To be the light of Christ shining in the Preparedness ...

New Covenant Presbytery Meeting July 16, 2016 Disaster Preparedness Presentation

7/12/2016 4:51 PM Presented by Joyce Batty Mission Presbytery Certified PW/DAS Trainer

Slide 1

Basic Disaster MinistryCopyright 2006 by Church World Service, Emergency Response Program, New York, NY

Disaster Preparedness

Joyce Batty

Certified PW/PDA Trainer

New Covenant Presbytery, July 2016

Slide 2 Disaster Preparedness in Your Community

• To be the light of Christ shining in the darkness

• To bear one another’s burdens

• To take care of God’s creation and people

We are called

When it comes to living a Christian

life, we are called to be the shining

light of Christ in the darkness, reach

out to others to bear their burdens, and

help take care of God’s creation and

people. That means taking care of our

local church and its people.

We are called to bring hope out of

chaos—the hope of Jesus Christ.


Basic Disaster Ministry 6-3

When many churches hear of

emergencies or disasters, they think of

ways they can help others. Those

activities include feeding the stricken,

moving trash, helping volunteers,

opening their church for day care, and

numerous other ways. First

Presbyterian Church of Smithville,

First Presbyterian Church of

Wimberley, and First Presbyterian

Church of San Marcos have all

pitched in to help others during floods

and fires. Other churches in Mission

Presbytery have also helped during

hurricanes, tornados, etc.

To do these things, takes

preparation and planning.




Many churches don’t think about

disasters or emergencies striking their

church or their church community.

You live in a Presbytery that

experiences all kinds of disasters:

fires, tornados, flooding, shootings,

hurricanes, chemical explosions, etc.

Churches buy insurance to help in

case something disastrous hits, but

often don’t plan to take proper care of

what God has given them. How can

you reach out to the community and

others when your own church is

broken and your people are hurting?

This, too, takes planning and

preparation.


To enable the body of Jesus Christ to

continue to function in a viable way

before, during and after disaster.

Maintain Your Mission

You may wonder why PW and PDA

has begun this disaster preparation

endeavor. This endeavor is based on

Scripture that supports this mission.

(Examples include: Psalm 46: 1-5; 10-

11, Psalm 69, 86, 121, 130, and

Matthew 25:40.)

This collaboration helps your church maintain its mission to enable the body of Jesus Christ to

continue to function in a viable way, before, during, and after disaster. This is extremely

important because:

The survival of the church after a disaster often depends on how quickly the church

can meet as an organized unit after the event.

The loss of several services in a row may make it very difficult for the church to retain

its identity.

A high priority must be to resume worship–to line up an alternative site for worship

and offices.

The only way to do this is through planning and preparation.




The difference

Assess the situation to know how to respond.

• An emergency is an event we can cope with ourselves

• A disaster overwhelms local resources

A disaster is different than an

emergency. We have local resources to

deal with an emergency.

When the crisis demands more than

our local resources can handle, we call

that a disaster. 9/11 was a disaster. So

were Katrina, the Newtown

elementary school shootings, and

Houston area floods. The Bastrop

Fires were Disasters. The local agencies had to call outsiders for help in those cases. The event that

overwhelms local resources is what we call a disaster. Disasters impact everyone in the

affected area and beyond.

An assessment needs to be made to know how to respond. Do you have a plan to assess if your

situation is an emergency or a disaster?


• Everyone is touched

• Disasters have stages of recovery that may take years

• People react through grief stages that take time and have their ups and downs

• Faith-based organizations must deal with their own congregations as well as the community

All Disasters/Emergencies Impact Deeply

When a disaster strikes, no one is

immune physically, mentally, or

spiritually: first responders, family,

volunteers, faith-based groups,

community, and those affected by the

disaster.

There are six stages of recovery—each

step takes approximately ten times the

length of the previous one:

1. Warning/Anticipation: We learn there may be a problem. Time to prepare may be from

zero (shooter) to 5-7 days (hurricane.)

2. Impact/Emergency/Rescue: A time of high drama, TV coverage, 1st responder rescue.

3. Aftermath/Assessment: Government and agency assessors, such as Red Cross and FEMA

come; volunteers may begin to swarm.

4. Relief/Remedy: Helping agencies arrive to set up shelters, feeding stations, and distribution

of clothing, cleaning supplies, etc. People’s needs are temporarily met.

5. Short-Term Recovery: Helping agencies and local community agencies provide stable

housing and feeding solution for families and individuals.

6. Long-Term Recovery: Community agencies and faith-based organizations gather

themselves and their funds together to meet unmet needs of people who have lost property,

are unable to fund their own recovery, don’t have enough insurance, etc. PDA focuses on

long-term recovery.

Grief stages are similar to those people who experience the death of a loved one, loss of a job,

etc.

Faith-based organizations have responsibility to take care of what God has given them as well

as needs in the community.





Are You Prepared?

CHURCH

To get you thinking, imagine your

church in a disaster. Ask yourself

what you wish you had done last

week and what you would do now?

Without action taken today, your

church can end up here. Rather

sobering, isn’t it?

You are encouraged to get started on a

plan.


Congregation Disaster Plan

Is your congregation willing to prepare itself and its facilities for the

eventuality of a disaster?

This is the big question! Is your

congregation willing to protect its

people and its property? Remember a

church fire can happen anywhere and

is the most likely event that having a

disaster plan can mitigate.


Your Journey Begins Now


• Appoint your

Disaster

Assistance

Team

• Schedule

Training

• Move forward

with your plan

Your Disaster Team should include

enough people to get the job done, but

not so many that progress is impeded.

Pray for discernment in selecting those

who will serve on your team. Most

successful teams have included:

• Those with a passion for disaster

ministry

• One who likes to keep notes

• Those with persistence

• One who can communicate with

public/media



Move forward by having your team establish specific meeting times, establish a timeline, and

set up specific tasks to develop their plan and communicate it to officers and your

congregation.

You can always use other resources for assistance as needed such as: property committee,

hospitality committee, first responders, fire department, military or former military, weather

geeks, radio station personnel, etc.

Schedule training for your team. You may wish to include other church officers and definitely

your pastor so they know what is happening. Training will include an understanding of the

impact of a disaster upon your church and its people, checklists to start collecting relevant

resources, and sample plans. There are also sample plans and other resources at the Mission

Presbytery website.

Training will be interactive and a great way to start to bond your team toward their disaster

preparedness goals. Contact Val Aldred: [email protected] or 281 451-1827 to discuss your

training needs. Val can be available to speak to Sunday School Classes, VBS groups, Pastors’

Alliance Groups, Sessions, PWs or other faith-based groups about individual disaster

preparedness or church-wide activities.

Include mitigation plans to update properties and become aware of current laws and building

codes. Also include specific times (yearly) that the plan will be reviewed and new officers will

be educated on their responsibilities toward its achievement.


First Step: Appoint a DPC

• Select a group of people to serve on your Disaster Preparedness Committee (DPC)

– Organized coordinator (official spokesperson)

– Good documentation person

– Knowledgeable about church properties

– Knowledgeable about community resources

– Likes detail

• Keep size of DPC manageableBasic Disaster Ministry 6-11

Of course, you will want to include

someone from your session or

diaconate.


To enable the body of Jesus Christ to

continue to function in a viable way

before, during and after disaster.

Maintain Your Mission

This collaboration helps your church maintain its mission to enable the body of Jesus Christ to continue to function in a viable way, before, during, and after disaster.

The only way to do this is through

taking your first steps to create a

plan to prepare for reaching out to

others.

To be the light of Christ shining in the Preparedness ...

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