disaster relief Archives - TEAM Christian Missions Blog

Prayer Needs Abound for War Refugees and Workers

Ukraine refugees getting supplies from a resource tent.

Traumatized and spiritually hungry people in and around Ukraine as well as those helping them desperately need our prayers.

May 02 2022

Nearly 5 million Ukrainian war refugees have crossed borders into other countries, and an additional 6-8 million internally displaced people have migrated west within Ukraine. This month’s Prayer Focus is on relief and ministry efforts for these refugees, also known as the diaspora. Just before the Russian invasion, TEAM evacuated its two workers from Ukraine. (You can read their stories here.) But TEAM’s ministry work both inside and outside of Ukraine was only beginning. Within days of the first bombings, TEAM workers in the Czech Republic began receiving refugees, and other TEAM ministry areas were soon to follow. Global workers…

Gaby thought Christians were fanatics. Now, Gaby’s whole life is centered on knowing God and leading others to Him.

Oct 13 2021

“I remember that my mother told me, ‘Now that you know about the word of God, are you ready to wear a straightjacket?’” Those aren’t the words you expect a Christian mother to say to her newly-saved daughter. But Gaby knew her mom’s teasing came from a place of inexpressible joy. Gaby married and had children young, so she spent years trying to recapture her youth. While her husband “worked all the time,” Gaby says, “I really like to be in the streets.” Her mom tried to tell her about God. Gaby thought it was madness to give up freedom…

A short-term mission trip to Japan gave one couple vision for longer-term missionary service with a few plot twists along the way. Photo by TEAM

Jan 19 2016

It certainly wasn’t the first short-term trip I had taken. My husband and I knew before we were married that we wanted to be missionaries in Japan, as we had traveled there with our church and other organizations. Short-term ministry was nothing new to us, but on March 11, 2011, as we saw the tsunami hit Japan in one of the worst disasters the country ever experienced, we knew we had to go back and help. In our mind, we wanted to just go and aid the country we loved in their hour of need. What we didn’t know is that…

Emmanuel Evangelical Church of Los Cabos in Mexico was destroyed by Hurricane Odile in 2014. Today the congregation gathers in their new building. Photo by Armando Lomelí Perales.

Nov 02 2015

Scrubbed off the earth: That is how Hurricane Odile left the church building of the Emmanuel Evangelical Church of Los Cabos in San José del Cabo, Mexico. Distressed at losing a building they had sacrificed to build, the congregation despaired that they would ever have a place to gather again. But they prayed. That is when God stepped in. After the storm, TEAM put out the word through social media of our Baja hurricane relief effort, and gifts started to come in — not just for Emmanuel Evangelical Church, but for other hurricane relief needs as well. While on a quick,…

The sanctuary of Emmanuel Evangelical Church of Los Cabos was destroyed in Hurricane Odile. Photo courtesy of Vicki Reyes

Feb 25 2015

UPDATE, APRIL 2015: A generous family has offered to donate funds to help rebuild Emmanuel Evangelical Church in Los Cabos! For every $1 given, they will match two and a half times ($2.50) up to $35,000. If this goal is met, this will provide all the funds needed to begin construcion on a new worship center in May. Will you join us in supporting this church and help them meet their goal? Click here to give! We asked Vicki Reyes, TEAM missionary in Mexico, to provide an update on how their community is rebuilding after Hurricane Odile ravaged the Baja California Peninsula…

Along with other volunteers, Alecia planted wheat seeds into the soil after cleaning up the debris left behind by the tsunami floodwaters. Photo by Alecia Tallent.

Sep 16 2014

We asked Alecia Tallent, TEAM’s Global Ministries Administrative Assistant, to share about her experience on a short-term missions trip to Japan. Alecia and her husband went with TEAM Serve to provide relief work after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disasters. Even though it had been more than seven months since the disaster, debris still littered the coastline, and thousands of people still lived in temporary housing. TEAM had partnered with CRASH Japan, a relief organization, and we lived at one of the CRASH bases in Tono that was being run by TEAM missionaries Jim and Eileen Nielsen. The Nielsens…

Not all international ministries are equipped to respond to all disasters. TEAM responded to earthquakes and tsunami in Japan in 2011 (above), but chose not to make a formal fundraising appeal for typhoon relief in the Philippines. Photo by Robert Johnson / TEAM

Nov 25 2013

Today, TEAM Chief Advancement Officer Arnie Adkison contributes to the blog. He addresses how you can make the most difference when tragedy strikes, and shares some of how TEAM decides when to get involved. Last week a retired TEAM missionary couple in southern Illinois had no idea that as they headed out to church, the home they would later return to was about to become rubble. While they prayed and worshiped with their church community, a tornado ripped through their town and destroyed their house and everything in it, leaving them with little more than the clothes they were wearing….

Tag - disaster relief

Prayer Needs Abound for War Refugees and Workers

A Hurricane Destroyed Her Neighborhood — and Led Her to Christ

A Short-Term Mission Trip to Japan Changed My Life

Church Destroyed by Hurricane Odile is Rebuilt

I Would Like To Sing a Hymn

Planting the Seeds of Love

What You Should Know When Supporting Disaster Relief