in war, it’s the way we treat each other. As much as I could point my finger and say I’m not bombing innocent children and maternity wards, when you personalize it, you ask what’s my empathy, my compassion; what am I doing about it and how do I respond to evil? Whether its in bombs or the way people treat their neighbors, it’s evil. And I have to hate evil.
How to contribute?
The need is still great in Eastern Europe. If you’d like to support, or continue supporting response efforts to this crisis, consider how your local church is responding to this crisis and join them in those efforts. Another option is to contribute online to The Disaster Relief and Crisis Fund at https://sforce.co/3IW5a9F. For assistance, contact Lycet Corbo by phone at 954-334-1874 or email [email protected].
For more articles by Shelly Pond, visit https://www.goodnewsfl.org/author/shelly/
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