Hurricanes, the impulse to help, and why Christians always show up

On September 26 Hurricane Helene slammed into the Big Bend region of Florida, plowed through 800 miles of inland territory, and settled over Tennessee to end her destruction there.

Western North Carolina, my state, continues to dig out from the destruction, caused mainly by winds and flooding. Death tolls exceed previous hurricanes, and many people remain missing or unaccounted for.

Rebuilding may take years. Helene washed away bridges, roads, and even entire towns, like Chimney Rock.

Predictable responses

Emergency personnel swiftly showed up in force to rescue the trapped and the injured and to find and save anyone cut off by the storm.

But meanwhile, FEMA predictably shuffled through red tape before helping in the catastrophe. Hamstrung by bureaucracy, FEMA’s storm responses are so criticized and unreliable the agency hosts a website dedicated to defending their reputation and response.

Similarly, environmental regulations instituted during ideal conditions become hindrances during disasters. For instance, a regulation that requires people to steer clear of rivers when building houses becomes an absurd legality when the river decides to leave its government-assigned boundaries and take over the home.

The point is that even the best efforts of the government simply show how inept a bureaucracy can be. The heavier and more distant the aid, the more difficult it is to get it to the places it is needed the most.

Reliable responses

That’s why the most reliable responses come from the people on the ground and in the communities. Neighbors helping neighbors and loved ones helping loved ones. These are the people with the ATVs and the horses, the four-wheel-drive trucks and the chainsaws. Churches serving meals and distributing clothes.

As always, the most immediate and useful help comes from people helping people.

Why do people do that?

Why is that? Why is it that in a disaster, you can rely on your neighbors while the government shuffles paperwork?

Because we’re human. People help other people for a reason. And it’s not a big surprise.

The human impulse to help comes from the created order. We are woven together by our nature. So we not only acknowledge help, we expect it. We innately know that people should help other people in need.

But we are mistaken to think that the government can successfully adopt this impulse. Yes, the government should provide assistance. But regular people, human beings living in communities with one another, are the most likely to be there to see needs and to effectively help.

People in need are not a government project. If anything, the government should facilitate people helping people, not hinder or impede it.

Christian responses

So what agencies are most effective?

Alongside the Red Cross, the relief and recovery agencies most likely to show up fast and in force are Christian organizations. Organizations like Samaritans Purse and NC Baptists on Mission pepper the mountains with volunteers cutting trees, digging out mud, and handing out hugs.

Why is that? Why are Christian ministries most likely to show up? Why are the people tarping your roof and bringing you meals and moving those trees most likely tied to a Christian organization?

Christians are called

What distinguishes Christians in the aftermath of disaster is the call to be like Christ. We share with everyone the impulse to care for one another, but we also embrace the mandate to serve Christ as we do so. That means four things:

• We are called to love our neighbor

In the Bible, human beings fall into two camps. Saved and unsaved, born again in Christ and lost apart from Christ (1 Cor. 1:18).

And once a person is a born again in Christ (John 3:3), Jesus gives that person two mandates. First, to love his siblings in Christ with sacrificial love, the same kind of love that he received from Christ (John 13:34).

For that reason, the church is to take care of the church. We are called to be sure we do our best to care for one another. At the same time, we foster personal responsibility and accountability, we also cultivate care for the community of faith (Gal. 6:10).

Second, to love his neighbor “as himself” (Mark 12:30-31). And the Bible portrays everyone as our neighbor. Jesus himself gave us this clear description.

So churches help people in their communities, whether those people attend their church or not. Christians check on neighbors, atheists and believers alike, once again unlike FEMA, which is mired in controversy for showing partiality in the distribution of government resources.

And Christian organizations descend on the disaster area. Surprised and grateful people watch with awe as these Christians show up to fulfill the biblical mandate to put love into action (1 John 3:18).

• We are called to sustain creation

Christians see the world differently. We know that this creation is fallen. That’s the reason for storms like Helene in the first place.

But we also know one day this creation will be redeemed, replaced by a new creation of God’s intent. We embrace the original command to care for creation, but now we do it in anticipation of the new creation (Rom. 8:22-23).

And when we show up to help, we are reminding people of the redemptive nature of God. Christians serve as a living example of God’s care and concern, of God’s plan to make things right.

While the media criticizes Christians and proclaims that God, if He exists at all, is a grumpy judge and Christians are judgmental freaks, we just quietly arrive to do the work. This is Christianity. Not that other thing.

• We are called to serve Christ

But there is more to the Christian mission than chainsaws and shovels and even food. When Christians show up, we are expressing our love for Christ and sharing that love with others (Matt. 25:40-45). And each shovel of mud and each plate of food says, God loves you.

Our method brings the message. He showed up, too. And He came to save the lost and resurrect the dead, to change the world by changing people (John 3:16).

• We are called to share the gospel

Everywhere we go, we are participating in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-18). We are taking the gospel to our generation.

We go where we are called to go and serve, but we also go on faith. We believe that God goes before us and serving the community gives us an opportunity for conversations about Christ and the gospel (Col. 4:3-6).

Loving on the community is our primary intention. But we cannot be available to share if we are not present, and we cannot be present if we do not go.

That’s why the government should always let Christians be Christians, and churches be churches. Everyone is better for it.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:18