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Chicago: The Experience of Giving Church Relief Network Makes Global Impact
It all began December 26, 2003, when an earthquake shattered Bam, Iran, destroying an estimated 80 percent of the city. “It happened on a Friday, so I knew that by Sunday my people would be asking how they could help,” says Rev. Marshall Hatch, pastor of New Mount Pilgrim Church in Chicago’s West Side. Unknowingly, Hatch that day set the stage for what has become Chicago’s African American Christian Relief Network, an alliance of small-to-medium-sized inner-city churches dedicated to caring for those caught in natural disasters. “We chose to respond to the Iran earthquake because it’s a Muslim country,” Pastor Hatch explained, “and I really wanted our church to be challenged to recognize its responsibility and show the love of Christ to Muslims, as well as other Christians.” Exactly a year later, on December 26, 2004, the world awoke to the news that a tsunami had devastated several Asian countries. By this time, Hatch had invited two other local African American churches — Greater St. John Bible Church and New Landmark Missionary Baptist Church — to join his congregation in responding during disasters. Together these three middle-to-low income Christian groups reached deep into their pockets and raised $8,000. Their gifts to care for the Bam earthquake and tsunami survivors were given to World Vision for its frontline work during those disaster responses. “World Vision is on the West Side,” Pastor Hatch said. “We wanted to sow back into an organization that’s working in our own community too.” Yet the biggest gift was still to come. Using their networks with other churches and pastors, these three founding churches grew the African American Christian Relief Network to 30 West Side churches. When Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, the network went right to work, and raised more than $50,000 to help survivors. “And we went there as well,” Pastor Hatch said. “We took relief supplies to the small town of Rayne, Louisiana, where evacuees were flocking after the hurricane. We took nurses and ministers so that we could have a ministry of presence among people in desperate circumstances.” During their time in the hurricane-damaged area, the Chicago team worked alongside local church leaders, many who were exhausted from trying to address the overwhelming needs of those who were homeless and displaced. In early October, the African American Christian Relief Network also brought seven of those pastors to Chicago for a few days of respite, relaxation, and recharging. During that time, these pastors shared from local pulpits, presenting a firsthand account of what was happening in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to those who had given so generously. Rev. Ira Acree, pastor of Greater St. John Bible Church, said the experience of giving — often out of their own need — to people in even greater need has deeply touched his congregation. “I think sometimes people living in the inner city who suffer, as our people often do, relate to other people who are suffering as well. In the midst of our own poverty, we are willing to sacrifice. This ministry has encouraged my church to see beyond their own situations and conditions to help others.” Now the network stands ready to make a difference when the next disaster strikes. “It’s really people and their hearts that are central,” Pastor Hatch says. “Our people saw on TV what everyone else saw. But as Christians, we’re going to show up. If the church is relevant, they’re going to want to know what they can do.” Get Involved
|  | 1-888-511-6548 : P.O. Box 9716 World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
  
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