Video and stories: Aid from Churches of Christ arrives in Japan

New on The Christian Chronicle’s website, you’ll find an updated story on churches’ response to the Japan earthquake and tsunami:

A team of relief workers in one of the communities hit by the March 11 quake and tsunami in Japan. (Photo provided by Healing Hands International)

Why should Christians in the U.S. send money across an ocean to help a wealthy nation recover from a natural disaster?
To put it simply, “No country could absorb a disaster like this,” said Jonathan Straker, a master’s student in missions at Abilene Christian University in Texas. …
In the weeks following the quake, aftershocks were common, and daily news stories and rumors emerged about water, spinach and other essentials contaminated with radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant, damaged in the quake.
“It will take more than 10 years for us to rebuild the victimized areas — with several years’ worth of entire national  budgets,” said Motoyuki Nomura, minister for the Kaiko Koizumi Church of Christ.

Read the full story.
Also, find a photo gallery of relief efforts and a list of ministries accepting donations for Japan relief.
Finally, see our editorial about why Christians should be involved in the work in Japan:

How can Churches of Christ, in the midst of an economic downturn, even begin to address the world’s suffering? Can our meager attempts to show Christ’s love to the hurting make a difference?
Yes.
The need — and the opportunity — to reach out in love and faith to the Japanese people is great.

Read the editorial.
The editorial draws from a story I wrote in 2004 about a Mission Forum on Japan here at Oklahoma Christian University.
See our earlier blog posts about the Japan quake.